ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the changing concepts of cultural citizenship in Hungary in manifestations of right-wing and popular discourse, despite the accommodating behaviour of a large proportion of urban assimilated Hungarians of Jewish background. For many Hungarians, Jews are assumed to be entirely culturally different than the ‘real Hungarians’, and on these grounds are discriminated against. The Hungarian construction of alterity, for example, seems to have changed drastically in the post-Communist era. Jewish Hungarians in the post-1989 period, it seems, are seen as the generalized ‘Others’ on the grounds of their location in metropolitan areas as well as their past political alliances with the Communist Party. In the mid-1800s, Jews that found themselves living within the boundaries of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were able to choose an identity as Hungarian citizens. As the new Hungary turns toward the capitalist West for economic aid, it is the urban and educated middle class who are in the position to enter into the joint-venture craze.
