Tag Archives: Hungary
Addicted to volunteering: two personal responses to Hungary’s refugee crisis
The spotlight was on Hungary in the summer of 2015: unable to cope with its refugee crisis on a governmental level, it was criticised worldwide for its hostile policy towards asylum seekers. On the other hand, streets and railway stations were filled with civilian helpers, who quickly organised themselves into informal groups and networks, secretly […]
The Razor-Wire Curtain: Europe’s New Anti-Migrant Fences
By Alex Johnson Next month will mark the 26th anniversary of the ‘Pan-European Picnic’, a day that changed the face of Europe. On 19 August 1989, Communist Hungary stopped policing its border with Austria, allowing some 600 East Germans holidaying at Lake Balaton to cross over to the West. Soon after, the Hungarian authorities officially […]
‘Who the hell do you think you are?’ … almost fiction
‘We could all live on drugs, pee in our pants, drown in mud and puke sitting in the streets, covered with self-pity, if we really insist on indulging our hardships and scars, right?’ says R. No, he does not say it. He spits it, he yells, thunders it with his glass-blue eyes lightning through the […]
No dominance: an interview with Rozália Brestyánszki-Boros
Fourteen years ago a tall and slender young woman – with hippy-like long, straight hair that has still remained her distinctive mark – worked at the staging of an international performance of Antigone in Hungary. This young woman had a deep comprehension of the text and, at the same time, undertook all the practical tasks […]
Another Home for Us
There are Hungarians living in at least four countries outside of the borders of the country: Romania, Slovakia, Serbia and Ukraine. There are also smaller diaspora groups living in Slovenia and Croatia. The biggest community is the Transylvanian one in Romania which, after more than twenty years of massive emigration, still consists of almost 2 […]
In and Out of Hungary: Migration Trends in a Central-European Country
A small Central-European country with an isolated language, frustrating historical background and escalating political affairs, Hungary has lately become a territory of constantly rewritten narratives of nation and migration. Although migration is of low intensity in Hungary, the topic itself is likely to become of increasing importance in a country with less than 10 million […]
