I found two details of Holly Case’s talk on the migrant crisis to be of particular interest.

The first, which Professor Case mentioned briefly near the end of her talk, is the newly arising division within the Jewish-Hungarian community. Professor Case mentioned that, somewhat counterintuitively, the Jewish community has split, taking two opposing sides of the debate. One faction, noting the amount of forced relocation in Jewish history, sympathizes with the Middle Eastern migrants and is happy to support their journey into Europe. On the other hand, the second faction feels that for the first time in their histories, due to the xenofobia surrounding the influx of migrants, that they are now seen as true Hungarians, rather than second class citizens; and thus, have taken a stance on the crisis that is characteristic of the right side of the Hungarian political spectrum.

Second, which was also briefly mentioned, was the fact that the aid of the migrants has in some sense taken the shape of a feminist movement. Because Hungarian society is a very patriarchal one, it is not uncommon for Hungarian men to refuse to do the household-like duties needed in aid work. (Organizing clothing, preparing food, etc.) This has caused a large gender-imbalance among the aid workers, and in one village, the aid operation was run entirely by women.

While these are two small anecdotes and they may not be entirely indicative of cultural change, it is fascinating to see how a culture can evolve in the face of a crisis, or at least abnormality.