In the increasingly polarized debate over the commemoration of the Holocaust and the Nazi occupation of Hungary, a left-wing and a liberal pundit call for a boycott of government sponsored events. A moderate conservative commentator, on the other hand, fears that the lack of compromise on the memorial will only serve anti-Semites and those interested in entrenching ideological cleavages. READ MORE
A Jewish cultural weekly suggests that Jewish organizations should be prepared to make compromises but should also stay away from some of the events of the Holocaust memorial year. Reacting to earlier and sharper comments, one of the leading architects of the memorial year says the attacks are part and parcel of the election campaign. A conservative editor takes her defence against what he considers a vicious personal attack by a liberal historian. READ MORE
Left-wing pundits welcome the decision of Corvinus University to keep Karl Marx’s statue on its premises, rejecting a claim that the figure of the “intellectual father” of Communism should not be exhibited in the University’s main hall and serve as a daily meeting point for young people. READ MORE
A liberal commentator thinks Budapest Mayor István Tarlós should take the blame for a decision to change the leadership of a major Budapest theatre, instead of playing it safe with hand-picked expert reviewers. READ MORE
A left-wing sociologist suggests that intellectuals who ceaselessly complain about the warlike atmosphere which dominates Hungarian politics fail to find a new language that could help society overcome its paralysing divisions. READ MORE
A left-wing columnist believes that the government wants to entrench the political divisions in the country by reopening the symbolic debate around the names of public spaces. READ MORE
A centre-right journalist describes László L. Simon as a moderate, unjustly reviled by liberals, who lost his battle against the far more conservative chairmann of the Hungarian Art Academy. A left-liberal commentator writes that the removal of László Simon is another sign of culture wars raging within the governing party, in which the loyalty of office holders is prized above their expertise. READ MORE
A left-wing columnist believes that Finance Minister György Matolcsy has joined the chorus of right-wing politicians and intellectuals who try to blame the Holocaust purely on the Nazi German occupiers of Hungary. READ MORE
Pro-government columnists suggest that the government has backed down elegantly, disproving the charges of arrogance and authoritarianism often levelled against it, while according to centrist and left-leaning analysts, the government tested the water of public feeling and realized it had too much to lose on the registration issue. READ MORE
The iconic right-wing composer says he supports Orbán’s fight for national idependence but right-wing cultural policies are turning into a catastrophe. READ MORE