Hungary THE HUNGARIAN PEOPLE
Square in downtown Szeged
Courtesy Scott Edelman
As a result of population transfers after World War II,
Hungary became one of the most ethnically homogeneous
countries
in Eastern Europe. Unlike most Europeans, Hungarians trace
their
lineage to the Finno-Ugric people--an Asiatic tribe. For
this
reason, Hungarians have long felt themselves to be
distinct from
the other peoples who live in their midst.
Ethnic discrimination--except toward the Gypsies--was
almost
nonexistent in Hungary in the 1980s. Particularly after
the late
1960s, the government had made great efforts to ensure
fair and
equal treatment for minority nationalities. Foreign policy
considerations partially explained this liberal policy
toward
minorities. The Romanian and, to a lesser extent, the
Czechoslovak governments subjected Hungarians in their
countries
to many kinds of discrimination. To provide these
governments
with incentives to relax their pressure against Hungarian
minorities, Budapest pursued very liberal policies toward
its own
national minorities and sought to make its minority
policies a
model for other countries in Eastern Europe.
Data as of September 1989
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