Over the summer, Zsuzsa Hegedus, one of Viktor Orban’s longest-serving advisors, resigned in protest over a speech given by him that was “worthy of Goebbels.”
Even while she doesn’t think that Orbán is racist personally, she said in a message to the Hungarian news site hvg.hu that the remarks he made “turned into an openly racist speech.” In the speech, Orbani spoke against the mixing of Europeans with non-Europeans, saying that countries with a high population of “mixed-races” were no longer nations. Despite the fact that opposing immigration is a central tenet of his political ideology, even by his own standards, these words were deemed to be excessive. He then joked about the gas chambers of the Holocaust while criticizing German plans to reduce gas consumption by 15%
According to Mr. Orban’s spokeswoman, the words were distorted in the media, and Orban asserted that he and his government were not racist.
The speech was deemed “stupid and dangerous” by The International Auschwitz Committee of Holocaust Survivors. The largest Jewish organization in Hungary denounced the speech and requested a meeting with Orban.
Sources
BBC. (2022, July 27). Hungary PM Viktor Orban adviser Hegedus resigns over ‘pure Nazi’ speech. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62313579
Long-time Orban Ally resigns over Hungarian PM’s ‘pure Nazi’ speech. euronews. (2022, August 1). https://www.euronews.com/2022/07/27/long-time-orban-ally-resigns-over-hungarian-pms-pure-nazi-speech
Long-time Orban Ally resigns over Hungarian PM’s ‘pure Nazi’ speech. euronews. (2022, August 1). https://www.euronews.com/2022/07/27/long-time-orban-ally-resigns-over-hungarian-pms-pure-nazi-speech
