ABSTRACT
In Hungary, as in the surrounding states, a significant proportion of the Gypsy, or Roma, communities continue to live in rural areas. In contrast to Hungary’s Gypsies, who comprised one of the country’s poorest and most underprivileged social strata at the close of the nineteenth century, Jews were prominent in the commercial, professional and intellectual life of the country. The new government took office committed to the preservation of Hungary’s ancient borders, while at the same time determined to transform Hungary’s archaic society along revolutionary lines. While the economic plight of Hungary’s Gypsies was acute, the community was at least spared unwelcome political attention. Adding spiritual insult to temporal injury, Hungary’s leading ecclesiastics, both Catholic and Protestant, warmly supported the anti-Jewish laws passed in 1938 and 1939. Contemporary responses within Hungary to the enterprise of (re)building the rule of law have been shaped by historical, social, economic and other factors.
