ABSTRACT
Hungary is a country with deep legacies of vigilantism. The authors explain the traditions of fascist and nationalist vigilantism and their impact on the recent right-wing extremist scene. In August 2007, the Jobbik Party (Movement for a Better Hungary) founded the “Hungarian Guard Association for Protection of Traditions and Culture”. This group won huge attention and it caused a rise of popularity of the Jobbik. It organized vigilante patrols and marches in Roma communities against alleged “Gypsy Crime”. After its ban in 2009, several successor groups were established. These groups were fuelled by the migration wave of 2015–2017. However, the role they play in (anti-) migration politics, by publishing texts and organizing marches and anti-Muslim protests, is more symbolic than effective (Póczik & Sárik, this volume). The chapter also discusses a vigilante terrorist racist death squad that was active in 2008–2009, killing six Roma people (and injuring many others). As in other East and Central European countries, we can see the dominance of anti-Roma vigilantism, enhanced by anti-Migrant vigilantism during the crisis in 2015 and later.
