“Life Goes On” The Hungarian Party-State and Policies of Assimilation

“It is clear that the Gypsies cannot be regarded as a national minority,” noted János Kádár, the First Secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (MSZMP) ¹ when offering his opinion on the submission on “improving the lives of the Gypsy population.” The first time the highest echelon of Party leadership meaningfully dealt with the situation of the Gypsy population was June of 1961.