The áʼíBaháʼí Faith in Hungary started in various mentions of the religion in the 19th century followed by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's trip to Hungary in 1913 when Hungary's first Baháʼí joined the religion. The community suffered from World War II and communist rule until the 1980s. The National Assembly was elected in 1992 and in 2002 Baháʼí sources claimed 1100 and 1200 Baháʼís in Hungary, many of which are Roma. In 2010 the Association of Religion Data Archives estimated 290 Baháʼís in Hungary.
Early days
Before World War I
Perhaps the first mention of the religion in Hungary was newspaper coverage of events in the Bábí religion in 1852.
Arminius (Ármin) Vambery in his book, "Meine Wanderungen und Erlebnisse in Persien", published in 1867, explored Persia incognito and speaks of the Báb and His followers who are associated with the beginnings of the Baháʼí Faith.
From about 1869 Hungary was part of the empire of Austria-Hungary. In 1872 Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the religion, addressed Franz Joseph I of Austria referring to the latter's visit to Jerusalem while he was in Akka and prophesied his fall in the Kitab-i-Aqdas.
In 1912 a theosophist gave a public talk on the religion and this same individual invited ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to Hungary, aware of his journeys in the West. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, then head of the religion after the death of his father, visited Hungary in early April 1913. Accounts of the period include a diary taken at the time, interviews years later of eyewitnesses, and newspaper stories. He arrived the afternoon of April 9 and later that afternoon gave his first talk which was on themes of universal peace, harmony of science and religion, equality of sexes and races, the right of women to vote, international law and an auxiliary language. In Budapest ʻAbdu'l-Bahá met with a number of Hungarian leaders, including both Arabs and Turks: Gyula Germanus (April 9), Canon Alexander Geisswein (the 11th), Arminius Vambery(12th and 14th) (who wrote in great admiration of Abdu'l-Baha), Ignác Goldziher (9th, 11th, 14th), Count Albert Apponyi, and Robert Nadler (10th, 12th). Among the meetings there was a singular moment of the high Cathnolic priest - Canon Alexander Geisswein - and a famous Jewish professor - Ingác Goldziher - and ʻAbdu'l-Bahá all on stage holding hands at a public meeting of 500 to 1000 people. Several of these individuals also received a letter after ʻAbdu'l-Bahá returned to Egypt. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá spoke at various public and private meetings of societies and organizations - Peace Society, Theosophists, Esperantists as well as Turkish societies. During this trip he also corresponded with Baha'is elsewhere and wrote a noteworthy tablet to America mentioning that monogamy was preferable to be just. Also during the trip Robert Nadler asked ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to sit for a portrait, which was sold to Baháʼís in 1972 and now in the Baháʼí World Center. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá revealed two prayers in Budapest ʻAbdu'l-Bahá was supposed to leave to Vienna on the 15th, but because of a cold he did not travel to Vienna until the 19th of April.
According to reports of the time dozens of people associated themselves with the religion during his stay. Among them was Arminius Vambery though later that year he died. However, there is little record of this group of people aside from Vambery continuing to associate himself with the religion.
Ignác Goldziher later mentioned the religion in an article reviewing Islam in 1913, and read western newspaper accounts on the religion but did not sustain an interest in it as he personally identified with Islam and Judaism.
Later ʻAbdu'l-Bahá wrote a series of letters, or tablets, to the followers of the religion in the United States in 1916–1917 suggesting Baháʼís take the religion to many lands, including these. These letters were compiled in the book titled Tablets of the Divine Plan, but its publication was delayed owing to World War I and the Spanish flu pandemic. They were translated and published in Star of the West magazine on December 12, 1919. One tablet says in part: