Jewish federation: Halt search for Holocaust victims’ Danube remains

Mazsihisz, the federation of Jewish communities in Hungary, has asked the Hungarian and Israeli governments to drop joint efforts to recover the remains of victims that were shot into the River Danube in central Budapest during the Holocaust.

In a statement published on its website on Thursday, Mazsihisz said that the search was “pointless” while plans to take the recovered remains to Israel were “disturbing” for the Jewish community.

Reuters reported on Monday that an Israeli team of forensic experts had arrived in Hungary to search the Danube for remains of Holocaust victims, with Hungarian permission and assistance.

A member of the delegation said the remains would be buried in accordance with Jewish rites.

In its statement, Mazsihisz noted that thousands of people had been shot into the river during the Holocaust, while the bodies of many other people that died during the siege of Budapest during the second world war may be resting in the river. “Their bones have probably been scattered during the past 75 years, and the river may have washed some of them away as far as the Black Sea,” the website said, adding therefore that the goal of the project was questionable.