Hungarian ultranationalist Istvan Csurka, who in the past was ejected from Parliament for his anti-Semitic statements, reiterated some of his sentiments at a recent public commemoration in Budapest.
In the vicinity of Budapest’s Parliament building, a huge crowd of nationalists gathered to remember the 75th anniversary of the signing of a treaty that led to the loss of Hungarian territory.
In June 1920, a treaty was signed in Trianon, France, which, among other things, resulted in the loss of two-thirds of Hungarian territory.
Csurka, known for his anti-Semitic diatribes and for an anti-Semitic speech on the floor of the Hungarian Parliament, failed in a recent attempt at re- election.
Before the 5,000 to 6,000 people at the commemoration, Csurka said that “the present political situation is equal to the tragic even of the Trianon peace treaty, which meant the death of the Hungarian nation.”
He added that all key political positions are “held now by liberals, and while the number of Hungarians is gradually diminishing, the number of the immigrant Jews, and the Russians, and the Ukrainians are increasing.”
During his speech, Csurka predicted that Hungary would one day be inhabited only by Russians, Ukrainians, Jews and Gypsies.
The ultranationalist has often said that Jews run the country and that they, along with Jews around the world, seek to dominate Hungary.
Czurka’s Hungarian Truth and Life Party is against Hungary’s membership in the European Union, which is a goal of the liberal coalition now in power.
Relatedly, about 100 people gathered recently to listen to Albert Szabo, who oversees the organization of the neo-Nazi followers of Ferenc Szalasi, the Fascist leader of the Hungarian Arrow Cross Party during the 1940s. Szalasi was executed after World War II as a war criminal.
Meanwhile, in the town of Debrecen in northeastern Hungary, skinheads recently held a meeting to remember the treaty signing.
One of those who spoke at the event, Andras Ris, has been charged in connection with the February burning of Torah scrolls in the Debrecen Synagogue.
According to some Jewish activists and observers, it was not a coincidence that the nationalistic commemorations took place while Hungarian Prime Minister Gyula Horn and his liberal team were on their first official visit to the United States.
One topic of discussion during the trip was restitution for Hungarian Jews victimized during World War II.
More than 100,000 Jews now live in Hungary.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
