A new survey of antisemitic attitudes in Hungary showed up to 40 percent
of respondents accepted some antisemitic attitudes.
The survey of 764 participants was conducted in December by the Median
polling company and commissioned by the Action and Protection Foundation, a
watchdog on antisemitism of the Jewish community.
The survey results were presented Monday at a news conference organized
by the foundation at its Budapest headquarters.
“We can draw the conclusion that 35 percent to 40 percent of the sample
definitely accept some antisemitic stereotypes and seven percent extremely antisemitic
stereotypes,” Prof. Andras Kovacs of the Central European University, who
supervised the research, said.
Violent antisemitic attacks are very rare in Hungary.
Kovacs, who has conducted several previous studies on antisemitism in
Hungary, added that among those who accepted some antisemitic stereotypes, the
proportion of people who displayed open antipathy toward Jewish individuals
increased dramatically in 2010, when the xenophobic far-right Jobbik Party
entered parliament for the first time.
“There is a clear correlation between Jobbik’s entrance and the
prevalence of antisemitism in polled populations,” he told JTA.
In the years 2003 to 2009, similar surveys showed an average of 11
percent of respondents harboring antipathy to Jewish individuals. That figures
jumped to 28 percent in 2010, decreasing slightly to 24 percent in 2011 and to
21 percent in December 2013, as documented in the foundation’s survey.
