“Two kinds of will are fighting in Hungary: one is the desire to belong to the West. This was represented by Kálmán Tisza and the citizens of Budapest 130 years ago. Paranoid men from Szabolcs county, who grimly held on to traditions, fought with them, and wanted to protect the country against Jews as a result of national fervency. This was the background to the Tiszaeszlár trial in 1883. The fact that such a crazy witch hunt began in Hungary based on an unbelievable blood libel and superstition created a sensation throughout Europe. Every European newspaper published reports on the trial in Nyíregyháza. When the innocent Jews held on remand for a year were acquitted after their names were dragged through the mire, riots shook the country. Budapest was in a state of siege for a week. It reminds me eerily of the tempers that have got out of control since 2006.” Indeed, those who wish to conquer the world sponged off Hungarians back then and have done increasingly so ever since. Unfortunately, they have a lot of conspirators inclined to commit treason even today, just like back then. Yes, just like back then (see the outcry at the time), even today there are true patriots who want to protect their country. Yes, the news created a sensation, and the media owned by the Jews attempted to wash the others of their kind – even back then. “The political bias of the time met primitive bias. The Jewish wave of immigration triggered repugnance since the villages in North East Hungary were engulfed by people fleeing from Russian and Polish pogroms. They were poor, spoke Yiddish, and didn’t speak any Hungarian. Amidst this atmosphere, a rumour immediately flew around the village that the missing Eszter Solymosi must have been murdered by the Jews because they need to put Christian children’s blood in the matzo. Even the county leaders believed this nonsense originating from the Middle Ages, and they waged something of a war against Europe. Back then, just like today, we began a battle against the entire world. In my opera, football fans are yelling and screaming in the county courtroom. As if they were sitting in the stadium, blowing vuvuzelas and chanting football songs. There is something inexpressibly grotesque in it, just like in the fact that poor Móric Scharf, the trained crown witness, was betrayed, and then he testified at the trial that through the keyhole he had seen his father and his companions kill and ritually sacrifice the peasant girl. … “Let us put ourselves into the shoes of the 14-year old boy, who is forced, tortured, threatened, betrayed and used as a tool in order to condemn and hang his innocent father and companions. After the accused were acquitted, he moved back to his family. What could have happened on that train trip when he was sitting in front of his father for the first time after the case? We know that the father tried to rescue him from this role all the time during the trial.” Did it trigger repugnance? Luckily so! Is the murder of the Hungarian peasant girl a rumour that flew around the village? And what about facts? Eszter was last seen talking with the Jews. Galician Jews arrived in the village to participate in the election of Kosher butchers... Nobody threatened or betrayed little Móric, the child just told the truth, how otherwise could he have told what happened exactly during the ritual murder? And then he wasn't under oath at the trial! If the Jews did not murder Eszter, how is it possible that her dress was put on a corpse that was medically proven to belong to someone else (a Jewish woman who died of tuberculosis)? The corpse which was then found by Jews... “The lawyer, Károly Eötvös, also went to Nyíregyháza, as he felt he must do something to prevent this craziness from emerging triumphant. I understand him, I also feel that valid thoughts must be protected. We can’t let aggression dominate against scapegoats and imaginary enemies. There are enough reasonable people in the country who would like to live in a normal European state. They are in the majority, no matter how loud the followers of Istóczy and Ónody are. Győző Istóczy was the name of the anti-Semitic party leader who was applauded by men at the time. And Géza Ónody, MP from Tiszaeszlár, was one of the instigators of this show-trial in Szabolcs county.” Károly Eötvös? The ardent philo-Semitic, the great liberal? Quite so. He was hired by the journal Pester Llyod and the Allience Israelitée Universelle that paid him 100,000 Hungarian forints to be the advocate of the mashgiachs. Or shall we talk about the persuasions of Ferenc Korniss, the judge of the affair? According to which, the then prime minister Kálmán Tisza told him personally that the Rothschilds warned they would make the country bankrupt if the appropriate judgement was not made? And even today, the names of Győző Istóczyand Géza Ónody are not mentioned in disgust for nothing…