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Anti-Hungarian sentiment (also known as Hungarophobia, Anti-Hungarianism, Magyarophobia or Antimagyarism) is dislike, distrust, racism, or xenophobia directed against the Hungarians. It can involve hatred, grievance, distrust, intimidation, fear, and hostility towards the Hungarian people, language and culture. Due to Hungarian background, especially about Atilla the Hun, it is confused with Anti-Turkism and Anti-Mongolianism.
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The beginnings
During the era of the Habsburg Austro-Hungarian monarchs, the court in Vienna was influenced by Hungarophobia; though the Hungarian side, the landowner nobles, also showed signs of Germanophobia. In the 18th century, after the end of Rákóczi's War of Independence, many immigrants came to the underpopulated southern parts of the Kingdom of Hungary: for instance 800 new German villages were established. The authorities preferred non-Hungarian settlers. The Habsburgs regarded Hungarians as "politically unreliable", and so they were not allowed to settle in the southern territories until the 1740s. This organized resettlement was planned by the Habsburgs. The resettlement policy was characterized as anti-Hungarian, because, among other reasons, the Habsburgs feared an uprising of Protestant Hungarians.
The Habsburg Ruler and his advisers skilfully manipulated the Croatian, Serbian and Romanian peasantry, led by priests and officers firmly loyal to the Habsburgs, and induced them to rebel against the Hungarian government. Thousands of Hungarians were massacred in Transylvania in 1848-49 (now part of Romania) in nine separate incidents during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848.
In Czechoslovakia
Minorities in Czechoslovakia during the years 1918-1939 enjoyed personal freedoms and were properly recognized by the state. There were three Hungarian and/or Hungarian-centric political parties:
After World War II, Czechoslovakia became a communist state; during the transition to a communist one-party state, decrees permitting the forced expulsion of German and Hungarian minorities from ethnic enclaves in Czechoslovakia came into effect, and Hungarians were forcibly relocated to Sudetenland, on the borders of Czechoslovakia. The Czechoslovak government deported more than 44,129 Hungarians from Slovakia to the Sudetenland for forced labor between 1945 and 1948. To this day, these Beneš decrees remain legally in effect in the Czech Republic.
In Slovakia
In Slovakia, Hungarian and pro-Hungarian political parties are a stable part of the political system. Anti-Hungarian sentiment had been cricicized particularly during the third government of Vladimír Mečiar. In the past, so-called "Hungarian card" had been used mainly by the Slovak National Party (SNS) which opposed the granting of a special status to the Hungarian minority, and argued for the complete assimilation of the Hungarian minority into Slovak society: suggesting that Hungarians in Slovakia are actually overprivileged. After personal changes in the presidium, SNS abandoned similar rhetoric and formed a common government with pro-Hungarian Most-Híd in 2016.
Anti-Hungarian rhetoric of some far-right organizations in Slovakia is based on historical stereotypes, conflicts in the common history interpreted from nationalistic positions and recent events. In such interpretations, the arrival of old Hungarian tribes is described as the occupation by barbarian tribes that contributed to the destruction of Great Moravia. Other negative sentiments are related to the period of magyarization, revisionistic policy of inter-war Hungary, collaboration of Hungarian minority parties with Hungarian government against Czechoslovakia, the First Vienna Award and Slovak–Hungarian War. According to these views, Hungary still tries to undermine the territorial integrity of Slovakia and local minority politicians are drawn as irredentists. However, anti-Hungarian sentiment is not typical even for all far-right organizations. E.g. the leader of Slovak Brotherhood emphasized the collaboration with Hungarian far-right organisations against materialism and multiculturalism.
Women, whether Slovak or not, were in the past required to affix the Slovak language feminine marker -ová (used for declension of femine names) at the end of their surname.
One incident of ethnically motivated violence against Hungarians in Slovakia is the Hedvig Malina case. Hedvig Malina, a 23-year-old Hungarian student from Horné Mýto allegedly beaten and robbed in Nitra after speaking Hungarian in public. A football match in Dunajská Streda also caused tensions between Slovakia and Hungary when Hungarian fans were badly beaten by Slovak police.
The majority population and the Hungarian minority describe their coexistence mostly as good. For example, in a public survey in 2015, 85.2% of respondents characterized their coexistence as good (63.6% rather good, 21.6% very good) and only 7.6% as bad (6.3% rather bad, 1.3% very bad).
In Romania
In Romania, the Ceaușescu regime was obsessed with the ancient history of Transylvania and suffering from Magyarophobia. Due to the nationalistic state ideology, the historical personalities of Hungary (such as John Hunyadi or György Dózsa) went through Romanianization in these years, becoming more central figures in the Romanian history.
In Serbia
Although Hungarophobia in Serbia is not really high, however, due to Serbia's conflict with Hungary in the past, notably over Vojvodina, there are some anti-Hungarian feelings in Serbia.