Episode 2
The Holocaust, Memory Politics and Hungary
Today’s episode will look more closely at the role that the Holocaust plays in present-day Hungarian politics. What narrative is used, and why? And how can we see this past in the physical landscape of the city itself?
We will be talking to Gréta Süveges, a city guide and scholar of Jewish Studies, to get some more information.
Show Notes
Biography of Gréta
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Gréta Süveges completed her BA in Russian Literature studies at ELTE University in Budapest, and then moved to Israel for a one-year MA Jewish studies program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. After returning to Hungary, she began working with different architecture studios and cultural organizations on various historical projects, as well as guiding historical tours of the city. Between 2017 and 2019, she completed a MA program in sociology and social anthropology at the Central European University. Today, Greta continues to work as a freelance tour guide and cultural project manager in Budapest, Hungary.
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Photo's below:
Left: Greta Suveges
Right: photo by Nina Andro
Carl Lutz Memorial
The Carl Lutz Memorial in the Jewish District is a bronze sculpture that commemorates the Swiss diplomat, Carl Lutz, who saved tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust.
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Photos below:
left: by OSA (https://www.facebook.com/OSAarchivum/)
right: by Kana Fukumoto
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Monument for the Victims of the German Occupation
The monument commemorating the German occupation of Hungary was erected by the Hungarian government on Liberty Square in 2014. It depicts Hungary as the Archangel Gabriel under attack by a bronze eagle, that represents Nazi Germany. Archangel Gabriel acts as a metaphor for the innocence of Hungary. Critics call this an example of historical revisionism, as it victimizes Hungary and ignores Hungarian complicity in the Holocaust. A counter monument was created in front of the sculpture by citizens of the city to protest the original monument. It consists of personal objects, memorial stones and stories, which tell an alternative narrative of the Holocaust as it is presented by the state.
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Photos below:
by Kana Fukumoto
For more information
Yellow Star Pub Interview
Audio clips of the interviews about the history of the Yellow Star Houses with pub-goers were taken from: "Yellow-Star Pubs," 2014.; HU OSA 00005683; documantary films; Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives at Central European University, Budapest. (https://catalog.osaarchivum.org/catalog/KoDVrMYk)
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Secondary sources related to Orbán's memory politics
Andrea PetÅ‘ (2014). “‛Hungary 70’: Non-remembering the Holocaust in Hungary”. Culture & History Digital Journal, 3(2): e016. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2014.016. https://www.academia.edu/9877828/_Hungary_70_Non_remembering_the_Holocaust_in_Hungary_in_Culture_and_History_Digital_Journal_3_2_December_2014
Andrea Pető (2022) The Illiberal Memory Politics in Hungary, Journal of Genocide Research, 24:2, 241-249, DOI: 10.1080/14623528.2021.1968150 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14623528.2021.1968150
Shanes, Joshua. "Netanyahu, Orbán, and the Resurgence of Antisemitism: Lessons of the Last Century." Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies 37, no. 1 (2019): 108-120. doi:10.1353/sho.2019.0005. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/719464/pdf
