Programme to identify Hungarian child victims of Holocaust launched

A research programme aimed at identifying the around 100,000 Hungarian child victims of the Holocaust has been launched in partnership of the Budapest Jewish Museum and Archives and the creators of Oscar-winning Holocaust drama Son of Saul, the organisers said on Monday.

Children aged 12 or younger had no chance to survive the Nazi death camps while those aged between 13 and 18 and selected for labour were transported to camps at 400 various locations across Europe from Estonia to Alsace-Lorraine, historian Zoltán Vági told a press conference.

Researchers under the programme will have to study an estimated 150 million pieces of documents stored in international archives and centres that contain transport lists, records by the SS and personal accounts, among other things, he said.

The programme dubbed Children of Saul aims to complete the identification of as many victims as possible by 2024, the 80th anniversary of the Holocaust, Vági said.

Zsuzsanna Toronyi, the museum’s director, said their institution, founded in 1909, is one of Europe’s oldest Jewish museums which operated even after 1938 and began compiling Holocaust documents already during WW2.

The museum has experts including psychologists who are prepared to conduct interviews with survivors, she said.

The museum can be contacted by phone for the programme at 36 1-413-5547.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI