A few days ago a copy of a secret proposal by the ministry of human resources landed in HVG’s mailbox. The proposal, which includes a request for additional funds, was sent to several ministries, including the finance ministry, for approval. It claims that substantial additional financial support is necessary if the newly established Magyarságkutató Intézet (MkI), a research institute whose aim is to discover the real history of the Hungarian nation, is to fulfill its mission.

I wrote a post on the subject at the end of October 2018, when MkI was established. Although the institute has supposedly been functioning since January 1 and apparently has over 50 researchers and assorted employees, we know practically nothing about them or their research projects. The director is a lawyer whose last job was in the Központi Statisztikai Hivatal, Hungary’s Statistical Office. There are signs that the institute’s goal is to disprove the Finno-Ugric origin of the Hungarian language. And, perhaps based on the Szeged genealogists’ dubious claim of Hunnic-Hungarian ethnic relations, they will undertake an entirely new interpretation of Hungarian history. New kinds of research will be conducted at the institute for which “there have been no opportunities earlier,” as the new director put it in his request for more funds.

Zsófia Gergely, the journalist at HVG who wrote two articles on the subject, took a look at the website of the new research institute and found no useful information about its activities. Under “Research” one can see a list of nine “research centers,” but my suspicion is that these research centers don’t really exist. Under “Events” we learn that at the beginning of June the institute organized a five-day lecture series in the Szekler-inhabited areas of Romania. It is not clear whether the lecturers were associated with the institute or were “guest lecturers.” The lecture series had no overarching theme. At one venue, for example, one lecture was on the secret service of the Kádár regime, another on the Szekler border defense between 1940 and 1944, and a third on the coronation of King Mathias in 1458. Tamás Sashalmi-Fekete gave a talk on the latest research results of murals depicting the Legend of Saint László. The only information I could find on him was “foglalkozása: lovag,” his profession is being a “knight.” In brief, this “research institute” is another sham that enables these harmful pseudo-scientists to earn a living.

The institute originally received 800 million forints for 2019, but the new director convinced Kásler that, given the ambitious plans of the organization, it needs 1.77 billion forints per year. In addition, he asked for an extra 4.5 billion, which is necessary to cover the cost of establishing two museums in 2021 and 2022. One of them, the Magyar Eredet Múzeum (Hungarian Genesis Museum), would be located in the center of the old city in Pécs. The organizers have already received support from Pécs’s Fidesz Mayor Zsolt Páva and Péter Hoppál, a Fidesz member of parliament who represents the city.

The other project would be a Hunnic-Hungarian Museum in the Vajdahunyad Castle in Budapest’s Városliget, which would be “a tremendous place since, after being visited by Hungarians and foreigners, there would no longer be any question that the Hungarians are an ancient nation in Europe and the whole world.” And if that nonsense weren’t enough, the proposal suggests that “after a visit to this museum tourists, armed with new information and the knowledge that Hungary is no longer part of the socialist bloc but a nation that was instrumental in the organization and defense of Europe,” will think of the country as “a strong Hungarian state that deserves recognition and respect.” Miklós Kásler is even thinking of erecting a “monumental Attila memorial.”

This government destroyed the 56 Institute and is in the process of doing the same to research institutes of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In their place it is creating a number of sham institutes in which pseudo-scientists work on misleading the Hungarian public in the name of some pathological inferiority complex. Who would have thought that Hungarians need Attila the Hun behind them to be accepted by Europeans? What kind of sick thinking is pervading the country with the encouragement of members of the government, including the prime minister who should know better? After all, he is not a stupid man. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a firm grounding in the humanities, so he seems to fall for pseudo-science of the sort that Kásler and his friends propagate on state television. Or perhaps he finds all that trash handy for his nationalistic propaganda, although I don’t know what kind of nationalism needs a Hunnic-Hungarian museum and a gigantic Attila memorial to gain the respect of others. This constant harping on the greatness of Hungarians and the Attila memorial Kásler is planning remind me of Nikola Gruevski of North Macedonia and his maniacal building of memorials to Alexander the Great. Has Orbán sunk that low? It seems, yes.

June 27, 2019