The renaming of public space in Budapest: The divided politics of contemporary Hungarian Identity

My paper examines the changes to street names and squares in Budapest since 2011, and the significance of those changes. The changing of street names in recent history is not new to Hungary: notably during transition in the early 1990s many streets were given back names they had held before the communist era. In following with this tradition, in the most recent surge of name changing, which began in the spring of 2011, notable Hungarian names, preferably associated with anti-communist sentiments, were selected to replace the names of twenty-six streets and squares, with an additional
nine in December of 2011. This is a continuing process. These changes reflect, among other things, an opinion of the
current administration. Both positive and negative public reaction to these changes have reflected a standing divide in Hungarian society, and the tension of the current political climate. The topics of national identity and the significance of public space in forming an identity will be examined in general, then as they apply in Hungary, and more specifically in Budapest.