BUDAPEST
(Reuters) - A week after a leader of Hungary's far-right Jobbik party
called for lists of prominent Jews to be drawn up to protect national
security, Janos Fonagy stepped forward.
"My mother and father were
Jewish, and so am I, whether you like it or not," the state secretary of
the Development Ministry told parliament, explaining he did not have
dual citizenship with Israel and was not religious.
"I
cannot choose, I was born into this. But you can choose, and you have
chosen this path," he said, addressing Jobbik deputies. "Bear history's
judgement."
It is only relatively
recently that Hungary's Jews have celebrated their identity as openly as
they did when Europe's largest synagogue was built in Budapest in the
1850s.
Now they are determined not to allow a political climate in which they have to defend that identity or even suppress it.
More
than 500,000 Hungarian Jews were killed in the Holocaust after Hungary
sided with the Nazis in World War Two and those left in Budapest were
forced into two ghettos.
When the
Soviet Red Army moved in and liberated the ghettos in 1945 about 100,000
Jews remained, living reminders of a collaboration with fascism many
Hungarians wanted to forget.
"Even
15 years ago, using 'Jewish' as a brand required quite some bravery,"
said Vera Vadas, the director of the Jewish Summer Festival, launched in
1998. "Now the word just describes our culture and it draws artists and
audiences alike."
From an initial
crowd of about 3,000, the number of visitors at the festival was around
120,000 this year, filling the cobblestone alleys and courtyards of the
city wall to wall.
The biggest of
the two wartime ghettos is now a thriving Jewish quarter, a year-round
highlight on Budapest's tourist map with the huge Dohany street
synagogue -- the model for New York's Central Synagogue -- at its heart.
Around it are more synagogues, museums, businesses, schools and restaurants,
and sometimes a mix of those things, such as a Talmud class that is
taught regularly at one of the famous Budapest "ruin pubs" - run-down
buildings converted into bars.
PROUD OF ROOTS
Rabbi
Zoltan Radnoti, the young leader of a small, modern synagogue in
southwestern Budapest, said his generation was the first to be confident
of its heritage after their traumatized grandparents taught their
children to play it down.
"My
parents' generation, the one born immediately after the war, was
protected so much they never got to experience their Jewishness," said
Radnoti. "They assimilated almost completely."
"Now,
my children take their Jewishness naturally, they have no doubts about
their roots. They are kids who live in Hungary, speak Hungarian and
follow the Jewish faith. The vast majority of young Jewish parents can
and do choose this tradition."
Besides
religious freedom, the end of Communism in 1989 also brought a freedom
of speech and politics that quickly gave birth to openly anti-Semitic
political forces.
The Jobbik party,
the third biggest in parliament, has used anti-semitic slurs to boost
its standing before elections in 2014, drawing international scorn.
The
strongest yet greeted last month's call by Marton Gyongyosi, who runs
Jobbik's foreign policy cabinet, for Jewish members of government and
parliament to be listed in the wake of Israel's recent military campaign
to stop rocket fire from Gaza.
"I
think such a conflict makes it timely to tally up people of Jewish
ancestry who live here, especially in the Hungarian parliament and the
Hungarian government, who, indeed, pose a national security risk to
Hungary," he told parliament.
Hungary's
centre-right government condemned the remarks, for which Gyongyosi
later apologized, and the U.S. Embassy in Budapest called them
"outrageous".
Although
anti-Semitism has not yet led to serious physical confrontations, hate
crimes have included desecration of Jewish cemeteries and a verbal
attack in Budapest on 90-year-old former Chief Rabbi Joseph Schweitzer.
"I
don't think all people who vote for Jobbik are anti-Semites," said
Slomo Koves, the chief rabbi of the Unified Hungarian Jewish
Congregation.
"But if Jobbik brings
it into the public discourse, even people who were not anti-Semites
before, they feel like it's a way to show your frustration... The
problem is that this has an effect on the state of mind of all
Hungarians."
UNITY
Andras Heisler, a leader of Mazsihisz, the Association of Jewish Communes in Hungary, said Jobbik was a danger to Hungary.
"I
think this is real racism and inciting hatred. A bad economic
situation, recession, usually flames tempers and this is the case now as
well."
Laden with debt and hit
hard by the wider debt crisis in Europe, the country is struggling to
end recession and sort out its finances, and a series of austerity
measures have increased tensions on the street.
Anti-Semitism
has made some Jews more determined to stand up for their heritage, said
Zoltan Jakal, a 36-year-old financial analyst and part-time cantor.
"I
have several friends who have strengthened their Jewish identity
because of a few incidents with anti-Semites," Jakal said. "When there's
peace people tend to forget they are Jews. If nobody else reminds them
of this, anti-Semites will."
Hungary's
political elite showed a rare gesture of unity at a big rally on
December 2, where ruling and opposition party leaders expressed their
disdain for Jobbik's politics.
So
far, polls suggest Jobbik has retained its voter base. Among young
voters its support is nearly 20 percent, making it the strongest party
in the age group below 30, according to a Republikon Institute poll
earlier this year.
But unlike its
hugely successful anti-Roma rhetoric, anti-Semitism may end up working
against Jobbik on the long run, Republikon Institute Director Csaba Toth
told Reuters, because it will put off potential coalition partners.
"Anti-Semitism gets far fewer votes," he said.
(Additional reporting by Krisztina Than; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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