Kosher food, religious discussions, a section reserved for women to swim in Lake Balaton: Rina Jalilova, 18, feels “really good” in Hungary, in a Ukrainian refugee camp specially designed to accommodate observant Jews. Located in the seaside resort of Balatonoszod, 130 kilometers south-west of Budapest, the “Machne Chabad” refuge, which accommodates several hundred people, is “unique in Europe” according to its instigator, Rabbi Slomo Köves, from the movement Hasidic Chabad-Lubavitch.
“It is the only one intended for those who want to respect religious custom, the dietary rules of Jewish tradition and live in community”, explains this 43-year-old religious. Contacted by a Ukrainian rabbi to find a place to stay “in time for Passover”, the Jewish Passover, Slomo Köves turned to the government of nationalist Viktor Orban, to whom he is close.
The Hungarian Prime Minister is regularly accused of flirting with anti-Semitism. In July, he was taken to task by the Auschwitz committee and the chief rabbi Robert Frölich after virulent remarks against the “mixing of races”. Faced with criticism, he brandishes zero tolerance for anti-Semitic acts and recalls that he has renovated several synagogues. And if it refuses to open its doors to refugees from Africa and the Middle East, it quickly granted the use of these infrastructures to Slomo Köves.