Award-Winning Hungarian Jewish Writer Gets Political Asylum in Canada
Akos Kertesz, an award-winning Hungarian Jewish writer, was granted political asylum in Canada.
Kertesz, 80, who fled last year to Canada from Hungary, was given refugee status even though Ottawa in a move that stirred controversy a year ago placed Hungary on a list of “safe countries.” The author said he was the victim of a state-led “hate campaign,” the Canadian Jewish News reported.
He arrived in Montreal claiming his life in Hungary had become intolerable because of his outspokenness abroad about Hungarians’ role in the Holocaust and his denunciation of the country’s right-wing government.
In August 2011, Kertesz, the author of some 20 books and winner of Hungary’s most prestigious literary prize, wrote an open letter in a U.S. Hungarian periodical slamming his countrymen for not owning up to their record during World War II and for supporting the “dictatorial” Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The article caused a firestorm in Hungary. Kertesz said he became the object of a “witch hunt” and feared for his life after being physically assaulted on the street, harassed and threatened. Much of the invective against him was anti-Semitic.
Kertesz said he “was forced [to flee] because of the current Hungarian government,” the CJN reported. “I hope that one day I will be able to return to a democratic, tolerant, humane Hungary.”
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO