Hungarian schoolbook caused scandal, Ukraine demands its rewriting

4.2 illustration of Ukraine's conflict, photo: Nemzeti Köznevelési Portál, 8. grade geography textbook

According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, there is false information in the textbooks of Hungarian primary school children. In Hungary, a geography textbook for eighth graders presents the Russian-Ukrainian war as if it were an internal war. In addition, the book includes a diagram showing the United States, the European Union and Russia fighting over Ukraine.

Surprising Hungarian textbook

As we reported, this year’s new primary school geography textbook has an interesting section. The textbook for eighth graders mentions the war in Ukraine. Hungarian schoolchildren are given this information in their textbook:

“The majority (of the population) is of Ukrainian nationality, but in the eastern part of the country, there is a significant proportion of Russians, and in the Crimean Peninsula, they form the majority. The two East Slavic languages (Russian, Ukrainian) are similar. In the parts of the country inhabited by Russians, one fifth of the population speaks a mixed Russian-Ukrainian language. Despite this, the two ethnic groups are often at odds with each other. Their opposition also triggered an armed conflict for the Crimean Peninsula (4.2.).”

The figure in brackets refers to a drawing of the United States of America, the European Union and a Russian bear fighting over the Ukrainian flag. Moreover, the Russian flag is upside down, Telex.hu reports.

Ukraine demands rewriting

The case has had a big impact not only in Hungary but also in Ukraine. A Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman said they demanded that eighth-grade geography textbooks be rewritten immediately. Oleg Nikolenko said the book falsely portrays the war Russia has launched against Ukraine as an internal war.

Ukrainian diplomats have already been to the foreign ministry to talk about the textbook. During the talks, they stressed that the section on Ukraine is unacceptable because it contains distorted facts.

In 2017, Hungarian students were still taught the fact that Russia had annexed Crimea, 24.hu writes. However, in 2018, the war in eastern Ukraine, which has been going on almost continuously since 2014, was left out of the book, hvg.hu writes.