Attila Kund

This article aims to give insight into the 1920s’ scientific racist discourse in Hungary with a special emphasis on sexuality and reproduction. Post-First World War Hungary saw new developments in nationalist discourse, notably a new language of race and nation. In this context of nationalism, a new wave of racial scientism appeared that was based on concepts of racial purity and biological reproduction. Reviewing the publications of a group of academic and medical professionals who dominated the scientistic racist discourse, this article analyses how sexuality was represented in their framework as a crucial aspect of the reproduction of the ‘Magyar race’. It argues that such ideas on the one hand, were influenced by contemporary racist theories from Western Europe and North America, but on the other hand, the argumentation of Hungarian contemporary right-wing political rhetoric is also detectable in this discourse. The article also explores the intersection of racial anti-Semitism ...