Hungary’s ruling party has moved to soften the impact of a top official known for his anti-Semitic diatribes by maneuvering him into a position with a lower profile.
Istvan Csurka, who has blamed national ills on liberals, Jews, Western financiers and the press, is no longer vice president of the Hungarian Democratic Forum, a post which has been abolished.
Instead, he will serve on a newly created party presidium that has 21 members, Hungarian Foreign Minister Geza Jeszensky told World Jewish Congress leaders in New York this week. Csurka had been one of six vice presidents.
The move followed mounting international criticism of Csurka for his anti- Semitic attacks in party publications and in a regularly scheduled Sunday radio program.
Jeszensky, in New York for consultations on the Bosnian crisis, said he hoped the World Jewish Congress would now help counter the negative image projected by Csurka.
The Hungarian foreign minister reported on Csurka’s diminished role to WJC’s secretary-general, Israel Singer, and its executive director, Elan Steinberg.
Singer said it was too early to tell whether the move would significantly reduce Csurka’s influence, according to Leslie Keller, chairman of the WJC’s Eastern European Commission.
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.
