György Ekrem-Kemál (29 June 1945 – 12 June 2009) was a Hungarian

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

, " Hungarist",

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

political figure, and leader of several organizations associated with

Neo-Nazism Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

and

antisemitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

Life

Ekrem-Kemál was born to a Turkish-Hungarian father and a Hungarian mother. His father, Ekrem Kemál, was a prominent figure in the

1956 Hungarian Revolution The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...

as a "Széna tér" revolutionary against

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

forces. He was executed for his role in the uprising, and is widely considered a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

amongst the Hungarian

. György Ekrem-Kemál died on June 12, 2009, after a long battle with lung cancer.

Political activities

On 20 April 1994 (

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's birthday), Ekrem-Kemál, already a well-known figure in Hungarian far-right circles (mostly due to his father), co-founded the Hungarian Hungarist Movement (, MHM) alongside István Győrkös and Albert Szabó. It was a largely unsuccessful attempt to unify the Hungarian far-right under the umbrella of Hungarism, a historical ideological tenet of the

Arrow Cross Party The Arrow Cross Party (, , abbreviated NYKP) was a far-right Hungarian ultranationalist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which formed a government in Hungary they named the Government of National Unity. They were in power from 15 October 1944 to ...

, the defunct

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

party that ruled Hungary briefly in 1944 and early 1945. The MHM failed to be cohesive, and, by 1996, the movement had largely scattered due to internal disputes. Ekrem Kemal Budapest protest 2006

In 1996, Ekrem-Kemál founded the Association of Those Persecuted by Communism (), a small organization established with the objective of overthrowing the relatively new parliamentary government. The KÜSZ claimed it would undertake these actions in order to continue the legacy of the Arrow Cross Party. Ekrem-Kemál was also at one point the leader of the Hungarian National Freedom Party (, MNSZP), another

organization. Ekrem-Kemál was arrested in 1997 following his connection

pipe bomb A pipe bomb is an improvised explosive device (IED) that uses a tightly sealed section of pipe filled with an explosive material. The containment provided by the pipe means that simple low explosives can be used to produce a relatively larg ...

attacks on the offices of the then ruling Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP). He was found guilty in May 2001 for attempting to organize a coup d'état against the Hungarian constitutional order. The Hungarian Supreme Court reduced his sentence to 4 years of probation on the basis of his movement having a "very long shot" to achieve its goal.Enyhítették Ekrem Kemál büntetését
, Népszabadság, 2001-05-25 Ekrem-Kemál returned to prominence in 2006 during the 2006 protests in Hungary against the ruling Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP). He joined the Revolutionary National Committee and spoke publicly at the protests in Kossuth Square, calling for the protesters (known as the Kossuth tér protesters) to mobilize against the existing government order. The protesters made frequent allusions to the

, further connecting Ekrem-Kemál, the son of a revolutionary "martyr", to the action.

Ideology

Ekrem-Kemál's ideology was guided chiefly by " Hungarism", which traces itself back to the Arrow Cross Party and its leader,

Ferenc Szálasi Ferenc Szálasi (; 6 January 1897 – 12 March 1946) was a Hungarian military officer, politician, Nazi sympathizer and founder of the far-right Arrow Cross Party who List of prime ministers of Hungary, headed the government of Hungary duri ...

. Hungarism is a

ideology characterized by a unique conception of racial superiority (advantageous to Ekrem-Kemál) and a conventional fascist grounding in

anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ekrem-Kemal, Gyorgy 1945 births 2009 deaths Deaths from lung cancer in Hungary Hungarian nationalists Hungarian people of Turkish descent Hungarian politicians