Category Archives: Hungary

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Project in Hungary

Published by:

An article about the InDaHouse association which teaches young children from poor families, mostly Roma. Kinga Tillmann has been working for the InDaHouse association for six years and today coordinates the early education program. She believes her work has the greatest impact at this stage of life: “There are families where there are no developmental toys at home, no books, and no knowledge of how to play with a six-month-old. We want to compensate for this so that there are no backlogs that could lead to school failure.”

“It’s mainly urban, academic volunteers who come to the villages and take care of the children and assure them of their love and trust. These children will still experience racism on a daily basis, but because they get a lot of positive reinforcement from us, we believe that they will be able to function as equal partners, as citizens in society,” explains InDaHouse President Fruzsina Benkő.

Europe Ungarn News Osteuropa

Brussels, Hungary, and Roma

Published by:

Brussels, Hungary, and Roma

Géza Ásós, who opened Hungary’s first Gypsy restaurant in Békés 11 years ago, gave a presentation at the first International Roma Business Forum in Brussels. In an interview with the Hungarian broadcast of Euronews, he said that his restaurant connects Hungarians and Roma. According to him, integration is helped by the fact that there is a labour shortage in Hungary, as a result of which Roma workers are encountered in more and more places and in more and more positions.

The Roma Business Forum was held in the European Parliament. The conference was organized by Fidesz MEP Lívia Járóka in order for Gypsy businessmen and EU decision-makers to share their experiences of difficulties and best practices. It is to be noted that Lívia Járóka is somewhat contested, as she fully supports the Orban government in spite of its repeated statements and acts on Roma.

Roberta Metsola, the President of the European Parliament, Olivér Várhelyi, the EU Commissioner responsible for enlargement and neighbourhood policy, and Attila Sztojka, a member of the Hungarian Parliament, who as a government commissioner assists with matters related to the Roma, spoke at the meeting.

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Hungary: Fekete Vonat

Published by:

Hungary: Fekete Vonat

The music group “Fekete Vonat” [Black Train] has reunited and released a new album. They played together for only five years, and it has been twenty years since the band broke up.

The band was founded in 1997. It got its name from the train transporting workers during the Kádár era. The black train brought and took workers from Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county to the capital and the country’s major cities. Among the passengers there were many unskilled Roma helpers living in segregation.

With this choice of name, the Fekete Vonat band announced their support for the Hungarian Roma and the importance of the fight against segregation and racism. That is why around the turn of the millennium they enjoyed huge popularity among the Roma in Hungary and abroad, and the whole country was in love with their songs and soundscape.

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Hungary: Teachers Protests

Published by:

Katalin Törley, a teacher in the Ferenc-Kölcsey High School is one of five teachers who were recently fired for having circumvented a right to strike that had become impossible to exercise. These firings prompted unprecedented protests in Hungary.

What is less known is that Katalin Törley, on a part time basis is providing school support for young Roma.

Ungarn News Osteuropa Serbien

Justice for Roma in Hungary and Serbia

Published by:

A report of the discriminations faced by Roma and their lack of possibilities of recourse against these in the judicial system in Hungary and Serbia.  This is bad but not surprising.

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Hungary, the Far Right and Orban

Published by:

The new editor-in-chief of Vasárnap.hu, a close-to-government Christian newspaper supported by taxpayers’ money, was an active participant in the demonstrations of the far-right, neo-Nazi Force and Determination movement. When contacted by Telex, Tamás Horváth did not confirm that he was a member of the organization at first. A few days later, he briefly commented to a government newspaper that he was close to the organization. Then he still responded to some questions, but he didn’t really want to say that he condemned the Nazis and the Arrows, he didn’t give an unequivocal answer to these questions.

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Hungary and Neo-Nazis

Published by:

Sunday 11th of September saw a large Neo-Nazi demonstration in the Eastern Hungarian Town of Nyiredyhaza. This manifestation was organised by Mi Hazánk Mozgalom (Our Homeland Movement) following the stabbing of a security guard allied to the movement in front of a nightclub. The group made Roma collectively responsible for the deed.

Luckily, this time, Roma protesters outnumbered the Neo-Nazis.

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Ferenc Gyurcsány and Roma

Published by:

The president of the Hungarian Democratic Coalition and a former prime minister, commented on the arrest of the president of the National Roma Self-Government in his social media post: “The president of the National Roma Self-Government was arrested. He is suspected of official bribery. Scandal follows scandal in Roma public life, leader accused of crime after leader accused of crime. Cautious sentences follow, because the ice on which we tread is thin when raising such a question. The heated comments can come quickly. Maybe they will come. I’m trying to be careful.”

The real issue is the pseudo self-government which has no power whatsoever.

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Roma Murders in Hungary

Published by:

13 years after the facts, the leader of the extreme right group which killed Roma in Hungary admitted the facts. He had denied in spite of DNA evidence to have taken part in the murders. He also said that some others were still free.  Hungary only jailed three people for the murders and took a long time to judge them.

The filmmaker and journalist Andras B. Vagvölgyi who is one of the best expert on the case told DW that “No political side in the country has an interest in the complete investigation and processing of the Roma murder series, there is a consensus on all sides.,” He was present during most of the trial days in the multi-year trial against the perpetrators and published a book on the Roma murder series in 2016.

Tschechische Republik Ungarn News Osteuropa Slowakei

Visegrad Roma TV Collaboration

Published by:

Roma television stations from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary presented a new program – Visegrad Roma magazine, which maps the life of Roma in the countries of the Visegrad Group.

The first Roma internet television station ROMEA TV from the Czech Republic, Slovakian Romana TV and Hungarian DIKH TV are collaborating on the production of the program. The representatives of the television stations informed the journalists on Wednesday.

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Hungary: Finally

Published by:

Thirteen years later, Árpád Kiss, who was convicted of leading a neo-Nazi death squad which killed several Roma in Hungary finally admitted his guilt in an exclusive interview from his prison cell with the right-wing Hungarian news portal.

Let’s hope there is a special place in Hell for them.

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Proud Roma Campaign

Published by:

Hungary will soon start a new census. Proud Roma has started a campaign aimed at convincing Roma to declare themselves as such in the census. The last census in 2011 put the Roma population at 315,583, comprising 3.18% of the total Hungarian population. However, many unofficial sources estimate that Hungary is home to more than 800,000 Roma.

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Hungary Roma Self Government

Published by:

A court ordered the arrest of János Agócs, the president of the Roma Self Government who is suspected of official bribery. According to the prosecution, he sold his position for HUF 30 million. The Roma leader was caught with a lot of cash, but denies any crime. The decision is not legally binding for the time being, but the coercive measure against János Agócs – for which the prosecutor’s office made a motion – can be implemented immediately, that is, the Roma leader, who has been in custody until now, will be arrested. The reason for the decision was the risk of recidivism and the fact that if the suspect is released, he may attempt to thwart the investigation.

Bad for everyone …

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Hungary: Roma Design

Published by:

Clothes and accessories designed by the two sisters, Erika and Helén, are now internationally known, having been added to the collection of the Museum of Applied Arts, presented at the Cannes Film Festival, for example. Their goal is to use the tools of their own Roma culture and the treasure of its traditional motifs to shape today’s clothing fashion.

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Monika Lakatos

Published by:

An interview with Monika Lakatos. The singer, who in 2020 received the Womex Lifetime Achievement Award as the first artist of Roma origin, was described by a contemporary who also works in classical music as follows: a fragile, modest, non-marketing performer.

Mónika Lakatos grew up in a family with seven children, she has one daughter, she became a grandmother at the age of 41. His parents were engaged in horse trading, and he fondly remembers the horse fairs from his childhood.

Some of the statements in the interview will certainly reinforce some of the prevalent stereotypes about Roma, with, for example arranged marriages.

Ungarn News Osteuropa

Hungary, Roma Arts, and Poverty

Published by:

Hungary’s only Roma arts festival, TeatRom, closed with a deficit of about HUF two million. However, the series of cultural events – aimed at the Roma communities living in the segregated communities in Cserehát, a region in Northeastern Hungary close to the Slovak border – lasted only three days instead of the planned eight.

It took place in the village of Csenyéte, a village at the end or a desolate road. Life in Csenyeté is a dead end in many ways. There is nothing there. No shop, no clinic, no school, no pub, no bank, no post office. Even the mayor comes here only to go home after his work is done. Five hundred and fifty people live here today, almost exclusively Roma. Sixty percent of them are children.

Whether a festival in such a place, and whether the “romantic” view of Roma it presents are a good idea remain to be seen. But the problem of these isolated god-forsaken Roma communities in the poorest region of Hungary remains.

rroma.org
de_DEDeutsch
en_GBEnglish (UK) fr_FRFrançais de_DEDeutsch