Graphic School of OMIKE, the Hungarian Jewish Educational Association

The National Hungarian Jewish Educational Association, abbreviated as OMIKE, was founded in 1909 in the atmosphere of growing anti-Semitism between the two world wars, in difficult economic conditions. In addition to the traditional cultural programs, primarily aimed at providing learning and educational opportunities to poor Jewish young people. “We do this in order to,” said Leo Buday-Goldberger, a major industrialist and chairman of the association, who was elected in 1926, “help our students be in a position to possess books and gain knowledge.” OMIKE made efforts to prevent the negative consequences of the numerus clausus law by providing substantial financial support to thousands of Jewish students who were excluded from the Hungarian higher education. For Jewish art students, excluded from fine arts education, the association launched a painting, sculpture and graphic school where the quality of education was provided by renowned artists who taught free of charge such as Adolf Fényes, Gusztáv Magyar-Mannheimer, Lipót Herman, József Róna and István Zádor.