Wilson Center Experts
Alice Freifeld
East European Studies Title VIII Research Scholar
European Studies
Contact Information:
T 202-691-4309
// F 202-691-4001
Expertise:
History
; Europe
; Hungary
Affiliation:
Associate Professor of History, University of Florida
Wilson Center Project(s):
“Displaced Hungarian Jewish Identity, 1945-48.”
Term:
Apr 01, 2012
Jul 01, 2012
Project Summary
Hungary was a gateway to the west in perhaps the largest mass migration in European history, between World War II and closing down of the borders in 1948/49. It is generally assumed that the surviving Jewish populations left. However, Hungarian Jews were split in the decision to leave or not to leave. Of the 200,000 survivors, about half stayed, residing primarily in Budapest. This remains the largest Jewish community in Central Europe.
Major Publications
- Nationalism and the Crowd in Liberal Hungary, 1948-1914 was published by the Woodrow Wilson Center Press in 2000.
- co-edited a volume, East Europe Reads Nietzsche, with Peter Bergmann and Bernice Glatzer Rosenthal (Columbia U Press, 1998).
Previous Terms at the Wilson Center:
1993-94, Alice Freifeld revised her Ph.D. dissertation (U.C. Berkeley 1992). The resulting book, Nationalism and the Crowd in Liberal Hungary, 1948-1914, was published by the Woodrow Wilson Center Press in 2000 and awarded the Barbara Jelavich book prize by the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies.
Related Content for this Expert
48. The De-Germanization of the Budapest Stage
Jul 07, 2011The shift from a German to a Hungarian theater culture has been told in different ways: This author analyzes three examples of this: 1) the nationalist linguistic focus on the making of texts and the theater as a forum for Magyarization; 2) the National Theater in Budapest as an institution-the building itself as an icon of Hungarian political identity; and 3) the role of the crowd in diffusing the significance of the theater, now simply one voice in the multiplicity of the metropolis. more
238. Nationalism and the Problem of Inclusion in Hungary
Jul 07, 2011October 2001- Budapest was the fastest growing European city in the 19th century and about a quarter of its population was Jewish. Jews in Eastern Europe have functioned like the canary in the mine: what happened to the canary would soon enough happen to the miners. The degree Hungarian Jews felt included, excluded, then ambivalent and confused about leaving or staying also provides a glimpse of the history of Hungarian nationalism in its various manifestations between 1848 and the present. more
Nationalism and the Crowd in Liberal Hungary, 1848-1914
Oct 01, 2000Hungary's revolutionary crowd of 1848 was defeated in 1849, but crowds of other kinds and crowd politics remained central to Hungary as it fashioned itself over the next half-century. Nationalism and the Crowd in Liberal Hungary, 1848-1914, describes how the crowd's shifting cast of characters participated in the making of Hungary inside the increasingly troubled Austro-Hungarian empire. more
238. Nationalism and the Problem of Inclusion in Hungary
Jul 07, 2011October 2001- Budapest was the fastest growing European city in the 19th century and about a quarter of its population was Jewish. Jews in Eastern Europe have functioned like the canary in the mine: what happened to the canary would soon enough happen to the miners. The degree Hungarian Jews felt included, excluded, then ambivalent and confused about leaving or staying also provides a glimpse of the history of Hungarian nationalism in its various manifestations between 1848 and the present.
48. The De-Germanization of the Budapest Stage
Jul 07, 2011The shift from a German to a Hungarian theater culture has been told in different ways: This author analyzes three examples of this: 1) the nationalist linguistic focus on the making of texts and the theater as a forum for Magyarization; 2) the National Theater in Budapest as an institution-the building itself as an icon of Hungarian political identity; and 3) the role of the crowd in diffusing the significance of the theater, now simply one voice in the multiplicity of the metropolis.
Nationalism and the Crowd in Liberal Hungary, 1848-1914
Oct 01, 2000Hungary's revolutionary crowd of 1848 was defeated in 1849, but crowds of other kinds and crowd politics remained central to Hungary as it fashioned itself over the next half-century. Nationalism and the Crowd in Liberal Hungary, 1848-1914, describes how the crowd's shifting cast of characters participated in the making of Hungary inside the increasingly troubled Austro-Hungarian empire.