ABSTRACT
Csanad Szegedi was a prominent member of Hungary's far-right Jobbik Party. He served in the European Parliament in Brussels as one of the party's three representatives. He was also a founding member of the now forbidden Hungarian Guard, who wore black uniforms and had striped flags recalling a pro-Nazi party that briefly governed Hungary at the end of World War II. Szegedi was notorious for his incendiary comments on Jews, who, he claimed, were desecrating national symbols and taking over the country. When in 2010 he discovered that he himself was Jewish and that his grandmother had survived Auschwitz, things changed. Szegedi acknowledged his Jewish origins, was forced to resign from all party positions, and gave up his Jobbik membership. 1 He met with a Hungarian rabbi who afterwards said, ‘Csanad Szegedi is in the middle of a difficult process of reparation, self-knowledge, re-evaluation and learning, which according to our hopes and interests, should conclude in a positive manner. Whether this will occur or not is first and foremost up to him.’
