Reprezentacija »madžarske usode« – neohistoricizem v politiki in ljudski kulturi

Authors

  • Éva Kovács Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Országház u. 30, H-1014 Budapest; Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, Desirer-Friedmann-Platz 1/18, A-1010 Vienna

Keywords:

Hungary, history, politics, neohistoricism, nationalism

Abstract

REPRESENTATION OF THE »HUNGARIAN DESTINY«: NEOHISTORICISM IN POLITICS AND PEOPLE'S CULTURE

The author describes the so-called neohistoricism in Hungary during the government of Viktor Orbán (1998-2002), encouraged by the government’s own political needs and based on awakening the famous past, used for contemporary (current) political purposes. Just like all populist parties, Fidesz as the ruling party in Hungary resorts to every trick of nationalism, and in its actions it pays no heed to any ideological consistency. For its propaganda purposes this party has abused every historical event and historical character, from the thousand-year anniversary of the establishment of the Christian Hungarian state and King Stephen I to Admiral Horthy as well as a shaman from Tuva (located in the geographic centre of Asia), who carried out a ritual of honouring the ancestors and a cleansing ceremony in front of the Stephen’s crown and its guard in the Hungarian Parliament on the national holiday of the Hungarian revolution (15 March). Neohistoricism has a strong nationalist implication, for example, it keeps mentioning the »unjust peace« from the Treaty of Trianon and rekindling the dreams about the »Greater Hungary«.

Author Biography

  • Éva Kovács, Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Országház u. 30, H-1014 Budapest; Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, Desirer-Friedmann-Platz 1/18, A-1010 Vienna
    Dr.

Published

2015-05-14

Issue

Section

Notes