Anti-Semitic Language in Public Speeches and Statements by Populist Politicians in the Czech Republic and Slovakia between 2018 and 2023, Based on the Example of Their Use of the Figure of George Soros

Abstract

This article aims to analyse anti-Semitic speeches and statements by Czech and Slovak populist politicians in which they invoke the figure of George Soros, an American billionaire of Jewish origin. These topics were researched by means of content analysis; oral statements by populists, e.g. speeches in parliament and at press conferences, as well as social media posts were taken into account. Firstly, the article touched on how George Soros unwittingly became a key element of the Hungarian government’s propaganda. He was portrayed as a person with significant influence on European Union policy, mainly through the NGOs he funded. In this narrative, Soros was portrayed as a figure who sought to bring
millions of migrants to Europe, which was a key element of the Hungarian authorities’ political message. The following part of the article describes how politicians from the Czech Republic and Slovakia followed the example of the Hungarians in this regard. The statements of Czech politicians from the ANO 2011 and SPD parties were analysed, followed by those of representatives of the Slovak SMER, SNS and ĽSNS parties. The figure of Soros was present in the rhetoric of all of these parties, but with different intensity and extent of use. In the Czech Republic, the American billionaire was most frequently used in political statements by politicians of the far right SPD, while in Slovakia, he was used to the greatest extent by the currently governing, declaratively social-democratic SMER party.