Orbán is known for his criticism of immigration, but according to experts from the AFP news agency, he has previously avoided using the word “race” in his criticism of immigration.
20:06•Updated 20:46
Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán the speech he gave in Romania on Saturday has made headlines across Europe and provoked violent reactions, especially in Jewish communities.
In addition, one of Orbán’s closest advisers resigned yesterday Tuesday because of the speech. He characterized it as purely Nazi and found it impossible to accept Orbán’s comments even by the standards of the most bloodthirsty racists.
In his speech in Transylvania, Orbán said that migration has divided Europe – or the Western world – in two.
– There is a world where European peoples mix with those who arrive from outside Europe. It is a world of mixed races, Orbán said, according to the news agency Reuters.
– And then there is our world, where European nations mix with each other, move to different places, work and move again. Thus, for example, we in the Carpathian Basin are not mixed races. We are simply a mixture of peoples living in our European homeland.
– That is why we have always fought: we are ready to mix with each other, but we do not want us to become a mixed-race nation, Orbán said according to Reuters.
Orbán has become known for his criticism of immigration and his criticism of Western liberal values, but according to experts from the AFP news agency, he has previously avoided using the word “race” in his criticism of immigration.
The adviser compared to Goebbels
Served as Orbán’s advisor for 20 years Zsuzsa Hegedüs compared Orbán’s speech to the propaganda minister of Nazi Germany in his resignation letter by Joseph Goebbels rhetoric and found his comments unacceptable even by the standards of the most bloodthirsty racists.
– I am sincerely sorry that I have to end our relationship because of your shameful attitude. I have no other option, Hegedüs wrote in his resignation letter, which he also sent to Hungarian media.
– I don’t know how you could avoid noticing that you presented a pure Nazi text like Goebbels, Hegedüs continued.
Orbán accepted his adviser’s resignation but brushed aside his criticism.
– You can’t seriously accuse me of racism after 20 years of working together. You know best that my government has zero tolerance for anti-Semitism and racism in Hungary, Orbán said, according to AP.
Jewish communities condemn
Hungarian and world Jewish communities have condemned Orbán’s speeches. More than half a million Hungarian Jews were murdered in Nazi extermination camps during World War II. Today, about 75,000 to 100,000 Jews live in Hungary.
Chief Rabbi of Hungary Robert Frolich wrote on Facebook that there is only one race on this planet: homo sapiens sapiens. The chief rabbi of Budapest, Zoltan Radnoti, said that he cannot accept communication that talks about races, pure races and race mixing.
– In the Jewish community, this evokes a very painful era and a painful memory, Radnoti told Reuters.
The International Auschwitz Committee considered the speech stupid and dangerous. It said it reminds Holocaust survivors of the dark times when they were discriminated against and persecuted. It urged the European Union to distance itself from Orbán’s racist undertones.
The spokesperson for the European Commission, on the other hand, said that the Commission does not comment on individual speeches of European politicians.
– It is clear that the European Union has a certain set of values that are recorded in the agreements, and it implements policies respecting these values and agreements, the spokesperson Eric Mamer said according to AFP.
Updated July 27 at 8:45 p.m.: The figure of more than half a million murdered Jews concerns Hungarian Jews.