Ph.D. Candidate in History, University of Szeged, Hungary
Ms. Margittai’s dissertation analyzes the factors which determined the local “Jewish policy” of the Hungarian authorities in the so-called Southern Province region (Délvidék, Voivodina) re-annexed to Hungary in 1941, with special regard to the interrelations between the “Jewish question” and ethnic issues. She primarily focuses on the implementation of the Hungarian anti-Semitic laws introduced before the German occupation of Hungary in the spring of 1944, examining how this process became peculiar in the Southern Province compared to the “mother country,” as well as to the previously reattached territories. She aims to point out the contradictions in this policy. The region’s special situation allowed for atrocities that did not take place in the “mother country.”
At the same time, the aspiration to consolidate and integrate the region set in motion the “legal” settlement of the “Jewish question.” This process primarily aimed to restore the region’s Hungarian character and was primarily anti-Serb. The attempt at “Aryanization” took place simultaneously and was often subordinated to “nationalization.” The necessity to preserve social and economic stability occasionally made it inevitable to involve the Jews of Hungarian identity in the “re-Magyarization” process. Apart from her native Hungarian, Ms. Margittai speaks English and Italian and has a working knowledge of German, Dutch and French. Her dissertation advisor is Dr. Judit Molnár.