A few days ago an important book was published–Jews and Jewry in Hungary in 2017: Results of Sociological Research, edited by András Kovács, the expert on the subject who teaches at CEU, and Ildikó Barna, associate professor of sociology at ELTE. The findings are based on 90-minute interviews with 1,879 people over the age of 18 who consider themselves Jewish and who have at least one Jewish grandparent. The interviews were conducted by the staff of Medián.
First, a few words about the antecedents of this volume. The first such research in Hungary since the end of World War II was undertaken in 1999-2000. During the socialist period the publication of this kind of study was unimaginable because, according to the official dogma, questions concerning Jewish identity were pretty much taboo. The head of the research team of the earlier study was the same András Kovács who formulated the approximately 30 questions the respondents had to answer this time.
The editors felt that the results from the earlier survey most likely no longer reflected the state and attitudes of the Jewish community. After all, a new generation has grown up since, and both the domestic and the international situations have changed considerably.
Let’s start with the approximate size of the Hungarian Jewish community, the largest Jewish community in Central Europe, based on this survey. Since there are no official statistics available, the 160,000 the authors offer is only “a very hypothetical” number. Based on the survey, they estimate that only 1% of these follow the dietary and other laws while 5% attend religious services, though only occasionally.
Since the book was just published, I haven’t have the opportunity to take a look at it yet, but I read a number of summaries, which I found intriguing. Let’s start with the respondents’ level of educational attainment. Anyone who is familiar with the social position of the Hungarian Jewish community knows that they are better educated than the national average. This was already the case 100 years ago, and therefore I expected a high percentage of university graduates. But even I didn’t expect that this number would be 78%. That the sample was so well educated might be one source of their rejection of all forms of authoritarianism, political conservatism, and xenophobia. And yet, when the editors compared university graduates in general to similarly educated Hungarian Jews, the differences were incredible. A few examples: (1) condemnation of homosexuality 41% as compared to 2%, (2) endorsement of capital punishment 43% to 14%, (3) further restrictions on migrants 66% to 14%, (4) restrictions on the number of non-whites 43% to 3%, and (4) opposition to abortion 18% to 4%.
Given these attitudes, it is not surprising that very few respondents indicated any affiliation with right-wing parties and the overwhelming majority described themselves as politically liberal or left-of-center. At the same time, a notable percentage (21%) of the respondents described themselves as uncommitted to any party at the moment, which is indicative of the depth of disappointment in the politics and achievements of the democratic opposition.
How do Hungarian Jews assess the state of anti-Semitism in the country? About half of the respondents had encountered manifestations of anti-Semitism, which is an improvement over the findings of 1999, when it was 75%. A fifth of the respondents actually experienced verbal abuse and another fifth witnessed such abuse. Physical abuse is rare. Only 1% experienced a physical attack themselves, and another 3% were eyewitnesses to such an event. Yet the respondents today consider the extent of anti-Semitism to be much greater than did the respondents in 1999. I assume the relentless anti-Soros campaign has contributed to this feeling.
When it comes to Hungarian Jewish attitudes to Israel, the picture is mixed. Two-thirds of them consider Israel’s existence very important, but only half of them support the present Israeli government’s policies and 25% of them are outright critical. Half of them have never thought of moving to Israel, though emigration from Hungary to another country, just as in the population as a whole, is very much on their minds.
When it comes to self-identification, the respondents in this survey, just as in 1999, could choose among the following: (1) Jew, living in Hungary (2) Hungarian, (3) Hungarian of Jewish ancestry, (4) both Hungarian and Jewish, and (5) European. In 1999 only 10% of the respondents identified themselves as European, but today that number is 30%. One reason for this shift might be Viktor Orbán’s anti-European propaganda, which the Hungarian Jewish community finds distasteful. The nationalistic propaganda might have exactly the opposite effect on the left-of-center and liberal segments of Hungarian society, to which the overwhelming majority of Hungarian Jews belong, who are devoted to the idea of Hungary being part of the European Union.
A somewhat similar tendency within the Jewish community could be observed in connection with the anti-Islamic propaganda. In the course of the propaganda campaign against migrants, the Orbán government affected a pro-Jewish sentiment, acting as if he was truly worried about the physical safety of Jewish citizens in the event of a huge influx of Muslims. But as is clear from the lack of concern of Jewish Hungarians about the “migrants,” the ploy didn’t work. Just as Orbán’s special relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel didn’t make the Hungarian Jewish community supporters of the Orbán government. I suspect that Hungarian Jews, like so many non-Jewish Hungarians, see through the game that Orbán is playing when he uses Netanyahu’s friendship as a cover for his anti-Soros campaign, which has added substantially to Hungarian anti-Semitism.
Finally, the number of mixed marriages is growing. While in the sample as a whole the percentage of mixed marriages was 55%, in the 18-34 age group it was 62%. Even so, the younger generation is more likely to keep the most important Jewish holidays.
I’m looking forward to reading more details from this study.
