[Written in 2014]
Those who have heard me speak about the Holocaust may wonder why I place such a big emphasis on the responsibility of the Hungarian people for the Holocaust in their country. I do this because some Hungarians are trying to falsify their part in the Holocaust.
The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, was the one, when leading his previous government, who introduced the Holocaust Memorial Day to Hungary, yet it is of my opinion that he is pandering to the crowds, the skinheads and the yobs.
19th March 2014 was the 70th anniversary of Operation Magarethe, the German occupation of Hungary and the start of Jewish destruction. In commemoration of this occasion, the Hungarian Government was going to erect a statue in one of the main squares of central Budapest. When I saw its design, I could not believe my eyes: the Archangel Gabriel, representing the innocent Hungarian people, being swooped upon by the German eagle.
On 26th December 2013, there was a debate on one of the Hungarian national TV channels about the theme of the coming HMD, which was something like “Rescue”. They were discussing the happenings of 12th July 1944, when the National Police Force and Gendarmerie descended on Budapest en masse, in preparation for the deportation of the Capital’s Jews. The Regent, Horthy, after he had been warned of the consequences of his actions after the War (about to be lost), had a change of heart and ordered them to return to their stations. All this was true, but to say that the non-Jewish population of Budapest was rescuing, feeding and clothing three hundred thousand Budapest Jews is turning history on its head. In July 1944, the two hundred thousand Budapest Jews were living under curfew in the so-called Jewish Houses, feeding and clothing themselves. The Ghetto was set up much later, in November. In the TV programme, they came to discuss the situation after the war, under Communism. According to one of the participants, when the tables had turned, the ungrateful Jews refused to help the unfortunate Hungarians. This is an openly anti-Semitic untruth. I can tell you, from personal experience, the Jewish people suffered more than the others under the Communist regime, even though a great number of the leadership was of Jewish origin.
Unfortunately, many Hungarians have learnt nothing from History. Today the third largest party in Parliament is the anti-Semitic, anti-Roma, xenophobic Jobbik party and the ruling Fidesz, a right of centre party, does not stand up to these Jobbik thugs, worrying about losing votes. Jobbik Members of Parliament took advantage of their position and put forward a proposal of creating a list of Jewish Members of Parliament because their loyalty to the Motherland is suspect. They also made the Tiszaeszlár Blood Libel of 1882 a parliamentary issue.
The Hungarian far right is trying to whitewash the history of Regent Miklos Horthy, whom they consider a hero, and memorial stones were consecrated up and down the country in churches. They campaigned for a statue of the Regent, in a major Budapest spot.
The Jewish community of Hungary is estimated to be over 100,000. In a country of 10 million people, it amounts to a full 1%.
The Federation of the Hungarian Jewish Communities (known as MAZSIHISZ - Magyarországi Zsidó Hitközségek Szövetsége) is the umbrella organisation of most of the Hungarian Jewish communities. In an emergency meeting, MAZSIHISZ informed the Prime Minister that unless they stop the statue building project, the Jewish community would not take part in the National Holocaust Memorial Day programme. The Community was organising its own day of remembrance and refused to take the money the government granted for this purpose. The Hungarian Government refused to listen and only postponed the raising of the statue until after the European and National elections in April 2014.
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