AJC Evaluates Treatment of Jewish Themes in Hungarian Schools, Encourages Further Reform

American Jewish Committee
Monday, 22 May 2000

An American Jewish Committee study of Hungarian education concludes that "many recent textbooks are excellent in their treatment of Jewish themes, but many older books – which are still in use – contain instances of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism." While acknowledging progress made in Hungarian curricula over the past decade, the AJC report encourages further reform to accurately report history and thereby encourage intergroup understanding.

The study, The Treatment of Jewish Themes in Hungarian Schools is the fourth in a series prepared under AJC's Central and East European Curriculum Review Project, which examines what children in post-Communist countries of the region learn about Judaism, Jewish history, the Holocaust and Israel. The previous studies covered Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Most recently, the Associated Press reported that an openly anti-Semitic textbook in Slovakia was withdrawn after AJC's study of Slovakian education was published.

AJC's Director of Research, David Singer, and Director of European Affairs, Rabbi Andrew Baker, met with Hungary's Minister of Education in Budapest on May 11, to discuss the findings of the AJC study, which is available in both English and Hungarian.

The fall of Communism in 1989 "brought about great change in Hungarian schools, and Jewish themes are now covered extensively in a number of textbooks," writes Monika Kovacs, assistant professor in social and educational psychology at Budapest's Eotvos Lorand University, who authored the AJC study.

But, writes Dr. Kovacs, while the teaching of Jewish history and the Holocaust have been included in the National School Curriculum, "the scope and depth of classroom discussions are determined by textbooks and teachers."

In many of the 50 textbooks examined "we found inadequacies such as the anti-Judaic tradition of European culture, ethnocentric historicizing, and Communist anti-Semitism," writes Dr. Kovacs, who provides a detailed analysis of books most commonly used in primary and secondary schools in Hungary.

The majority of textbooks dealing with the medieval period do not mention Jews, implying that the "historical role" of the Jews ended with the appearance of Christianity, Dr. Kovacs writes. Textbooks portray various stages of Jewish persecution and the Holocaust as separate events without historical antecedents, such as a thousand years of Christian anti-Semitism and the spread of political anti-Semitism.

"Overall, we found that the textbooks exhibit a greater number of deficiencies, gaps and distortions in their treatment of the Hungarian Holocaust," writes Dr. Kovacs, who also is chair of the Hannah Arendt Association, which promotes Holocaust education among Hungarian teachers. "Several authors underestimate the number of victims and overemphasize the extent and significance of the rescue actions. Furthermore, many authors ignore the question of Hungarian responsibility."

More than 600,000 Hungarian Jews perished in the Holocaust. Dr. Kovacs concludes that Hungarian ethnocentrism reduces the number of victims and the sense of responsibility by attributing the persecution of the Jews to the "extreme right wing" and the deportations to the "Germans."

"Two of Hungary's most popular textbooks deny the significance of the Holocaust and even use anti-Semitic wording," Dr. Kovacs writes.

Regarding Israel, the National School Curriculum makes no particular mention of Israel, though it recommends that geography include an examination of the Middle East. "History textbooks continue to exude the anti-Israel and pro-Arab positions of the Communist era, particularly in connection with the Arab-Israeli conflict," she writes.

The AJC study points out recently published books, including a special reader on the Holocaust, which hopefully "will gradually replace older, less appropriate books that still contain instances of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism."

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org