Furst's Kingdom of Shadows and Current Events

[Francis A. Miniter]

Having just finished this novel which explores fascist, Nazi
and communist sentiments in Central Europe before WWII,
especially those in Hungary, I sat down to read the current
issue of The Economist and came across this article on
present-day fascism in Hungary and other European countries.

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14859369
It begins with this introduction:
----------------
WHEN Jobbik, a Hungarian far-right party, took 15% of the
vote in June’s European election,
it sent shudders across the continent. Running on an
anti-Roma (gypsy) platform, with nasty
words for Jews and homosexuals and with its own uniformed
wing, Jobbik seemed more
troubling than earlier groups. It joined existing extremists
in the region to suggest a new
resurgence of the far right. The Slovak National Party
(SNP), whose leader, Jan Slota,
is known for pungent anti-Hungarian remarks, has won seats
in every Slovak parliament
but one since 1990 and been part of the government since 2006.
-----------------
This is much the same situation that Furst describes in
1938-39 Hungary, except that then the fascists could count
on the military support of Nazi Germany, and that magnified
their power.

Notably, The Czechs had only a weak far right (in the
Suedetenland) in 1938, and not much at all now. Likewise,
with Poland.

--
Francis A. Miniter

Oscuramente
libros, laminas, llaves
siguen mi suerte.

Jorge Luis Borges, La Cifra Haiku, 6

[Willow]

I did managed to find a copy of "The Spies of Warsaw" locally and
thank you for suggesting this writer.

Willow