A Hungarian official said his government is committed to safeguarding religious freedoms, including circumcision and kosher slaughter. Ferenc Kumin, a government spokesman, delivered the assurances Monday at a news conference by Nir Natan, a representative of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association. “In the past couple of years there has been a surge of legislation in…
(JTA) — A lone heckler tried to disrupt him, but Hungarian lawmaker Janos Hargitai was undeterred as he spoke earlier this month at a memorial day gathering in Hungary commemorating the 1848 revolution there. The holiday marks Hungary’s attempt to break free from the Austrian Empire, and Hargitai, sandwiched between two Hungarian flags, was celebrating…
Yad Vashem has decided not to participate in a project to build a Nazi occupation museum in Hungary. The House of Fates project invited representatives of the Jerusalem-based Holocaust museum and memorial to attend an international meeting of experts to discuss the memorial center to be built in Budapest. Yossi Gevir, senior assistant to the…
A new survey of anti-Semitic attitudes in Hungary showed up to 40 percent of respondents accepted some anti-Semitic attitudes. The survey of 764 participants was conducted in December by the Median polling company and commissioned by the Action and Protection Foundation — a watchdog on anti-Semitism of the Jewish community. The survey results were presented…
The Hungarian Jewish community held a memorial event in Budapest to mark the 70th anniversary of the occupation of Hungary by the Nazi-led German Army. Wednesday’s commemoration was held in Budapest in front of the downtown Dohany Street Synagogue. The event, sponsored by the Jewish community but open to the public, comes after representatives of…
An envelope containing white powder sent to a representative of Hungary’s Jewish communities did not contain any dangerous materials. The envelope was mailed earlier this week to Andras Heisler, president of the Mazsihisz federation of Hungarian Jewish communities, according to a report Wednesday by the ATV station. Separately, police in Tatabanya, which is approximately 30…
This month marks the 70th anniversary of the German occupation of Budapest, which began on March 19, 1944. In 2006, my husband and I went to Budapest to see as much as possible that related to Jewish life during that horrendous time. Sixty-two years had passed since my second cousins, Eva and Alice Eismann, had…
The Hero of Budapest: The Triumph and Tragedy of Raoul Wallenberg By Bergt Jangfeldt Translated by Harry Watson I.B. Tauris, 352 pages, $35 Next year will mark the 70th anniversary of the disappearance in a Soviet prison of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish businessman who rescued thousands of Hungarian Jews in the darkest days of the…
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