Language:
English
Year of publication:
2022
Titel der Quelle:
Geschichtsoptimismus und Katastrophenbewusstsein
Angaben zur Quelle:
(2022) 409-426
Keywords:
Szirmai, István,
;
Jews Political activity 1945-
;
History
;
Jewish communists Biography
;
Antisemitism History 1945-
Abstract:
By examining the biography of István Szirmai, this paper aims to shed light on the presence of the Holocaust and Jewish belonging in the political discourses of communist Hungary. Born into a Jewish family in Transylvania, Szirmai first joined the Zionist movement before becoming a member of the Romanian, then the Hungarian Communist Party. In the latter, he played a crucial role in the eradication of the Hungarian Zionist movement, only to be accused of Zionism himself later on. His story reveals a perspective beyond the widely held notion that Jews in the communist movement readily ignored their Jewish origins. Rather, Szirmai’s repeated political engagement with Jewish issues attests to the fact that Jewish pasts and identities, as well as antisemitism among the non-Jewish population (and within the Communist Party), did influence the views and political positions of some leading communists of Jewish origin.
DOI:
10.13109/9783666317361.409
URL:
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