Liberation of Budapest ghetto, deportation of ethnic Germans commemorated – PHOTOS

Members of the Jewish community can live safely in Hungary today, as the government has made it clear that it has zero tolerance for all forms of anti-Semitism, Zsolt Semjén, the deputy prime minister, said on Sunday.

Semjén was speaking at the Great Synagogue in Dohány utca, at a commemoration organized on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Budapest ghetto.

Hungary is one of the safest places in Europe for Jewish people. Those who walk the streets wearing a kippah need not fear, they can practice their religion safely, and those who visit Budapest can gain insight into the unique everyday life of Jewish culture, Semjén said.

Liberation of the Budapest ghetto commemoration 2
Photo: MTI

The government, working together with the Jewish community, is doing everything it can to ensure that this remains the case, he added and noted that all the meanwhile the geopolitical events of the past decade have made Islamist anti-Semitism an everyday problem in Western Europe, and more and more people are attacking the state of Israel, and some are even questioning its existence.

Semjén said that since the terrorist attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, more attention needs to be paid to combating anti-Semitism. Hungary is in the fortunate position that the state has taken several measures in recent years to combat anti-Semitism.

Liberation of the Budapest ghetto commemoration 2
Deputy PM Zsolt Semjén. Photo: MTI

He noted that during Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the European Union a Hungarian national strategy against anti-Semitism was published as a result of joint work with the Jewish community and the Council last year adopted a declaration to promote Jewish life and combat anti-Semitism.

Official marks memorial day of ethnic Germans deported from Hungary

The lesson to be learnt from endless funeral trains heading to the East and West is that Hungary’s sovereignty must be preserved by all means, the state secretary heading the Prime Minister’s Office said in Hercegkút in northeast Hungary on Sunday marking the 79th anniversary of the expulsion of ethnic Germans from Hungary.

János Nagy told a memorial mass and event marking the memorial day of ethnic Germans deported from Hungary that “we must not allow hatred coming from the East or West to sweep us away again”.

Commemorating the deportation of ethnic Germans
János Nagy (centre left) and Imre Ritter (center right). Photo: MTI

“Hatred and revenge cannot build the home country, the nation, and Europe,” he said.

Nagy said these days “Europe again frequently bows to mad ideas” and “it has again become customary to punish entire countries for assumed sins, just because they don’t like the government elected by the people of that country”.

Some one-sixth of Hercegút’s population with Swabian roots were deported 80 years ago, including 136 young men and women, 16 of whom never returned from the Soviet Union where they had been taken for forced labour.

Read also:

  • The Hungarian actress who was adored by both Hitler and Stalin – read about her in THIS article
  • The old Elisabeth Bridge in Budapest: one of the world’s most beautiful and longest chain bridge was demolished 80 years ago – read more HERE

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