Hungarian Government postpones construction of controversial memorial

The Hungarian Government has decided to wait two months before building a controversial memorial commemorating the 70th anniversary of the German occupation of Hungary. Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán made the announcement in an open letter to the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (Mazsihisz).   

The Federation rejects the move, saying postponing construction does not solve the problem. Critics consider the erection of such a memorial, originally planned for 19 March, as part of government efforts to obscure the responsibility of the former representatives of Hungary and its local security forces for the deportation and death of many Jews during the Holocaust.

In June 1944, not long after the occupation, the Hungarian authorities decided to send roughly half a million Jews to Nazi death camps. Two weeks ago the Federation made it clear that it would not be attending this year’s official Holocaust commemoration events unless the role played by Hungarians in the deportation and murder of Hungarian Jews is more clearly represented during the commemoration.

One reason for the boycott is the country’s planned memorial to the German occupation. In his letter, Orbán states that negotiations about the memorial should wait to continue until after Easter because parliamentary elections are scheduled for 6 April.   

The PM believes the election campaign will make it difficult "to communicate our stances in a calm, dispassionate way." In remarks made to the online edition of the Népszabadság newspaper, Federation chair András Heisler responded by emphasizing that merely postponing the memorial is no solution.   

Lasy week the World Jewish Congress (WJC) called on the Hungarian Government to reconsider its decision to erect the problematic memorial. WJC chair Ronald Lauder expressed support for the Federation’s stance and warned that raising the question of the role played by Hungary in the Holocaust prior to the parliamentary elections could provide room for the extreme right to exploit the issue in order to promote itself.