Hungarian Jewry was unique; its history was full of paradoxes and contradictions. Nowhere else did Jews come closer to dominating the economy and cultural life of a nation, nowhere else did Jews play a more crucial role in the leadership of Marxist socialism, and nowhere else was the gap wider between assimilated and Orthodox Jews. It is precisely this uniqueness that makes Hungarian Jewry an excellent case study, because, in a particularly clear form, it shows the different sources of resurgent twentieth-century antisemitism.

Although some Jews had lived in the territory that came to be the kingdom of Hungary since Roman times, their number was small. Their situation before the eighteenth century was not different from that of Jews in the other European countries: They were periodically expelled and then allowed to return after paying special taxes to the treasury; at times they were compelled to wear distinguishing signs and were limited in their places of residence; and on occasion, the loans they had extended to Christians were canceled by the royal authorities, undermining their economic well-being. Hungarian Jews suffered ritual murder accusations and at times were burnt at the stake. Hungary was neither more nor less welcoming to Jews than other European countries.