AJC Urges Hungary to Respond to Jewish Community's Concerns on Holocaust Commemorations

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Feb 10, 2014, 10:41 ET

NEW YORK, Feb.10, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC supports the Hungarian Jewish community's decision to boycott Holocaust commemoration events this year until the FIDESZ-led government reverses its actions that minimize the role of Hungary in the Nazi extermination of Jews.

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"The Jewish community's decision to protest planned Holocaust memorial events is painful, but then the efforts of the Hungarian government to rewrite history are absolutely traumatic," said Rabbi Andrew Baker, AJC's Director of International Jewish Affairs. "The posture of FIDESZ is all the more surprising following the declaration that 2014 would be the year of Holocaust commemoration."

Plans to build a memorial to the German occupation, controversial remarks by the director of a government-sponsored research institute, and refusal to share plans for building a second Holocaust museum in Budapest are all viewed with suspicion by the federation of Jewish communities in Hungary, known by the acronym MAZSIHISZ.

The Hungarian government thus far has refused to alter these plans for the 70th anniversary of the Holocaust or engage in a genuine dialogue with Jewish community leaders. They are increasingly concerned that the government intends to rewrite the history of the Holocaust in Hungary, relieving Hungarians of responsibility and placing all blame on the German occupation which came late during World War II.

"We urge Prime Minister Victor Orban to address the Jewish community's concerns without delay," said Baker. "On this 70th anniversary, the government has an opportunity to openly confront Hungary's past and responsibility."

Indeed, Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics, addressing an international conference on anti-Semitism in Budapest last October, declared "We Hungarians were responsible for the Holocaust here."

Hungary is home to the largest Jewish community in Central Europe. Alongside a genuine revival of Jewish life and culture, there is growing anxiety brought on by the electoral success of the extremist Jobbik Party and increasingly populist messages coming from FIDESZ.

A recently released survey of Jews in eight EU countries conducted by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights reported that 48 percent of Hungarian Jews have considered emigrating in reaction to growing anti-Semitism in the country.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee