Our colleague, Csilla Fedinec, regularly contributes analyses on public policy and cultural topics to the pages of Jelen. These pieces are available on Jelen’s website.

On 29 January 2026 (Thursday) at 5:00 PM, the roundtable discussion “Migration and Integration – Hungarian Experiences of the Ukrainian Refugee Crisis” will take place at the FSZEK Ötpacsirta Salon (1088 Budapest, Ötpacsirta utca 4) as part of the Ferge Zsuzsa Professional Legacy Lecture Series. Our colleague Margit Feischmidt will participate in the event as one of the invited speakers in the roundtable discussion.

The Institute of Economics at PPKE BTK is organizing a conference on January 23 entitled The Political Role of the Hungarian Aristocracy between the Two World Wars. Our colleague, Tamás Gusztáv Filep, will also be speaking at the conference. The title of his presentation is Legitimists in the Lager.

The National Self-Government of Germans in Hungary is organizing a conference on January 20, 2026, in connection with the deportation of Germans from Hungary that began 80 years ago. Our colleagues Ágnes Tóth and András Morauszki will also give presentations at the conference.

The titles of their presentations are:

Ágnes Tóth: The position of Hungarian political parties, the Potsdam legend, the government decree on expulsion (deportation)

András Morauszki: The identity of Germans in Hungary today as reflected in the census

Venue and time: MTA Headquarters, 1051 Budapest, Széchenyi István tér 9., January 20, 2026, 10:00 a.m.

An essay by our colleague Csilla Fedinec in Jelen.

Few European literatures have attempted not only to depict their own countries, but also to conceptualize them. From the 19th century onwards, Russian literature did not simply reflect Russia: it became a platform for interpreting existence, historical vocation, and national self-image. The works not only attempted to understand the country, but also—often unknowingly—created and then destroyed the ideological foundations of the country's self-image. Meanwhile, foreign critics observed this peculiar duality with a mixture of fascination and alarm: how Russians saw themselves, and how their writers tried to justify and then expose this view.