Submitted Stories by Agnes Bohm RSS Feed Stories Submitted by Agnes Bohm
Nobel winner didn’t choose Jewish identity
He is the first Hungarian writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, but — as a Jew and a survivor of Auschwitz — Imre Kertesz feels his writing reflects a more universal perspective. Kertesz hopes his prize will inspire Hungarians, both Je Read more »
Man who helped Wallenberg dies
Per Anger, who helped Raoul Wallenberg save more than 30,000 Hungarian Jews during World War II, died Monday at 88. Read more »
Hungary to build Holocaust center
The government has approved the establishment of a public foundation for a Holocaust center to commemorate the 600,000 Hungarian Jews who died during World War II. Read more »
Hungarian Jews import matzah
Hungarian Jewish leaders are importing matzah in an attempt to avoid a shortage that plagued the community last year. Read more »
Budapest residents reject anti-Semitism
A commemoration of the liberation of the Budapest Ghetto turned into a demonstration against anti-Semitism in Hungary. Read more »
Book focuses on Hungarian anti-Semitism
BUDAPEST, Oct. 18 (JTA) — The B'nai B'rith chapter here has published a book documenting recent anti-Semitic discourse in the Hungarian media and other public forums. The book details work carried out throughout 2000 by its Jewish Documentation Center, an office founded in 1999 to monitor and document Hungarian Jewish life. The center's responsibilities also include monitoring and creating a data base of racist and anti-Semitic acts and statements in the Hungarian media and activities of far-right organizations. The book, published in English and Hungarian, includes anti-Semitic writings that appeared in two far-right weeklies — Magyar Forum and Magyar Demokrata — as well as similar comments voiced over Hungarian Public Radio. B'nai B'rith intends to publish similar reports, possibly annually if its financial resources permit, Laszlo Koranyi, a past president of the group, told JTA. "This book makes it clear that anti-Semitic discourse is alive in many segments of contemporary Hungarian society," historian Andras Gero said at a Budapest news conference at which the book was introduced. Read more »
Police: Germans behind 1991 attack in Hungary
BUDAPEST, Oct. 11 (JTA) — Rejecting earlier theories, Hungarian security officials now believe that the German Red Army Faction was behind a 1991 bomb attack near Budapest International Airport that targeted Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union. Confirming Interpol sources, Deputy Col. Zoltan Nagy, head of Interpol's Hungarian Office, told JTA that "at least two or three Germans were involved" in the Dec. 23, 1991, terrorist attack, according to German police findings sent to Hungarian police in August this year. The findings contradict earlier Hungarian police reports that blamed the attack on Arab terrorists. Hungarian police reported a day after the attack that the Movement for the Liberation of Jerusalem, presumably an Arab group, had claimed responsibility for the bomb explosion, which was aimed against 28 Ukrainian Jewish immigrants traveling in a bus near the Budapest airport. Four immigrants were lightly injured and two Hungarian policemen escorting the bus were seriously burnt. The explosive material, a Czech-made plastic called Samtex, was placed in a car near the bus' route and detonated by remote control. The Red Army Faction, a violent leftist group based in Germany, traces its roots to the 1960s student protest movement. It still exists despite the deaths of a number of its leaders, albeit with fewer numbers and fewer terrorist actions. German police recently notified the Hungarian police that one of the terrorists was Hans Ludvig Meyer, a former member of the Red Army Faction who was killed in a shootout in Germany in 1999. Meyer's DNA matched the hair samples and other objects that Hungarian police collected in apartments the terrorists had rented in Budapest. Meyer was an aide to another German who arrived in Hungary on a forged passport under the name of W. Robert Georg Hamdaker. His whereabouts are unknown. Meyer also was accompanied by a woman identified as Andrea Marina Klamp, who is now serving an 8- year prison sentence in Germany. Klamp also was a member of the Red Army Faction, Nagy said. Klamp "is the key figure now, as Meyer was killed three years ago and it is still unclear whether she was 'The Third Man' in the case," Nagy said. "It is still unclear whether two or three Germans were involved in the attack." The Hungarian police is sending representatives to Germany to continue the investigation, Nagy said. Asked why it took so long to find the German connection to the attack, Nagy said part of the reason is that Hungarian police did not have recourse to DNA testing until three years ago. In addition, he noted, the American-led war on terror has created optimal conditions for international cooperation in investigating cases. Read more »
Hungarian Jews want to make Holocaust denial illegal
BUDAPEST, May 9 (JTA) — Hungary's justice minister has rejected a request from the Jewish community for a law that would make Holocaust denial illegal. "Such a law would be unconstitutional" in Hungary, Ibolya David told a legislative committee last week. She said she based her decision on "numerous professional opinions," mainly from officials within the Justice Ministry. The Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities submitted a request in November 1999 asking the government to begin drafting such a law. The request came after numerous books appeared dismissing the Holocaust as a Jewish fabrication. Jewish leaders say the number of stores selling anti-Semitic literature and videotapes has increased significantly since they first requested the law. They cite the example of Aron Monus, who is living in southern Hungary without ever facing questioning for his widely publicized book, "The World Jewish conspiracy." Peter Tordai, the president of the federation, told JTA that despite the justice minister's statement last week, the Jewish community still plans to press ahead with its request for a law similar to the ones already on the books in Germany, France and Austria. But Jewish leaders may seek a broader law that would also criminalize other forms of hate speech. The community plans to make its request before the Hungarian Parliament takes up amendments to the penal code in October. Read more »
Hungarian Holocaust relatives threaten protests
BUDAPEST, July 17 (JTA) — The president of the Hungarian Jewish community is threatening to hold demonstrations if compensation payments to the relatives of Hungary's Holocaust victims are further delayed. Peter Tordai, head of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary, said the group is appealing to Prime Minister Viktor Orban regarding the issue of compensation, which isn't even on the Cabinet's agenda. "According to the Jewish organizations, the government should at least set up a timetable as soon as possible for the compensation of the relatives of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust," Tordai said. Last December, Hungary's Constitutional Court canceled a discriminatory compensation law from 1999 that granted about $140 to Jews whose relatives were killed in the Holocaust, a fraction of the amount granted victims of communist terror. Relatives of those executed by the Communists — though far fewer in number — have received $3,300 each. In protest against the paltry sum, many angry recipients have returned the money, some directly to the prime minister. In 1992, the Hungarian Parliament passed a law giving thousands of dollars in compensation to heirs of communist victims. After opposition from Jewish groups, the law was modified in 1997, adding relatives of those who died between 1938 and 1945 to the list of those entitled to compensation. In 1999, however, Parliament voted to slash the payments to Holocaust victims' relatives to about $140. Earlier this week, Laszlo Keller, Eastern European president of the World Jewish Congress, met with Hungarian President Ferenc Madl and urged him to speed up the compensation process. However, a government spokesman said the matter of Jewish compensation probably would not reach a legislative settlement until after next year's general elections in Hungary. There are about 100,000 Jews living in Hungary — and an estimated 25,000 Hungarian-born Jews living elsewhere who would likely be eligible for compensation. Read more »
Iranian women are stars at Jewish gathering
BUDAPEST, June 11 (JTA) — Some 130 participants came from 20 countries to this year's European conference of the International Council of Jewish Women, but it was two women in particular — both from Tehran — who became the center of attention. The first Iranian women to receive official clearance to attend the conference, Marian Yashavali and Farah Davar Panah, told fellow delegates that they are able to live comfortably both as Jews and as women in Iran, albeit with some restrictions. Yashavali, a member of the board of directors of the Iranian Jewish Community, said that there has been "a lot of progress for women in general" since the Iranian Revolution in 1979. "They are encouraged to come out of their homes and take up administrative or business positions," she said. Yashavali, Panah and their families lead Jewish lives and keep kosher homes. In so-called Jewish salons, or clubs, Iranian Jews hold family celebrations and can dress and keep Jewish traditions as they wish. But, Yashavali said, "on the streets, we must dress in the traditional Muslim way, and in the universities our girls must dress in long black dresses." There are some 18,000 Jews in Tehran. There also are 20 synagogues, all of which are full during the Jewish holidays. Another 12,000 or so Jews live elsewhere in Iran, mainly in Isfahan and Shiraz. The biggest problem, Yashavali said, is that Jewish schools cannot be closed on the Sabbath, but must adhere to Muslim tradition and close on Friday. There are 10 Jewish schools in Tehran, but Yashavali said her two children attend non-Jewish schools because the schools are too far from her house. The husbands of both women work in private companies, as Jews often have problems getting jobs in state- owned businesses, they said. Another restriction is the ban on correspondence with relatives in Israel, though Jews can receive incoming phone calls from Israel. Asked if they feel hostility from Iranian neighbors when clashes are reported between Israelis and Palestinians, both women say they've experienced neither personal attacks nor backlashes against the Jewish community in general. Conference participants issued an official statement extending sympathy to families of the Israeli victims of recent Mideast violence, and reaffirming their solidarity with Israel. "We embrace them in our midst and reassure them that they are not alone," the statement said of the victims' families. "We also call for a renewed and sincere effort to end the conflict in the Middle East, thereby alleviating the suffering of all people in the area." Iris Ambor, of the Israeli Embassy in Budapest, said, "If we do care enough, we can all make a difference. In times like this, we need to overcome our daily arguments, our disagreements and be united for the well-being of our communities and our support for Israel." In addition to pledging their support for Israel, delegates discussed ways of bridging the gap between Orthodox and non-Orthodox women, and between Jewish and non-Jewish women. "Our differences are not a consequence of our religion, but are rather due to disagreement between genders," June Jacobs, president of the council, told JTA. Read more »
RSS Feed Breaking News
Updated 02/09/12 @ 05:54PM EST
- A poll showed that nearly half of likely voters believed the United States should use military force to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
- Rabbi Gunther Plaut, a major figure in Reform Judaism, died in Toronto.
- The application for a proposed Hebrew-language charter school was accepted by the District of Columbia Public Charter School board.
- A truck driving calves from Eilat to the Golan Heights was hijacked into the West Bank.
- U.S. Rep. Howard Berman introduced legislation that would allow eligible Israeli nationals to receive non-immigrant investor visas in the United States.
- Poll: Half of U.S. voters back strike on nuclear Iran
- Reform leader Rabbi Gunther Plaut dies
- D.C. Hebrew-language charter school accepted for review
- Op-Ed: Kick the reaction addiction on campus
- Berman moves to grant investor visas to Israelis
- Holy cow! Calves hijacked into Palestinian territory
- Report: Israeli journalist also works for prime minister
- Larry Greenfield tapped to lead JINSA
