ABSTRACT
The war and postwar chaos in Hungary increased tension not only between the majority society and the country’s ethnic and religious minorities; it also turned Jews against Jews. The split in Hungarian Jewry had its origins in the squabbles between the traditionalist and the progressive congregations in Pest in the early nineteenth century. Beside the tensions between the Neologs and the Orthodox concerning assimilation, name changes, conversion, and intermarriage inspired the most jokes related to assimilation and the fate of the Jewish community both before and after the First World War. Jewish humor about conversion to Christianity in many respects mirrored jokes about name change. The debate over conversion took on a different meaning and a new dimension after the First World War. Prewar conversion jokes and cartoon were generally lighthearted. The converts’ motives were not as abhorrent as many of their contemporaries tended to believe.
