“If you come to Hungary, do not take our jobs,” the government billboards scream—in Hungarian—a language Syrians cannot read. “If you come to Hungary, obey our laws.” No outsiders welcome; at least not at the cost of the insiders.
It has been less than 25 years since the collapse of communism in the region, and the history of subjugation and fear is still alive in older generations.
Two flash portraits of two of the most interesting people I met in Hungary—and a really quick note:
She asks me to call her Mahad. That’s not her name. She’s afraid for her family in Syria. Like so many others I meet, she wants very much to tell her story. Her story is all she has right now.
Hungary has been running a billboard campaign—in Hungarian, which the refugees couldn’t possibly understand—with slogans like, “If you come to Hungary, don’t take the jobs of Hungarians,” and, “If you come to Hungary, you have to keep our laws.”
There was a refugee camp here on the Hungarian side on Monday. But on Tuesday the Hungarian government imposed new rules.