Beyond antisemitism: Hungarian ideological and pragmatic motivations for the Holocaust

Journal article

This article develops a more comprehensive understanding of the variety of motivations for the Holocaust in Hungary. Rejecting traditional approaches that either place the history of the Holocaust in Hungary within a broader Holocaust narrative or have an inflated focus on antisemitism, it argues that the Holocaust in Hungary was of Hungarian design; partly ideological, partly pragmatic and wholly done with indifference to the lives of the Jews. Antisemitism was only one of several motivating ideologies, which were intertwined with strong local factors, both idealized and practical. Furthermore, it sheds light on the complex links between the ideology and pragmatism in 1930s and 1940s Hungary that created a spectrum of motivations for the Holocaust.

Authors: Balint, B

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Department of History and School of Humanities, University of Nottingham
• Journal: Midlands Historical Review
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 2018
• Publication date: 2018-10-18
• Acceptance date: 2018-08-15
• ISSN: 2516-8568
• Language: English
• Keywords: FFR