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Anti-Hungarian sentiment (also known as Hungarophobia, [1] [2] Anti-Hungarianism, Magyarophobia [3] or Antimagyarism [4] ) is dislike, distrust, discrimination, or xenophobia directed against the Hungarians. It can involve hatred, grievance, distrust, intimidation, fear, and hostility towards the Hungarian people, language and culture.
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During the existence of the Kingdom of Hungary and Croatia, the Banate of Bosnia was accused of holding the alleged Cathar anti-pope Nicetas. Given that the Kingdom of Hungary and Croatia was under heavy Catholic influence, and Bosnia had a decentralized religious practice, Pope Honorius III would preach about invading Bosnia to pacify Nicetas, whilst Hungary would be able to incorporate Bosnia into its control. [5] Later, in 1235, Hungary, with the justification of Pope Gregory IX would launch the Bosnian Crusade in order to subdue the Banate under its control. [5] However, in 1241, the Mongols invaded Hungary. As a result the Hungarian troops abandoned the crusade and returned to Hungary to bolster their armies against the Mongols. [6] Bosnia would then regaining its previously conquered territory. [7] This conflict would fuel anti-Hungarian sentiment within the state, which even lasted beyond the Ottoman conquest of Bosnia. [8]
During the era of the Habsburg monarchs, the court in Vienna was influenced by Hungarophobia, but the Hungarian landowner nobles also showed signs of Germanophobia. [9] In the 18th century, after the end of Rákóczi's War of Independence, many immigrants came to the underpopulated southern parts of the Kingdom of Hungary: for instance, 800 new German villages were established. [10] The authorities preferred non-Hungarian settlers. The Habsburgs regarded the Hungarians as "politically unreliable", and consequently they were not allowed to settle in the southern territories until the 1740s. [11] The organized resettlement was planned by the Habsburgs. The resettlement policy was characterized as anti-Hungarian, [12] [13] as the Habsburgs feared an uprising of Protestant Hungarians. [14]
Thousands of Hungarians were murdered in Transylvania (now part of Romania) in nine separate incidents during the 1848–1849 massacres in Transylvania, in which Romanians were also massacred in four separate occasions.
Minorities in Czechoslovakia in 1918 to 1939 enjoyed personal freedoms and were properly recognized by the state. There were three Hungarian and/or Hungarian-centric political parties:
After World War II, Czechoslovakia became a communist state; during the transition to a communist one-party state, decrees permitting the forced [15] expulsion of German and Hungarian minorities from ethnic enclaves in Czechoslovakia came into effect, and Hungarians were forcibly relocated to Sudetenland, on the borders of Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak government deported more than 44,129 Hungarians from Slovakia to the Sudetenland for forced labor [16] [17] between 1945 and 1948, [17] and the Beneš decrees remain legally in effect in the Czech Republic. [18]
In Slovakia, Hungarian and pro-Hungarian political parties are a stable part of the political system. Anti-Hungarian sentiment had been criticized particularly during the third government of Vladimír Mečiar. In the past, so-called "Hungarian card" had been used mainly by the Slovak National Party (SNS) [22] against the granting of a special status to the Hungarian minority; it argued for the complete assimilation of the Hungarian minority into Slovak society.[ verification needed ] It considers that Hungarians in Slovakia are actually overprivileged. [22] [23] After personnel changes in the presidium, SNS abandoned similar rhetoric and formed a common government with pro-Hungarian Most-Híd in 2016.
Anti-Hungarian rhetoric of some far-right organizations[ who? ][ citation needed ] in Slovakia is based on historical stereotypes and conflicts in the common history as interpreted from nationalistic positions and recent events. [ citation needed ] In such interpretations, the arrival of old Hungarian tribes is described as the occupation by barbarian tribes and contributed to the destruction of Great Moravia. Other negative sentiments are related to the period of Magyarization, the policy of interwar Hungary, the collaboration of Hungarian-minority parties with the Hungarian government against Czechoslovakia, the First Vienna Award and the Slovak–Hungarian War. [24] Hungary is accused of still trying to undermine the territorial integrity of Slovakia, and local minority politicians are accused of irredentism. [24] However, anti-Hungarian sentiment is not typical even for all far-right organisations, and the leader of the Slovak Brotherhood emphasized the need for collaboration with Hungarian far-right organisations against materialism and multiculturalism. [24]
Women, Slovak or not, used to be required to affix the Slovak feminine marker -ová (used for declension of feminine names) at the end of their surname. [25]
One incident of ethnically-motivated violence against Hungarians in Slovakia was at a football match in Dunajská Streda when Hungarian fans were badly beaten by the Slovak police. [26]
The majority and the Hungarian minority describe their coexistence mostly as good. For example, in a public survey in 2015, 85.2% of respondents characterized their coexistence as good (63.6% rather good, 21.6% very good) and only 7.6% as bad (6.3% rather bad, 1.3% very bad). [27]
In Romania, the Ceaușescu regime gave great focus to the ancient history of Transylvania. [28] National communism in Romania made historical personalities of Hungary (such as John Hunyadi or György Dózsa) [29] [30] go through Romanianization and become more central figures in Romanian history. [28]
The Civic Forum of the Romanians of Covasna, Harghita and Mureș, founded in 2005 with the aim of coordinating the ethnic Romanians at Covasna, Harghita and Mureș counties, [31] has been accused of being anti-Hungarian. [32] [33] [34]
Hungarian speakers first settled in Zakarpattia (Hungarian: Kárpátalja) in the 800s. The region was part of the Kingdom of Hungary from then till 1918. Before the Holocaust and Soviet deportations, there were approximately 250,000 Hungarian speakers in Zakarpattia, around 27% of the total population. [35] They constituted majorities or pluralities in several towns and cities, including Mukachevo (Hungarian: Munkács.) Many of these Hungarian speakers were also Jews. Today, Hungarian speakers are around 15% of the population in Zakarpattia, numbering around 150,000, forming majorities or pluralities along the Hungarian border and in some towns, including Berehove (Hungarian: Beregszász.)
The European Council, the Venice Commission [36] and the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation have argued the Ukrainian state discriminates against Hungarian speakers. [37] The Hungarian Human Rights Foundation said of new reforms legislated in December, 2023,
'We note with regret that the adopted law still does not allow the use of minority languages at the level of higher administrative units (district, county). At the local settlement level, use of language rights remains subject to the majority decision – meaning that enforcement of language rights will not be implemented in most locales ... The law links linguistic rights to the concept of “traditional” settlement of the minority and sets the minimum level at 10%. Accordingly, in locations where the minority population does not reach this threshold (i.e. those in diaspora) will have no language rights at all, which further accelerates their assimilation. The legislation affects only the linguistic rights of minorities; other minority rights are completely left out. The law still does not provide for the free use of national symbols, nor does it provide the conditions to ensure political representation for minorities. Several clauses of the law are discriminatory or merely declarative, which can lead to arbitrary interpretation. The meaning of several legal terms remains unclear. This raises further questions, primarily relating to the right to native-language education alongside the state language. The law still does not comply with all the recommendations of the Venice Commission; does not ensure the rights guaranteed to minorities in the Constitution and other international documents; and does not restore the full range of previously existing minority rights.' [38]
At the same time, László Zubánics, head of the Hungarian Democratic Alliance of Ukraine, said these reforms 'essentially gave the Hungarian community of Zakarpattia the opportunity to ensure its own existence for another 30 years.' [39]
Viktor and Andrej Baloga, Ukrainiain politicians is also famous for their hungarophobic remarks. [40] [41]
The slurs Bozgor, Bozgoroaică and Bozgori are pseudo-Magyar terms of possible Romanian or Slavic origin describing Hungarians. A view is that it means "homeless" or "stateless". [45] N. Sándor Szilágyi speculated that the word is a combination of the Hungarian slur ba(s)zd meg ("fuck you") and the Romanian word for Hungarian, namely ungur. [46]
Transylvania is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains and to the west the Apuseni Mountains. Broader definitions of Transylvania also include the western and northwestern Romanian regions of Crișana and Maramureș, and occasionally Banat. Historical Transylvania also includes small parts of neighbouring Western Moldavia and even a small part of south-western neighbouring Bukovina to its north east.
Harghita County is a county in the center of Romania, in eastern Transylvania, with the county seat at Miercurea Ciuc.
The Székelys, also referred to as Szeklers, are a Hungarian subgroup living mostly in the Székely Land in Romania. In addition to their native villages in Suceava County in Bukovina, a significant population descending from the Székelys of Bukovina currently lives in Tolna and Baranya counties in Hungary and certain districts of Vojvodina, Serbia.
Transcarpathia is a historical region on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast.
The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania is a political party in Romania which aims to represent the significant Hungarian minority of Romania.
The Magyar Autonomous Region[a] (1952–1960) and Mureș-Magyar Autonomous Region (1960–1968) were autonomous regions in the Romanian People's Republic.
Hungarian irredentism or Greater Hungary are irredentist political ideas concerning redemption of territories of the historical Kingdom of Hungary. The objective is to at least to regain control over Hungarian-populated areas in Hungary's neighbouring countries. Hungarian historiography uses the term "Historic Hungary". "Whole Hungary" is also commonly used by supporters of this ideology.
The Székely Land or Szeklerland is a historic and ethnographic area in present-day Romania, inhabited mainly by Székelys, a subgroup of Hungarians. Its cultural centre is the city of Târgu Mureș (Marosvásárhely), the largest settlement in the region.
Magyarization, after "Magyar"—the Hungarian autonym—was an assimilation or acculturation process by which non-Hungarian nationals living in the Kingdom of Hungary, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, adopted the Hungarian national identity and language in the period between the Compromise of 1867 and Austria-Hungary's dissolution in 1918. Magyarization occurred both voluntarily and as a result of social pressure, and was mandated in certain respects by specific government policies.
About 9.3% of Romania's population is represented by minorities, and 13% unknown or undisclosed according to 2021 census. The principal minorities in Romania are Hungarians and Romani people, with a declining German population and smaller numbers of Poles in Bukovina, Serbs, Croats, Slovaks and Banat Bulgarians, Ukrainians, Greeks, Jews, Turks and Tatars, Armenians, Russians, Afro-Romanians, and others.
Romanianization is the series of policies aimed toward ethnic assimilation implemented by the Romanian authorities during the 20th and 21st century. The most noteworthy policies were those aimed at the Hungarian minority in Romania, Jews and as well the Ukrainian minority in Bukovina and Bessarabia.
Hungarians constitute the largest minority in Slovakia. According to the 2021 Slovak census, 456,154 people declared themselves Hungarian, while 462,175 stated that Hungarian was their mother tongue.
Slovakization or Slovakisation is a form of either forced or voluntary cultural assimilation and acculturation, during which non-Slovak nationals give up their culture and language in favor of the Slovak one. This process has relied most heavily on intimidation and harassment by state authorities. Another method of Slovakization was artificial resettlement. In the past the process has been greatly aided by deprivation of collective rights for minorities and ethnic cleansing, but in the last decades its promotion has been limited to the adoption of anti-minority policies and anti-minority hate speech.
The Székely Land (Szeklerland) is a historic and ethnographic region in Eastern Transylvania, in the center of Romania. The primary goal for the Hungarian political organisations in Romania is to achieve Székely autonomy. The Szeklers make up about half of the Hungarians in Romania and live in a compact ethnic bloc. According to official data from Romania's 2011 census, 609,033 persons in Mureș, Harghita, and Covasna counties consider themselves Hungarian. The Székelys (Szeklers), a Hungarian sub-group, are mainly concentrated in these three counties.
Romanian nationalism is a form of nationalism that asserts that Romanians are a nation and promotes the identity and cultural unity of Romanians. Its extremist variation is Romanian ultranationalism.
Hungarian-Romanian relations are foreign relations between Hungary and Romania dating back to the Middle Ages and continuing after the Romanian unification in 1859 and independence in 1877. In the past, they involved Wallachia and Moldavia.
The Hungarian minority of Romania is the largest ethnic minority in Romania. As per the 2021 Romanian census, 1,002,151 people declared themselves Hungarian, while 1,038,806 people stated that Hungarian was their mother tongue.
The Czechoslovak–Hungarian population exchange was the exchange of inhabitants between Czechoslovakia and Hungary after World War II. Between 45,000 and 120,000 Hungarians were forcibly transferred from Czechoslovakia to Hungary, and their properties confiscated, while around 72,000 Slovaks voluntarily transferred from Hungary to Czechoslovakia.
Csángó Land is the name given to the region in Western Moldavia, in turn a region of Romania, where most of the Csángós, a small subgroup of the Hungarians, live. Csángó Land is located close to the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, in the valley of the Siret River, near the town of Roman and Bacău. It may also be defined as the part of Bacău County where ethnic Hungarians reside as a minority.
The Civic Forum of the Romanians of Covasna, Harghita and Mureș is a forum grouping some 45 organizations of Covasna, Harghita and Mureș counties in Romania as of 2022. These counties have a large ethnically Hungarian population made up of the Székely subgroup, although ethnic Romanians also live in them. The FCRCHM was founded on 4 June 2005 and aims to organize the ethnic Romanian population in these counties to prevent its disappearance; for this purpose, it has organized various events and initiatives.
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