Category Archives: Hungary

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Budapest: Protest

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Budapest: Protest

More than 1’000 people  among which many Roma, protested on Saturday against the racist comments of the construction and Transport Minister Janos Lazar, requisquing his dismissal. He had said in a meeting that Roma should clean shitty train toilets.

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French version of Lazar

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French version of Lazar

Several articles on Janos Lazar and on his by now infamous statement that Roma should clean shitty train toilets in the French press.

Hungary News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Janos Lazar – Slovak View

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Janos Lazar – Slovak View

Two articles in the Slovak press about the Hungarian Constrcion and Transport Minister Janos Lazar comment that Roma are good at cleaning “shitty train toilets.”

These articles stress the discrimination faced by Roma in Hungary.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary and Roma

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Hungary and Roma

On Wednesday morning (28 January), Lajos Lőcsei, vice-president of the Hungarian centrist Momentum Movement, and András Fekete-Győr, the party’s founder, delivered several hundred toilet brushes to the Batida mansion of János Lázár, the construction and transport minister. He had said that Roma should be cleaning toilets in trains.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary, Lazar, and Roma

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Hungary, Lazar, and Roma

An article about the offensive comment of Janos Lazar, Hungarian Minister of Constructuion and  Transport, stating that this could cost Fidesz, Orban’s party votes in the upcoming elections of Apruil 12th.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

János Lázár

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János Lázár

A blunt (and Slovak) summary about the cotroversy on János Lázár, the Hungarian minister who said that if there is no migrant workforce, then Roma in Hungary will have to fill jobs such as cleaning toilets on InterCity trains.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Cleaning Toilets?

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Cleaning Toilets?

According to AFP and Hungarian news, the news made it to Malaysia, Janos Lazar, stated on Thursday:

“So if there are no migrants, and someone has to clean the toilet on the Intercity, because otherwise Hungarian voters don’t show up there with such enthusiasm to clean someone else’s shitty toilet, then the internal reserves have to be revealed, and the internal reserve means the Gypsies in Hungary.”

He then also backtracked. Spineless in addition.

He then spent time defending himself sayin he has worked on the integration of Roma. Just go in the Hungarian countryside to see what BS this is…

According to AFP and Hungarian news, the news made it to Malaysia, Janos Lazar, stated on Thursday:

“So if there are no migrants, and someone has to clean the toilet on the Intercity, because otherwise Hungarian voters don’t show up there with such enthusiasm to clean someone else’s shitty toilet, then the internal reserves have to be revealed, and the internal reserve means the Gypsies in Hungary.”

He then also backtracked. Spineless in addition.

He then spent time defending himself sayin he has worked on the integration of Roma. Just go in the Hungarian countryside to see what BS this is…

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Arte: Reportage

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Arte: Reportage

In Hungary, 40% of Roma live below the poverty line. Young members of the community are particularly affected by school dropout rates. Faced with this situation, Ambedkar High School stands out as an island of resistance, exclusively accommodating Roma students. The story of this hope is first and foremost linked to one man: Tibor Derdak, the school’s headmaster.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

“Gypsy” Restaurant

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“Gypsy” Restaurant

A “Gypsy” restaurant opened its doors in downtown Budapest, on Váci Street, at the end of July this year.There have been a few attempts to run a such a restaurant in Budapest, but none of them have lasted long. On Vaci utca, the main touristic thoroughfare might be more suitable.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Prison?

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Prison?

Géza Buzás-Hábel, a Roma gay and human right defender, who organized the Pécs Pride 2025 in Hungary, faces criminal charges for planning a peaceful march for LGBTI+ rights. The Pride in Pécs took place on October 4th despite a ban issued under Hungary’s “anti-Pride” law. He faces up to a year in prison.

He teaches Romani language and culture and trains future teachers. He has been organizing Pécs Pride – the only pride march in Hungary outside Budapest – for a long time.

Hungary News Eastern Europe Serbia

Budapest Symphony Orchestra

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Budapest Symphony Orchestra

The idea for the Budapest Roma Symphony Orchestra, known as the legendary “100 Violins” orchestra, was born in 1984, at the funeral of the famous Hungarian soloist Sándor Jarók Sr. That day, hundreds of Roma musicians from all over Hungary gathered to pay their last respects, and from that emotional moment of togetherness came the idea to found an orchestra that would preserve the spirit of the Roma musical tradition.

A year later, in 1985, the visionary László Berky and his associates founded the orchestra that would become a symbol of the Roma artistic soul and the cultural heritage of Hungary. Today, almost four decades later, the “100 Violins” orchestra continues to travel the world, bringing audiences music that transcends the boundaries of languages, nations, and styles.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungarian Segregation

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Hungarian Segregation

An article on a new Hungarian law and its application that we have already mentioned. Mezokeresztes was the first municipality in the country to implement the so-called Local Identity Preservation Act, passed by Parliament in June, which allows municipalities to screen people who settle there.

The Mezokeresztes municipality purchased houses, mostly belonging to Roma, on the grounds that they were unsanitary and demolished them.

Hungary News Eastern Europe Slovakia

World War Two Murder

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World War Two Murder

Towards the end of the war, at least 47 people including at least 37 Roma were brutally murdered by Hungarian Nyilas soldiers near Dunajská Streda on the Klátovský branch of the Little Danube at the end of World War II. They do not have their own grave.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary and Extremists

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Hungary and Extremists

Far right parties in Hungary (Mi Hazank and other groups) are planning a march through the central city of Szolnok as a “Demonstration against Gypsy Crime, declaring that, “We will bring law to the ghettos!” And the police backed down on their interdiction of the manifestation.

Let’s not forget that this has already resulted in Roma being killed…

Bad.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Pilis, Hungary

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Pilis, Hungary

Pilis, a town of 12,000 inhabitants an hour from Budapest, resembles many other towns in the Hungarian countryside. A shopping centre with ABCs, the grocery stores where you can find everything. A Kossuth Road, a key figure in the 1848-1849 uprising against the Habsburgs, crossed by the national highway. A street and even a small park named after Petofi, the iconic 19th-century poet. A monument to the Treaty of Trianon, which dismembered Hungary after the First World War and permeated the national narrative.

But since September 1st, Pilis has stood out by implementing radical measures to prevent settlements deemed undesirable. The far-right municipality, which came to power last fall, is closing the town to criminals, drug users or dealers, people without employment or social security for more than a year, applicants who do not speak or understand Hungarian, and business owners with tax arrears or those under bailiff proceedings.

Roma, of course will fall under some of those categories, whether true or not …

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Hungary and Segregation

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Hungary and Segregation

The Budapest Francophone Journal met with Gábor Erőss, a 52-year-old Hungarian sociologist, researcher at the Institute of Sociology of the Center for Social Sciences (TK SzI) and former deputy mayor of Budapest’s 8th district (Józsefváros) between 2019 and 2024. A member of the Párbeszéd Green Party, he exercised his mandate with a clear priority: to combat school segregation in a long-marginalized neighborhood. Trained in France, at Paris Descartes University, then at the EHESS, Gábor Erőss reflects on the educational policies he has implemented and his vision of school as a tool for social emancipation.

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