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The Jewish Quarter of Budapest

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The Jewish Quarter of Budapest The Jewish Quarter of Budapest: Authenticity and Commodification of Culture ———— Fruzsina Csala Supervisor: Tatiana Debroux Advisor: Ruba Saleh Date of submission: 1st June 2020 Master thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Urban Studies (VUB) and Master of Science in Geography, general orientation, track ‘Urban Studies’ (ULB) Master in Urban Studies – Academic year 2019-2020 Abstract Since the 1989 regime change, Inner-Erzsébetváros has undergone rapid transformation and gentrification. This process was not planned but the dialectics of top-down policies and bottom- up initiatives have been the force that shaped the neighbourhood for the past three decades. As being both the Jewish Quarter and the Party Quarter of Budapest, Inner-Erzsébetváros is the most controversial area of the historic city centre of Budapest. The Jewish Quarter is a symbolic space, as most of the representative places of the religious institutional system are located there, and also a space where Jewish culture is present in a commodified way both for Jews & non-Jews and tourists & locals alike. The Party Quarter as an accumulation of bars, nightclubs and eateries is a recent phenomenon of the 2010s. Such function of the neighbourhood is a result of unregulated service hours and a growing number of party tourists. In this context, the main research question – How does the Jewish heritage contribute to the present-day character of Inner-Erzsébetváros – provides a framework to the thesis. Two complementary sets of methods were used to answer the research question(s): (1) online desk research & stakeholder and expert interviews, and (2) perceptions mapping & in-depth field observation. According to the hypothesis, based on the preliminary research, a strong conflict between the stakeholders of the Jewish Quarter and the Party Quarter and the rejection of tourism were expected. Such hypothesis was only partially confirmed as the two narratives are not completely unrelated to each other and as tourism and the commodification of Jewish culture are not regarded as unconditionally negative. On the other hand, the Jewish Quarter has lost its progressive character which once made it unique, namely that ‘ruinbars’ – bars with strong countercultural, often Jewish profile – have been pushed out of the neighbourhood or have changed beyond recognition. As a result, Inner-Erzsébetváros has become a place of institutionalised form of Jewish culture. Table of Contents 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 2 Literature review ............................................................................................................. 5 2.1 The regeneration of Jewish spaces in Central and Eastern Europe ................. 5 2.1.1 Historical overview of Jewish districts in Europe .......................................... 5 2.1.2 Defining the post-1990 Jewish cultural space and the revival of Jewish districts in Central and Eastern Europe ....................................................................... 7 2.2 Post-socialist urban regeneration in Budapest ................................................. 10 2.2.1 The post-socialist city ....................................................................................... 10 2.2.2 Inner-city regeneration: the case of Budapest ............................................... 11 2.3 Culture as a source of economic development in the city .............................. 16 2.3.1 Urban regeneration and culture-driven regeneration ................................. 16 2.3.2 Cultural heritage adaptive reuse .................................................................... 18 2.3.3 Consumption of authenticity and commodification of culture ................. 20 3 Case study: Inner-Erzsébetváros ................................................................................ 23 3.1 History of Inner-Erzsébetváros: pre-war period .............................................. 23 3.2 History of Inner-Erzsébetváros: urban decay during socialism .................... 25 3.3 The impact of the 1989 political transition on Inner-Erzsébetváros .............. 27 3.4 Jewish revival ........................................................................................................ 30 4 Methodology .................................................................................................................. 34 4.1 Research questions ................................................................................................ 34 4.2 Methods .................................................................................................................. 36 4.2.1 First set of methods: preliminary research & interviews ............................ 36 4.2.2 Second set of methods: perceptions mapping & field observation ........... 40 5 Findings .......................................................................................................................... 46 5.1 Stakeholder and expert interviews ..................................................................... 46 5.2 Preliminary research ............................................................................................. 52 5.3 Perceptions mapping ............................................................................................ 60 6 Discussion ...................................................................................................................... 72 6.1 The different narratives of Inner-Erzsébetváros: The Jewish Quarter and the Party Quarter ..................................................................................................................... 72 6.2 Authenticity and commodification of culture: Jewishness and the ‘ruinbar experience’ ......................................................................................................................... 79 7 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 87 7.1 Answers to the main research questions ........................................................... 87 7.2 Limitations ............................................................................................................. 90 7.3 Concluding remarks ............................................................................................. 91 8 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 93 9 Appendix ........................................................................................................................ 99 9.1 Questions of the thirteen in-depth semi-structured interviews ..................... 99 9.2 Results of the perceptions mapping questionnaires ...................................... 103 9.3 Additional maps .................................................................................................. 107 1 Introduction Since the 1989 regime change, Inner-Erzsébetváros has undergone rapid transformation, regeneration and gentrification. As being both the ‘Jewish Quarter’ and the ‘Party Quarter’ of Budapest, Inner-Erzsébetváros is the most controversial and conflicted area of the historic city centre of Budapest. Even though they are sharing the same place, the Jewish Quarter and the Party Quarter are two different and very distinct entities without visible overlaps. The name ‘Jewish Quarter’ has become widespread in the last two decades as a result of the so-called Jewish revival and related academic and civic activities. Today, the neighbourhood is a place of Holocaust memorials and a place where Jewish culture is flourishing. In other words, the Jewish Quarter is a place of memory and also a place of identification1 (Szívós, 2016). Three historic synagogues, ritual bath, kosher markets, kosher restaurants and offices of Jewish religious and cultural institutions are present there. The tangible and intangible Jewish cultural assets are also seen as tourism commodity (Gantner & Kovács, 2007). The present-day commodification of local cultural heritage results in Jewish-related gift stores, restaurants and long queue in front of the Great Synagogue (officially Dohány Street Synagogue) which is on the ‘must-visit list’ of every guidebook about Budapest. Beyond any doubt, the most recent guidebooks also mention charming ‘ruinbars’ that should be visited in Inner-Erzsébetváros. About two decades ago ‘ruinbars’ were initiated by grassroots mobilization as a response to the emptiness and the devastating physical condition of the centuries-old built environment. Bars – that functioned as micro cultural-hubs (Lugosi & Bell, 2010) – were literally opened in courtyards of old ruined buildings that were waiting for 1 “Through cultural branding the quarter has become lieu de mémoire for those who want to remember, or lieu d’ identité for those who have personal connections to the Jewish traditions” (translated from Hungarian by the author of this thesis) (Szívós, 2016, p. 67). 1 demolition and/or privatization (Smith et al, 2017). These bottom-up cultural initiatives quickly gained a hip reputation for the neighbourhood. By the late 2010s Inner-Erzsébetváros became one of the main tourist attractions of Budapest thanks to the distinctive vibe of the ‘ruinbars’ – and places that are mimicking the ‘ruin style’ – cheap alcohol and unregulated opening hours (Olt et al, 2019). In the very
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