“And nothing is but what is not”. Memory of the Holocaust in today's Hungary

A two-part documentary film and a discussion on Holocaust memory in Hungary.

The event is organised by: Museum of Ethnography; Hungarian Cultural Anthropological Association (MAKAT); ELTE Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Social Relations

The documentary will be screened with English subtitles: non-English speakers are welcome to attend both the film presentation and discussion

Coordinators of the event and discussion: György Csepeli, Richárd Papp and András Surányi

In the three decades since the fall of communism, more detailed Holocaust education has been introduced into schools' curricula in Hungary. Furthermore, memorials, museums, books, and films have been made to commemorate the Holocaust. However, the question arises as to how all this contributes to the perpetuation of Holocaust memory. What does the memory of the Holocaust mean today among different generations and between different localities?

The documentary film by György Csepeli, Richárd Kiss, András Surányi and Richárd Papp is a visual documentation of a social science research based on focus group interviews.

Our research, which is the basis of the documentary, uses qualitative social science methods to explore and interpret the current meanings of Holocaust memory in Hungary. The novelty of the research is that it includes the analysis of transgenerational and translocal patterns of memory, a less explored aspect of Holocaust memory research in Hungary. Our documentary is based on interviews conducted in four local communities (Budapest, Kőszeg, Ricse and Nagyvárad/Oradea), among three generations. The interviews in Oradea may also make you think about the local differences between the Holocaust memory in Hungary and the Hungarian Holocaust memory outside the borders of Hungary.

The continuation of our research is supported by the Visegrad Fund.
On the one hand, the film screening and the subsequent discussion may make us reflect on the recent problems of Hungarian social memory. On the other hand, the discussion can also contribute to an interpretative rethinking of Holocaust memory.