 Location of Hungary (dark green) in the European Union | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 152,023 (total estimated for Hungary + Israel, does not include other countries) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Hungary 48,600 (core population, estimation) (2010)[1]120,000 (estimated population) (2012)[2][3] 10,965 (self-identifying Jews by religion, 2011 census)[4]  Israel 32,023 (immigrants to Israel) (2010)[5] | |
| Languages | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Ashkenazi Jews/Other Jews |
| Part of a series on |
| Jews and Judaism |
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| History of Hungary |
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 Hungary portal |
The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary, with some records even predating the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in 895 CE by over 600 years. Written sources prove that Jewish communities lived in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary and it is even assumed that several sections of the heterogeneous Hungarian tribes practiced Judaism. Jewish officials served the king during the early 13th century reign of Andrew II. From the second part of the 13th century, the general religious tolerance decreased and Hungary's policies became similar to the treatment of the Jewish population in Western Europe.
The Ashkenazi of Hungary were fairly well integrated into Hungarian society by the time of the First World War. By the early 20th century, the community had grown to constitute 5% of Hungary's total population and 23% of the population of the capital, Budapest. Jews became prominent in science, the arts and business. By 1941, over 17% of Budapest's Jews had converted to the Catholic Church.[a]
Anti-Jewish policies grew more repressive in the interwar period as Hungary's leaders, who remained committed to regaining the territories lost at the peace agreement (Treaty of Trianon) of 1920, chose to align themselves with the governments of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy – the international actors most likely to stand behind Hungary's claims.[7] Starting in 1938, Hungary under Miklós Horthy passed a series of anti-Jewish measures in emulation of Germany's Nürnberg Laws. Following the German occupation of Hungary on March 19, 1944, Jews from the provinces were deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp; between May and July that year, 437,000 Jews were sent there from Hungary, most of them gassed on arrival.[8]
The 2011 Hungary census data had 10,965 people (0.11%) who self-identified as religious Jews, of whom 10,553 (96.2%) declared themselves as ethnic Hungarian.[4] Estimates of Hungary's Jewish population in 2010 range from 54,000 to more than 130,000[9] mostly concentrated in Budapest.[10] There are many active synagogues in Hungary, including the Dohány Street Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Europe and the second largest synagogue in the world after Temple Emanu-El of New York.[11]
- ^ "World Jewish Population, 2010" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on February 9, 2012. Retrieved March 15, 2012.
- ^ "Jewish Life Takes to the Streets at Hungary's Celebrated Judafest". Jewish Federation of North America. May 9, 2012. Archived from the original on October 16, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
- ^ Myles, Robert (February 9, 2013). "Hungary: A new synagogue for Budapest but anti-Semitism on rise". Digital Journal. Archived from the original on March 15, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
- ^ a b "Hungarian census 2011 / Országos adatok (National data) / 2.1.7 A népesség vallás, felekezet és fontosabb demográfiai ismérvek szerint (Population by religion, denomination combined by main demographical data) (Hungarian)". Archived from the original on May 9, 2015. Retrieved November 7, 2013.
- ^ "Immigration to Israel from the establishment of the state in 1948 until 2010" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 12, 2014. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
- ^ Endelman, Todd (February 22, 2015). Leaving the Jewish Fold: Conversion and Radical Assimilation in Modern Jewish History. Princeton University Press. p. 152. ISBN 9781400866380.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Mason, John W 2000was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Longerich, Peter (2010). Holocaust: The Nazi Persecution and Murder of the Jews. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. p. 408. ISBN 978-0-19-280436-5.
- ^ László Sebők (2012). "A magyarországi zsidók a számok tükrében". Rubicon. Archived from the original on June 19, 2018. Retrieved November 17, 2018.
- ^ "Jewish Budapest – Budapest Jewish Population, History, Sights". Archived from the original on February 25, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
- ^ Kulish, Nicholas (December 30, 2007). "Out of Darkness, New Life". The New York Times. Archived from the original on February 12, 2018. Retrieved May 10, 2017.
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