The early Horthy regime’s antisemitism was quite diverse
and its various features would each merit a separate analysis
this time I will only focus on one specific
perhaps less discussed characteristic of early 20th-century Hungarian antisemitism
Szabó eventually became a critic of the Arrow Cross
The type of antisemitism in question is not about anti-capitalism or anti-communism
nor is it about anti-urbanism or anti-Judaism
It is a rather complex and peculiar approach to antisemitism: it is the ‘envy’ of the perceived racial consciousness and strong national character of the Jews
which can essentially be summarized as: ‘Yes
‘Few things better illustrate the antisemitic recycling of certain Jewish concepts than the quote “Every Hungarian is responsible for every Hungarian.”’
Could it be that Szabó Dezső ‘stole’ a quote from Judaism and used it for his own purposes
This would not be surprising coming from him
as he was known for being provocative; once
he announced that he was going to be a Romanian writer and move to Romania (of course
Harsányi accused the Jews of having taken trade away from the Hungarians and suggested that it be reclaimed with a kind of ‘holy’ selfishness
The only problem is that he did not cite Szabó
we might think we are closer to the answer
and it’s clear that Szabó didn’t use it first
the source raises more questions than it answers
‘Szabó laments that ‘transcendent selfishness
has disappeared from the Hungarian nation’
Szabó criticizes the dominance of a foreign group (the Jews) over the Hungarian nation and laments the lack of Hungarian selfishness
which he even gives a religious (transcendent) character
a call to action: when will the Hungarian people finally become like this
since the quote was already cited from Szabó in 1939
The compilation by Szőcs provides another clue: that Szabó also referred to the same idea in a 1943 speech
so it seems there were (and could still be) unpublished texts
It is possible that Szabó had been repeating the idea since 1938
but the thought could indeed have originated from him
it is very likely—though not definitively proven yet—that the Dezső Szabó quote
which has now become widespread across the full political spectrum of Hungarian public life
is essentially a ‘borrowed’ Talmudic quote
[1] Harry Hill Bandholtz
[2] Chaim Bloch
Unknown Episodes and Personal Recollections’
[3] Iratok az ellenforradalom történetéhez
Az ellenforradalom hatalomrajutása és rémuralma Magyarországon
[4] Private papers of István Lendvai
[5] Zsilinszky Endre
[6] Pritz Pál
‘A fajvédők külpolitikai nézetei (1918–1936)’
[7] Bucsay Mihály
A protestantizmus története Magyarországon
[8] Egyenlőség
[9] https://epa.oszk.hu/00000/00022/00566/17681.htm
[10] Vladimir Jabotinsky
[11] Téglás János
[12] Talmud Bavli
[13] Érd
[15] https://hvg.hu/elet/20221007_Menczer_plagium_SzaboDezso
[16] Sárospataki Református Lapok
[17] Kárpáti Magyar Hírlap
[18] Békésmegyei Hírlap
[19] Ifjú Erdély
[20] Szabó Dezső füzetek
I thank historian Dávid Kovács for calling my attention to this
[21] Szabó Dezső-enciklopédia
[22] Szabó Dezső füzetek
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philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.