From Petőfi to Stalin — How the Communists Hijacked 1848

The Communists (should have) had to face up to the fact that their main supporter was the Soviet army, which had first liberated Hungary, only to then occupy it. This was particularly unpleasant in the context of 1848, since the revolution had been defeated by the troops of Tsarist Russia, which aided the Austrians, and the main demand of the revolution was that there should be no foreign troops in Hungary.

Israel Is a Democracy Precisely Because It Is Jewish

Beinart’s reasoning strongly echoes the views of anti-Semites, who also argue that Israel can never be a democracy because of its Jewish character. Their argument goes something like this: Jews are incapable of running a country and, because they don’t want to work, they can only survive by oppressing non-Jews. This view, incidentally, also appeared in German propaganda in the 1930s.

The Curious Case of Hungarian Higher Education   

Loved and criticised, enjoyed and hated — the university experience is different for everyone. For Hungarian students, recent years have been a rollercoaster. With more changes in higher education coming, it is time for some stocktaking.

Budapest’s Districts in a Nutshell

The story of the individual districts is a brief summary of the past centuries not only from the point of view of their names: if we look at them on the map, we can immediately see that the history of their establishment and development is also the history of the expansion of Budapest.

Sopron, the Town of Loyalty and Freedom

In a referendum on 14 December 1921, the town of Sopron voted to remain part of Hungary, for which it has been celebrated as the town of loyalty and freedom ever since.