Category Archives: Hungary

Hungary News Eastern Europe

InDaHouse: A project in Hungary

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Fruzsina Benkő founded InDaHouse in the most disadvantaged area of Borsod, one of the poorest Hungarian Counties in 2014, driven by her own resources, her frustration with the child protection system, her personal desire to do something and, as she says in the interview, some naivety.

The aim is to show the Roma children that the majority society can believe in them.

Difficult in Hungary …

Hungary News Eastern Europe

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A reportage in a Budapest district that is going to be displaced for building the National University of Public Service’s teacher training school. Where’s the catch: Well, 80% of the residents are Roma. And they fear that they will be relocated to nowhere, in the countryside.

Clearly, the buildings are in need of repairs, but many residents invested and renovated their flats by themselves. Now, they are being expropriated by the state.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

International Roma Song Day

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The Benczúr House will host the events of the 3rd International Gypsy Song Day in Budapest on August 8. The program series is opened by three concerts in the spring and early summer.

The first performer on March 8 is Mónika Lakatos and the Cigány Hangok, whose aim is to present and keep alive the purest traditions of the Oláh Gypsy culture.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary, Roma, and the Police

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Hungary is increasing the stipends of Roma students studying for becoming policemen. That many Roma want to be members of the Hungarian police can be doubted, and anyhow, the stipends are ridiculous. Around 10’000 HUF for an average grade student. Per month. This amounts to 25 euros per months. And with the current inflation …

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary: Success Story

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Tímea Somogyi, a Romni from Kecskemet, Hungary completed he high school and university as an adult by the time she had 6 children. She now works as a social care worker.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungarian Census

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Another article on the recent Hungarian Census. The overall population decreased by 3.4%, and, more astonishingly, the number of Roma passed from 300’000 to 200’000. All other “ethnic” minorities, Germans, Slovaks, etc. also decreased but not by as much as in the case of Roma.

The 300’000 number was anyhow a fallacy, as the government itself acknowledges more than half a million. So simply, Roma did not declare themselves as such …

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary and the War

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Hungary and the War

Shortly before the end of the war, Hungarians committed mass murder against Hungarians: At the beginning of February 1945, snipers and gendarmes gathered local Roma at the border of Várpalota, dug a pit with them, and then shot them: one hundred and eighteen people were murdered, while another five victims were executed in the main square of the city.

Despite this, plans for a memorial to the victims of the Roma Holocaust were prepared in Hungary early in 1974, even by international comparison: the sculptor was György Jovánovics, an outstanding figure of the neo-avant-garde generation of artists. The sculptor was interviewed by art historian Dániel Véri.

Hungary News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Exhibition on Roma and the Holocaust

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In the gallery of the City History Museum in Fiľakovo, Slovakia, visitors will be able to view the exhibition of the Dutch photographer Jutka Rona entitled Hungarian Gypsies – Survivors’ Testimony dedicated to the memory of the Hungarian Roma holocaust.

Hungarian-born photographer Jutka Rona was two years old when her parents immigrated to the Netherlands.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary: Special Exhibition

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On November 5, the World Day of the Romani Language, the Museum of Ethnography in Budapest invites for a temporary exhibition on Roma stories. The foundation of the exhibition, which opened on May 23 this year, is quite extraordinary: the Kamill Erdős legacy has been preserved in the collection of the Ferenc Erkel Museum in Gyula. For the first time, the interested public can see the results of the research conducted among Roma in Hungary in the 19th century.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungarian Census 2022

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The preliminary results of the Hungarian 2022 census have been published. One astonishing fact is that according to the census, the Roma population decreased by more than a third, passing from 315’000 in 2011 to 209’000 now.

These numbers are totally out of whack with reality, as the estimated number of Roma in Hungary lies between 600 and 800’000… According to the Hungarian press, the decrease is due to people not stating their ethnicity in the census.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary and the Extreme Right

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A special two-hour long debate between LL junior (László Lesi), a well-known musician-performer and László Toroczkai, president of Mi Hazánk, a extreme right party in Hungary.

The use of by the party of Roma for political purposes, citing demographic issues, gypsy crime as a perceived or real concept were discussed. Of course, Trianon was also mentioned …

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary, Roma, Health and Contraception

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An article about underprivileged youth in Hungary, about their health, their knowledge thereof, teenage pregnancies, and contraception.

Scary as most of the youngsters have a very limited knowledge of how their body works. Also, it seems that Hungary has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies in the EU. The article highlights, that it is not all Roma, and definitively not a Roma trait, but rather an issue of poverty and education.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Romani Design

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Romani Design is the first Roma fashion studio, established in 2010 with the aim of helping the social and cultural integration of Roma communities. Erika and Helena Varga, the founders, and designers of the brand, create quality, handcrafted design products: Romani Design is the first, widely known brand that proudly represents Roma culture and its connections to Hungarian culture.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary and Analphabets

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The Hungarian Minister Gergely Gulyás who tried to explain the high percentage of 8th graders who are analphabets by laying the blame on Roma is being countered by an economist and education researcher Júlia Varga.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary Blaming Roma

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A reaction for the Roma Right Centre on the statement of a Hungarian minister blaming Roma for the 40% of analphabets in 8th grade Hungarian school.

Well, there are not 40% of Roma children in Hungary, or it there are, it will be interesting …

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary, Analphabets, and Roma

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Recent statistics (see second article cited here) in Hungary give a dim view of the state of the education system. According to the result, 40% of the 8th grade students are functional analphabets. What is the response of the government (see first article cited here), well, according to Gergely Gulyás, Minister of the Prime Minister office of the Orban government, it is because of the Roma.

He is not a friend of arithmetic… If 40% of the children in Hungary are Roma, it is an interesting trend. Currently, the Roma minority in the country stands at around 10%. And it is true that their education level is low, mostly since in the countryside, they are taught in de-facto segregated schools.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Roma Song Day

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On August 8, the International Roma Song Day will be held for the second time. The organizer of the initiative is Mihály “Mazsi” Rostás, who, in addition to active musicianship (Romengo, MazsiMó–GipsyMó), is the artistic manager of the formations of Mónika Lakatos, winner of the Kossuth Prize and Womex Lifetime Achievement Award. A well-known representative of gypsy music told our newspaper that the idea of a day related to Roma musical culture came to mind already in 2008, on the occasion of Hungarian Song Day, but the idea turned into action the previous year.

In addition to several Hungarian locations, the event will also be held in Parkany, Slovakia, and in Krakow, Poland.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary: Summer Camp

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The “Gypsy” Self-Government of Kiskunhalas organized a two-week summer day camp for Roma children. The article states that: “In addition to three meals a day, the children can take part in a number of interesting programs, craft activities, sports and playful competitions are organized for them. In addition to dancing and playing music together, the children can also learn about Gypsy traditions and hear an interesting presentation about religions.”

No comments …

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Alexandra Minzari

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An interview with Alexandra Minzari (34), a Hungarian Romni with an impressive curriculum: Four university degrees, including one from Oxford and one from Cambridge, perfect English, French, Russian and Hungarian and a list of interesting jobs. The last one, the current one, is work at the Ministry of Child Protection.

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