The Treatment of Jewish Themes in Hungarian Schools (original) (raw)

Themes in Hungarian Schools Textbooks reveal a great deal about the culture of the period in which they are written and used. They are both written documents of a given era and shapers of the opinions of subsequent generations. They contain the knowledge that the adult generation considers worthy of transmittal to the younger generations. Needless to say, textbooks are not the only means by which "knowledge" is transmitted. We must also consider the influence of other actors in the process of socialization, e.g., family members, peer groups, mass media, and institutions such as churches and civic organizations. Nevertheless, the preeminent role of textbooks is assured by the fact that the "veracity" of the information found in them is validated by the education system itself. Indeed, pupils must demonstrate in various tests and examinations that they have acquired knowledge of the facts presented to them in the textbooks. In this way textbooks take on a normative role. My task was to investigate how Jewish history and culture, Judaism, and modern Israel are treated in Hungarian school textbooks today. In the course of my research during 1997-98 I examined the contents of almost fifty history, literature, and geography textbooks. The Jews of Hungary after the Holocaust After the Communist takeover in 1948, the assertion of Jewish identity and the expression of anti-Semitic views became taboo in Hungarian public life. Both were regarded as "improper" forms of behavior. Communist ideology aimed to eradicate ethnic distinctions and religious convictions. Remembering the harsh reality of persecution and seeing the obvious failure of assimilation, many Jews were attracted by this promise. Meanwhile, for perpetrators of the former violence, the "forgetting" of the past and the class-war interpretation of history could not have come at a better time. Relief was felt by those who had played active roles in the persecution of the Jews, by those who had swum with the tide, and by those who had failed to help their Jewish compatriots in their time of peril. The issue of Hungarian complicity in the Holocaust disappeared from the public agenda, not to return for many decades. Apart from Communist ideology, the sociological consequences of the Hungarian holocaust also strengthened the taboo surrounding the assertion of Jewish identity. The less assimilated Jews of rural areas, who had preserved their traditions intact, had been murdered in the death camps. At the same time, in the capital, the group having the greatest chance of finding a place to hide and of obtaining false papers-and thus the greatest chance of survival-had been the most assimilated Jews. After the war, lacking language, religion, and traditions, this group was simply unable to return to the culture of the Jewish minority. At the same time, the brutal reality of persecution cast doubt on the purpose and desirability of assimilation. Survivors of the Holocaust formed a very distinct group, each member having experienced great vulnerability and fear as well as the loss of many loved ones. Nevertheless, this common awareness could not be transformed into a positive self-identity. The other alternative-that of repression or