Victims of Communism memorial to be set up near Danube next year

A memorial to the victims of the Communist dictatorship is planned to be erected near the Danube in Óbuda, in northern Budapest, the daily Magyar Idők said on Friday.

Erzsébet Menczer, head of the organisation of former Hungarian prisoners and forced labourers in the Soviet Union (Szorakész), told the paper the black marble obelisk had been originally planned for Szabadság Square, in central Budapest, the site of the memorial to the victims of the German occupation. But the fifth district council refused its permission citing technical reasons.

“The horrors of the Holocaust are well known but the same cannot be clearly said about the Communist dictatorship, despite the millions of people killed or crippled in the name of the red star,” Menczer said.

The statue is likely to be inaugurated next October instead of the originally planned date of October 25 this year in light of complications related to the change in location, she said.

Photo: fortepan.hu

Source: MTI