Colour Symbolism, Colour Preference in Hungarian Folklore and Folk Architecture"

The Hungarian way of decoration has certain characteristics which are rooted in the deep symbolism of ancient Hungarian mythical thinking. The ancient heritage of the Hungarians' former homeland somewhere in the Urals included eastern elements. During their migrations, the Hungarian tribes met other eastern peoples and their culture of decoration became mixed with elements drawn from these new contacts. These diverse influences mean that the Hungarian way of thinking, building and ornamentation show a certain dualism of Puritanism and rationalism in the creation of space and manufacturing, and rich fantasy in decoration and ornamentation. The Hungarians use coloured ornamentation to emphasise the symbolic importance of details. The colouring system of the built environment shows the same dualism: the main colour of the facades and inner walls is white, while the furniture, textiles, gates and windows, and sometimes the gable and fireplace are richly decorated. In Hungarian symbolism, the house and settlement are a model of the universe, so their different parts also have a transcendent meaning. The traditional meanings of the different colours reflect this transcendence. Each colour has ambivalent meanings: RED - the colour of blood - means violence and love. YELLOW - means sickness, death and ripeness (golden yellow). BLUE - means innocence, eternity (light blue) and old age, death (dark blue). BLACK - can be both ceremonial and mourning. WHILE - can have sacred meaning (bright white), while yellowish white fabric is the most common garb of both men and women in village society. GREEN - the only colour without a dual meaning, symbolises the beginning of life. Until the late 18th and early 19th centuries Hungarian folk art used one or two-coloured decoration (red, black, blue, red-blue or red-black), and from the early 19th century it moved to multi-coloured decoration. Colours are characteristically used in complementary contrast, with bright colours on a plain ground and an avoidance of subtle shadings.

Annexations in Europe and the Persecution of Jews, 1939-1944

This contribution tries to explain why Jews were persecuted earlier or more fiercely in territories annexed by a state during World War II than in the mainland of that state. The case-studies covered are Nazi Germany, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and the USSR. It is argued that internationally, similar policies of incorporation, especially the replacement of existing elites and the process of bringing in new settlers, worked against the Jews. Aside from focusing on governmental policies, the contribution also sketches the manner in which individual actions by state functionaries (who did not merely implement state policies) and by non-state actors had adverse effects on the Jewish population, impacting their survival chances. Finally, the article places the persecution of Jews in annexed areas in the context of the concerted violence conducted, at the same time, against other ethnically defined, religious, and social groups.

„Offene Grenzen“ oder „freiwillige Ghetttoisierung“? Aktuelle Kontroversen um die Sicherung der Kontinuität des Judentums

Die jüdische Gemeinschaft gilt generell als Musterbeispiel einer gut integrierten, religiösen Minderheit. Tatsächlich jedoch bewirken gerade die jüngsten gesellschaftlichen Entwicklungen − verstärkte Säkularisierung und Individualisierung verbunden mit steigenden Mischehenraten und einer Neudefinitionder Geschlechterrollen − eine Infragestellung der Kontinuität europäisch-jüdischer Existenz.Seit den 70iger Jahren des 20. Jahrhunderts bewegt sich die Mischehenrate fast überall in der Diaspora bei über 50%. Da die Weitergabe des Judentums religionsgesetzlich nur über die Mutter erfolgt,stellt der Umgang mit nichtjüdischen Familienmitgliedern einen hochsensiblen Bereich für die Gemeinschaft dar. Die soziale und religiöse Integration von nichtjüdischen Ehefrauen und vaterjüdischenKindern ist auf Grund einer nicht selten willkürlich erscheinenden Aufnahmepraxis ein häufig tabuisierter Aspekt des Gemeindelebens, der zu permanenten Spannungen führt. Konflikte bezüglich der Zugehörigkeitskriterien aber auch der religiösen Rolle der Frau führen zu Polarisierungs- und Pluralisierungstendenzen. Im Rahmen eines Projektes des NFP 58 wurden aktuelle innerjüdische Grenzziehungsdebatten im Kontext des Schweizer Judentums auch mit Methoden der Oral History festgehalten und analysiert. Die Auseinandersetzungen innerhalb der schweizerisch-jüdischen Gemeinschaft wurden zudem mit Entwicklungen in anderen Ländern der Diaspora und in Israel verglichen. Es ergab sich das Bild einer dynamischen und zugleich jedoch tief gespaltenen Religionsgemeinschaft, innerhalb der sich die verschiedenen Richtungen („liberal“ bis „ultra-orthodox“) die Verantwortung für eine zunehmende Schwächung und Spaltung des jüdischen Volkes zuweisen. Bibliographie Benbassa, Esther u. Jean-Christophe Attias. 2001. Les Juifs ont-t-ils un avenir? Paris. Lattés. Gerson, Daniel.2012. Ausbreitung und Bedeutung des Judentums in der Schweiz.in : Religionen in der Schweiz. Bulletin Schweizerische Akademie der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften, Nr 2.Bern. Gerson, Daniel.2011. Partizipation ohne Konversion? Grenzziehungsdebatten in neuen jüdischen Gemeinschaften der Schweiz,in: Chilufim. Zeitschrift für Jüdische Kulturgeschichte, Nr.11.Wien. Phoibos. Gerson, Daniel.2010. Gemeinschaftsbildung und «demokratischer» Antisemitismus: Das Entstehen eines Schweizer Judentums im Spannungsverhältnis von Akkulturation, Einwanderung und Ausgrenzung, in: Wyrwa, Ulrich (Hrsg.): Einspruch und Abwehr. Die Reaktion des europäischen Judentums und die Entstehung des Antisemitismus in Europa. Frankfurt am Main. Campus. Lambert, Nick.2008. Jews and Europe in the Twenty-First Century. London. Vallentine Mitchell. Picard, Jacques.2007. Judentum in der Schweiz: zwischen religiöser, kultureller und politischer Identität,in: Baumann, Martin u. Jörg Stolz (Hrsg.); Eine Schweiz - viele Religionen. Bielefeld. transcript. Wasserstein, Bernard.1996. Vanishing Diaspora. The Jews in Europa since 1945. New York.Harvard University Press.

Folklore, fad, and fashion: The concept of misconduct in science redefined

This study is an analytical investigation of the nature and implications of the current conceptions of scientific misconduct, arguing that the question of what constitutes misconduct in science is significantly more complex than what conventionally has been believed. Complicating the definitions of misconduct are the differences between professional science and non-scientific professions, in their respective norms of what constitutes valid knowledge, and what counts as appropriate and inappropriate practice. While institutionalized science claims that there is clear differentiation between its standards of validity and those of the non-scientific professions, this paper argues that, when it comes to misconduct, the perceived boundaries between the scientific and non-scientific professions are breached; the practice standards that science currently employs in self-policing misconduct have come to resemble the minimal juridical standards of practice that other professions employ. This study attempts, despite erosion of these traditional boundaries, to move from legalistic standards of scientific practice to intramural standards of practice, and in so doing, to hold scientific practice to a higher standard than ordinary public conduct. The result is a clearer understanding of scientific misconduct to aid those individual scientists who are required to make onerous determinations about the appropriateness of specific practices by their peers. ^

The arguments advanced against the enfranchisement of the Jews considered in a series of letters

by Francis Henry Goldsmid

The history of the Jews

by Gotthard Deutsch