‘Where are you from?’ is the first question everyone asks you. It’s a question I can’t stand. Explaining my origins and identity takes a long time. Why? Well, I was born in Vladivostok, a small city in the far east of Russia. I’ve lived in Tel Aviv, Budapest, Cairo […]

Although primarily an economic union forged with the aim of bringing long-lasting peace to a continent devastated by bloody wars, the European Union soon became an identity-centered construct. European citizenship brought about fundamental individual freedoms and there has been hope that decades of integration would successfully shape a single identity, […]

There’s an old Communist-era joke that neatly sums up the way most Romanians think about the relationship between the state and the individual. It hinges on a play on words so is not so easy to translate into English: “Știi bancul cu Statuia? Statu’ ia tot.” (Do you know the […]

As ever more Hungarians decide to leave the country, Hungary faces a creeping social crisis. Who will replace those young talents who emigrate? And what effect will this have on the way we Hungarians define ourselves? To understand such questions, you have to dig deeper into the history of the […]

After surviving a war and struggling through university while living away from home in Sarajevo without financial support, I thought I had finally made it to somewhat safer ground when I was hired to work at a state institution in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian educational sector. I was excited and hopeful because […]