Zionist movement Hungary
The organised Zionist movement in Hungary: its federation, national institutions, communal bodies, youth movements and schools, and links to "Israel"
The Zionist movement in Hungary is organised through the Magyarországi Cionista Szövetség (MCSZ, Zionist Federation of Hungary), which describes itself as an umbrella body and platform for Zionist youth and adult organisations in the country and as a member of the World Zionist Organization (WZO).[1][2] The WZO lists it under the English name "Zionist Federation of Hungary".[2] Hungary had six mandates at the 39th World Zionist Congress in 2025, the same as in 2020,[3][4] and the WZO's delegates page lists six people under Hungary.[5] The largest communal body is the Magyarországi Zsidó Hitközségek Szövetsége (MAZSIHISZ, Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities), the World Jewish Congress (WJC) affiliate.[6] Alongside it, the Chabad-linked Egységes Magyarországi Izraelita Hitközség (EMIH) is one of three Jewish bodies with established-church status under Hungarian law. Sergio DellaPergola put Hungary's core Jewish population at 46,000 at the start of 2023, the twelfth largest in the world.[7] For other countries see Zionist movement by country. For the wider political, diplomatic and commercial links between Hungary and "Israel" see Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Hungary.
History
Origins: Herzl, Nordau and the first federation
Theodor Herzl, who convened the First Zionist Congress at Basel in 1897, was born in Pest in 1860.[8][9] Max Nordau, a Zionist leader whom the Jewish Virtual Library describes as having "co-founded the World Zionist Congress", was born in Pest in 1849, as Simon Maximilian Südfeld.[10]
The MCSZ's own history says that a Hungarian Zionist Federation (Magyar Cionista Szövetség) was formed in 1902 in Herzl's presence and with his help; that the first Zionist meeting was held in Pozsony (Bratislava) in 1903, the same year the Zionist students' association Makkabea was founded; that a second meeting followed in Pozsony in 1904; and that from 1905 the meetings were held in Budapest, at first with relatively little interest and much opposition.[9] KKL-JNF's Hungarian office likewise dates the first national Zionist assembly to Budapest in 1905, when the Zionist Organisation also opened an office there, and says the movement's headquarters moved from Pozsony to the capital in 1906.[8] The journal Múlt és Jövő (Past and Future) appeared in 1912.[9]
KKL activity in Hungary began in 1904, at first in a "legal grey area" because the federation was not officially registered until 1927. Donations were collected under annual interior-ministry permits and sent to Palestine through the Hungarian National Bank; KKL also ran hachsharot to prepare young Jews for physical labour there. The fundraising permit was not renewed at the end of 1935, and by 1936, the office says, KKL's work in Hungary had become impossible.[8]
Interwar restrictions, 1944 deportations and the Kasztner affair
The interior minister registered the Hungarian Zionist Federation only in 1927. The MCSZ says the federation was banned or had its work restricted several times in the Horthy period; that on 11 July 1940 the interior minister dissolved all local groups except the Budapest centre; that activity was allowed again in December 1943; and that on 6 April 1944 László Baky, an Arrow Cross state secretary, dissolved the organisation once more.[9]
The WJC estimates that Hungary's Jewish population grew to about 825,000, including some 100,000 converts to Christianity, between 1938 and 1941, after the annexation of southern Slovakia, Subcarpathian Rus, northern Transylvania and the Bačka. It says that from mid-May 1944, in less than two months, around 440,000 Jews were deported from Hungary to Auschwitz-Birkenau on more than 145 trains, and that around 320,000 of them were murdered immediately on arrival; that only about 255,000 of the 825,000 who had lived in enlarged Hungary in March 1944 survived; and that "up to 600,000 Jews from 'Greater Hungary' perished in the Shoah".[6] MAZSIHISZ says that "more than 600,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered" in the Holocaust.[11] The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) gives different figures: it estimates that the Nazis and their Hungarian collaborators murdered about 550,000 Jews living in Hungary, about 500,000 of them in the last year of the war; that between 15 May and 9 July 1944 about 437,000 Jews were deported from Hungary on 147 trains, about 420,000 of them to Auschwitz-Birkenau; and that about 330,000 of those sent to Auschwitz (about 75 per cent) were murdered in the gas chambers on arrival.[12]
In 1943 Hungarian Zionist activists, including Otto Komoly and Rezső (Rudolf (Rezső) Kasztner), a Labour Zionist journalist born in Kolozsvár (Cluj), helped organise the Relief and Rescue Committee (Va'adat Ezra ve-Hatzalah, or Va'adah), first to help Jewish refugees entering Hungary. After the German occupation, Kasztner and Joel Brand entered into negotiations with Dieter Wisliceny and Adolf Eichmann of the SS. The USHMM says that on 30 June 1944 the "Kasztner train" left Budapest carrying 1,686 people (a companion USHMM article gives 1,684) in exchange for money and valuables; that despite Eichmann's promise of a direct journey to Switzerland the transport reached Bergen-Belsen on 8 July 1944; that 318 of the passengers were released to Switzerland in late August 1944 and the remaining 1,368 on 7 December 1944.[13][14] After the war Kasztner was the subject of a libel trial in "Israel", known as the "Kasztner trial". On 22 June 1955 Judge Benjamin Halevi accepted most of the accusations against him, ruling that by saving the Jews on the train while failing to warn others, Kasztner had "sacrificed the majority of Hungarian Jewry for a chosen few". The Supreme Court of "Israel" overturned most of that judgment in January 1958, saying the lower court had "erred seriously". Before the judgment was handed down, Kasztner was shot near his home in "Tel Aviv" on the night of 4 March 1957 by three veterans of Lehi, and died of his wounds twelve days later.[13]
Communist era and refounding
The MCSZ says reorganisation began across the country in the summer of 1945, and that on 24 March 1948 the federation "voluntarily" ceased to operate; people were later arrested for Zionist organising and sentenced in show trials in the 1950s.[9] KKL-JNF, which says it was re-established in Hungary in 1945, describes the 1948 stoppage as having come "under communist pressure", and says the federation was formally dissolved in 1949; Zionist leaders were put on trial, and a major show trial was being prepared when it was halted by Stalin's death in 1953.[8] The WJC says that during the 1956 uprising some 20,000 Jews left the country, and that after the collapse of Communism all restrictions on ties with "Israel" were lifted.[6]
The MCSZ says that Dr. Tibor Engländer, a former member of Hashomer Hatzair, organised still-illegal Zionist seminars in the late 1980s, and that the first groupings were the Herzl circle and the Oneg Shabbat club at Bethlen Square. The present Magyarországi Cionista Szövetség was established on 1 April 1990; the MCSZ says the WZO admitted it with effect backdated to 1927.[9] KKL-JNF reopened its Budapest office in 2021, "after a hiatus of more than seven decades".[8] In mid-June 2026 the MCSZ reported that the WZO had held a seminar in Budapest on "cooperative Zionism", bringing together about 60 representatives from Zionist federations in 24 countries.[15]
The Orbán–Netanyahu alliance and the Magyar government
Under Viktor Orbán, Hungary developed a close relationship with Benjamin Netanyahu. In July 2017, after the Israeli ambassador in Budapest criticised a government billboard campaign against the Hungarian-born financier George Soros, "Israel"'s foreign ministry issued a "clarification" saying the statement had not been meant "to delegitimize criticism of George Soros, who continuously undermines Israel's democratically elected governments by funding organizations that defame the Jewish state". Hungarian Jewish leaders said the campaign had stoked antisemitism, and many billboards were defaced with antisemitic graffiti.[16]
On 3 April 2025 Netanyahu, invited by Orbán, visited Budapest in defiance of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant. Orbán announced that Hungary would withdraw from the court, which he called "no longer an impartial court, a rule-of-law court, but rather a political court"; Netanyahu praised the decision as "bold and principled". On 20 May 2025 parliament approved a bill starting the year-long withdrawal process.[17][18] EMIH has had a close relationship with Orbán's government, including "special status" and large state grants, which is covered on its page.
Péter Magyar's Tisza party won the April 2026 parliamentary election, ending Orbán's 16-year premiership. As prime minister-elect, on 20 April 2026, Magyar said that if Netanyahu entered Hungary while wanted by the ICC, "it is the Tisza government's firm intention" that Hungary remain an ICC member and that the country "must" take him into custody; he said he had "made this clear to the Israeli prime minister as well".[18] On 27 May 2026, days before the withdrawal would have taken effect on 2 June, parliament voted by 133 to remain in the ICC, reversing Orbán's decision.[17][19]
2025 World Zionist Congress election
Hungary kept its six mandates in 2025.[3] A vote planned for 25 May 2025, at the "Israel 77" / Yom Haatzmaut event in Szent István Park, Budapest, was cancelled. In a statement dated 23 May 2025 the MCSZ and the Zionist organisations said that all the lists that would have stood, and their Israeli parent organisations, had reached an agreement "on the basis of talks taking place in Israel" the previous evening, to run as a single joint list and, under the election rules, to renew the 2020 result in a complete agreement. The organisations named were Arzenu Hungary, Hanoar Hatzioni Hungary, Hasomer Hacair Magyarország and Kidma in the name of Meretz, Likud Hungary, Marom in the name of Merkaz, and Mizrachi Hungary, "each with one delegate" under their six Israeli parent organisations.[20] Arzenu likewise reported that "an agreement has been reached" and that it had earned one mandate.[21]
The WZO lists these people under Hungary:[5]
| Name | World union or faction (WZO listing) |
|---|---|
| András Büchler | World Union of Meretz |
| István Darvas | Mercaz Olami |
| Péter Deutsch | Lavi Olami (including Vision) |
| Judit Köszegi | Hanoar Hatzioni |
| Erika Siegfried-Tompson | Arzenu |
| Kálmán Szalai | World Likud |
The MCSZ agreement names Mizrachi Hungary among the six organisations due a delegate, but the WZO delegates page lists Péter Deutsch under Lavi Olami and does not list a Hungarian delegate for World Mizrachi. The two listings have not been reconciled here.
National institutions
| National institution | Hungarian affiliate or presence |
|---|---|
| World Zionist Organization | Magyarországi Cionista Szövetség (Zionist Federation of Hungary). The WZO gives the contact email magyarorszagicionista@gmail.com.[2][1] |
| Keren Hayesod | Keren Hayesod Hungaria Alapítvány (Keren Hayesod – United Israel Appeal, "Összefogás Izraelért"). It describes Keren Hayesod as working closely with the Israeli Prime Minister's Office and the Jewish Agency for Israel (Sochnut) on "Israel"'s "national priorities", and as present in more than 45 countries.[22] |
| Jewish National Fund | KKL Magyarország (KKL-JNF). Activity in Hungary from 1904; office reopened in Budapest in 2021. The chairman of the board is Shmuel Eisenberg.[8] |
| Women's International Zionist Organization | WIZO Hungary, a member organisation of the MCSZ. World WIZO says the federation was founded in 1929, closed during the war, and revived by a group of Holocaust survivors in 1990; its president is Katalin Memon, and it names Éva Bodor as chairperson. It says its aim is "to keep in touch with World WIZO and all the WIZO federations for the benefit of all of us and the State of Israel".[23][24] |
| Jewish Agency for Israel | The WJC says the first Israeli Cultural Institute in Hungary was set up with the help of the Jewish Agency and private donors, offering educational and language programmes.[6] Keren Hayesod Hungaria says it works closely with the Agency.[22] MAZSIHISZ describes the Agency as an important partner.[11] |
Major Zionist and Jewish communal organisations
The MCSZ says it currently groups eight member organisations, whose "common feature is that they support Jewish culture and the State of Israel". They are: Maccabi VAC Hungary, founded in 1906 by Lajos Dömény, banned in the 1930s and 1950s and re-established in 1989 with the help of Maccabi World Union; the Marom Club Association, which began as a Zionist Jewish youth cultural organisation in 1999; Hasomer Hacair (Hashomer Hatzair), re-established in 1989, which it describes as a left-wing Zionist youth organisation; Hanoar Hatzioni; WIZO Hungary; Arzenu Hungary, the political representation of Reform/Progressive Judaism; the Habonim Dror and Oz Ve-Shalom Friends' Circle; and Kidma, a non-religious Zionist organisation.[23] The MCSZ says it "represents our belief in Israel's central role" and that "what primarily unites the Jews of the world today, beyond tradition and history, is the State of Israel", and that the diaspora is a "natural partner" of "Israel".[1]
- MAZSIHISZ: the WJC affiliate and, in its own words, the representative of the Hungarian Jewish community and one of the country's four historic churches, with 40 synagogues, the Budapest Jewish Community and 29 communities outside the capital. Its president is Prof. Andor Grósz, also a WJC vice-president; the vice-presidents are Tamás Mester and Péter Nógrádi, and the director-general is László K. Károlyi. MAZSIHISZ says it is an "important partner of the State of Israel", of the Claims Conference, the Joint, the Jewish Agency, the Anti-Defamation League "and the Zionist movement". It claims to represent a community of "about 150,000", a much wider figure than DellaPergola's core estimate of 46,000 or the WJC's figure of 47,200.[11][6][7] In a July 2025 interview marking two years as president, Grósz said MAZSIHISZ had undertaken to keep its public statements non-political, "the only exception being if it is about Israel, Jewry, minorities and hate speech", and that it had signed a cooperation agreement with Bar-Ilan University in "Tel Aviv" as the maintainer of the National Rabbinical Seminary – Jewish University (OR-ZSE).[25]
- EMIH: see Religious Zionism and Chabad.
- B'nai B'rith: listed by the WJC among the largest Jewish organisations in Hungary, together with the Zionist Federation, the March of the Living, Limmud Hungary and WIZO.[6]
Youth, education and aliyah
The WJC lists among "numerous active Jewish youth organisations" the MAZSIHISZ youth group, Hashomer Hatzair, Kidma, Marom ("a conservative religious Zionist student organisation"), Habonim Dror, Bnei Akiva, Hanoar Hatzioni and Maccabi.[6] Bnei Akiva is not among the eight member organisations named on the MCSZ's own list.[23]
Israel.com's compilation of aliyah data gives 47 immigrants from Hungary in 2025.[26] DellaPergola gives about 1,600 migrants from Hungary to "Israel" between 2000 and 2022, and, citing the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, 5,512 Israelis immigrating to Hungary in the same period and 1,467 leaving it, a net balance of 4,045, which he says "apparently mitigated the inherent decline" of Hungary's Jewish population.[7]
Antisemitism organisations
- Tett és Védelem Alapítvány (TEV, Action and Protection Foundation): founded by EMIH on 15 November 2012 to monitor and counter antisemitism. It publishes monthly and annual reports, runs education programmes and a legal-aid hotline, and invites reports of antisemitic incidents.[27] In April 2026 the State Audit Office reported serious irregularities in TEV's use of central-government grants and referred suspected budget fraud to the authorities; TEV said the problems were "mainly administrative and accounting" shortcomings. The findings and TEV's response are set out on the EMIH page.
- MAZSIHISZ: the WJC affiliate; it lists work against hate speech among the exceptions to its general rule of non-political public statements.[25]
Israeli state presence
- Embassy of Israel in Budapest, at Fullánk utca 8, 1026 Budapest.[6][28] Maya Kadosh has been ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary from 1 April 2025; the embassy last updated her biography on 16 September 2025. She was born on 28 May 1976 in "Ashdod", served as a captain in Israeli military intelligence, and immediately before this posting was chief of policy staff to foreign minister Gideon Sa'ar.[29] The deputy chief of mission is Moran Birman.[30]
- The WJC records an Israeli Cultural Institute in Hungary, set up with Jewish Agency help.[6]
Religious Zionism and Chabad
Mizrachi Hungary was named as one of the six organisations in the 2025 Congress agreement, though no Hungarian Mizrachi delegate appears on the WZO delegates page (see above).[20][5] The WJC lists Bnei Akiva among the active youth organisations.[6] Marom, a MCSZ member, is described by the WJC as a conservative religious Zionist student organisation and is the Mercaz holder in the Congress agreement (István Darvas on the WZO list).[6][20][5]
Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation (EMIH) and Chabad
- Main articles: Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation (EMIH) and Chabad Lubavitch of Hungary
EMIH was founded in 2004 with the support of the Chabad-Lubavitch mission in Budapest; its executive rabbi is Shlomo Köves. EMIH's own description says it was founded "inspired by – and midwifed by – Chabad Lubavitch".[31][32] It has had a close relationship with the Orbán government, and it founded the Action and Protection Foundation (TEV).
Synagogue movements and schools
The majority of affiliated Jews in Hungary are connected with the Neolog community, which MAZSIHISZ represents; smaller numbers belong to Orthodox and Liberal communities, and EMIH presents itself in the Status Quo Ante tradition.[6]
- The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation funds the nondenominational Lauder Javne Community School, founded in 1990, which the WJC says has some 600 pupils from kindergarten through high school. The Scheiber Sándor School continues the tradition of Budapest's pre-war Jewish high school. The Budapest University of Jewish Studies, originally a Neolog rabbinical seminary of 1877, continues to train rabbis and cantors.[6]
- EMIH's schools, including the Bét Menáchem school and the Maimonides secondary school, are covered on its page.
- Camp Szarvas, funded by the Lauder Foundation and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, welcomes about 1,500 Jewish campers from more than 20 countries each summer.[6]
Leaders
| Name | Position | Source date |
|---|---|---|
| Dávid István Gottreich-Horváth | President, Magyarországi Cionista Szövetség, elected for a five-year term to 13 November 2027 (the federation's "Vezetőink" page was not reachable when checked)[33] | February 2023 |
| Ádám Schönberger | Vice-president, MCSZ, to 13 November 2027[33] | February 2023 |
| Márta Susán | Executive director, MCSZ, to 13 November 2027[33] | February 2023 |
| Judit Kardi | Outgoing MCSZ president, 2022[33] | February 2023 |
| Andor Grósz | President, MAZSIHISZ, and WJC vice-president (elected 2023)[11][6] | August 2026 |
| Tamás Mester | Vice-president, MAZSIHISZ[11] | August 2026 |
| Péter Nógrádi | Vice-president, MAZSIHISZ[11] | August 2026 |
| László K. Károlyi | Director-general, MAZSIHISZ[11] | August 2026 |
| Shlomo Köves | Executive rabbi, EMIH[31] | 2026 |
| Katalin Memon | President, WIZO Hungary[24] | November 2026 |
| Éva Bodor | Chairperson, WIZO Hungary[24] | November 2026 |
| Shmuel Eisenberg | Chairman of the board, KKL Magyarország[8] | November 2026 |
| Maya Kadosh | Israeli ambassador to Hungary, from 1 April 2025[29] | September 2025 |
See also
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Hungary
- Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation (EMIH)
- Chabad Lubavitch of Hungary
- Theodor Herzl
- Zionist movement Russia
- Zionist movement by country
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Magyarországi Cionista Szövetség, "Rólunk" (About us) (in Hungarian), accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 World Zionist Organization, "Zionist Federations", accessed 23 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 World Zionist Organization, summary of election results and agreements for the 39th Congress (Hebrew), as submitted to the Zionist Court on 9 October 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ World Zionist Organization, summary of election results and agreements for the 38th Congress, 2020 (Hebrew), accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 World Zionist Organization, "Delegates", 39th Zionist Congress, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 World Jewish Congress, "Community in Hungary", accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Sergio DellaPergola, "World Jewish Population, 2023", American Jewish Year Book 2023, Berman Jewish DataBank, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 KKL Magyarország, "KKL Hungary", accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 Magyarországi Cionista Szövetség, "Magyarországi Cionista Szövetség története" (History of the Zionist Federation of Hungary) (in Hungarian), accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Jewish Virtual Library, "Max Nordau (1849–1923)", accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 MAZSIHISZ, "Kik vagyunk?" (Who we are) (in Hungarian), updated 4 August 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, "The Holocaust in Hungary", Holocaust Encyclopedia, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, "Rudolf (Rezső) Kasztner", Holocaust Encyclopedia, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, "Jewish Aid and Rescue", Holocaust Encyclopedia, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Magyarországi Cionista Szövetség, "A Cionista Világszervezet (WZO) konferenciát tartott Budapesten" (The World Zionist Organization held a conference in Budapest) (in Hungarian), 16 June 2026.
- ↑ Jewish Telegraphic Agency, "Israel says its criticism of Hungary's anti-George Soros campaign is not a defense of the man", 9 July 2017, accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Ashifa Kassam, "Hungarian MPs vote to remain member of ICC, overturning decision made by Orbán", The Guardian, 27 May 2026.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 Ferdinand Knapp, "Hungary must arrest Netanyahu if he visits, Magyar says", Politico, 20 April 2026.
- ↑ Dávid Nagy, "Hungary Remains in International Criminal Court after Parliament Halts Exit Process", Hungarian Conservative, 27 May 2026.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 Magyarországi Cionista Szövetség, "A MAGYARORSZÁGI CIONISTA SZÖVETSÉG és a CIONISTA SZERVEZETEK KÖZLEMÉNYE" (Statement of the Zionist Federation of Hungary and the Zionist organisations) (in Hungarian), 23 May 2025.
- ↑ Arzenu, "2025 World Zionist Congress Election Information", accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Keren Hayesod Hungaria Alapítvány, "Bemutatkozás" (About us) (in Hungarian), accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 23.2 Magyarországi Cionista Szövetség, "Tagszervezetek" (Member organisations) (in Hungarian), accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Women's International Zionist Organization, "Hungary", accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 "Dr. Grósz Andor: A neológ zsidó közösség erősítését tartom szem előtt" (Dr. Andor Grósz: I keep the strengthening of the Neolog Jewish community in view), MAZSIHISZ, 25 July 2025.
- ↑ Israel.com, "Aliyah Statistics 2025: Who Moves to Israel, and Where They Settle" and "aliyah-by-country.csv", accessed 25 October 2026.
- ↑ Action and Protection Foundation, home page (in Hungarian), accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Embassy of Israel in Budapest, "Contact us", accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 Embassy of Israel in Budapest, "The ambassador", last updated 16 September 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Embassy of Israel in Budapest, "About the embassy", last updated 16 September 2025, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 31.0 31.1 EMIH, "Bemutatkozás" (About us) (in Hungarian), zsido.com, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ Vali Juhász, "Lerántjuk a leplet az EMIH alapításának kulisszatitkairól" (The inside story of EMIH's founding) (in Hungarian), zsido.com, 23 April 2026, accessed 10 November 2026.
- ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 "Új elnök a Magyarországi Cionista Szövetségben" (New president at the Zionist Federation of Hungary), Szombat, 10 February 2023.