US congressmen protest against Homan monument

Washington, DC, December 7 (MTI) – Leaders of the Unites States Congress bipartisan task force against anti-Semitism have voiced protest against Hungary’s plans to erect a monument to Horthy-era minister Balint Homan, the New York-based Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported.

In a letter to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the body expressed “deep concern” about the monument, planned to be put up in central Hungary’s Szekesfehervar before the end of the year, and said that the WWII minister had “spearheaded Hungary’s anti-Jewish legislation and paved the way for deportations of and atrocities against Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust.”

Signatories to the letter urged the prime minister “to publicly condemn Homan’s role in the persecution and deportation of innocent Hungarians and to withdraw government funding for the construction of this or any statue in his honor.”

The letter was signed by Democrat deputies Nita Lowey, Eliot Engel, Steve Israel, and Ted Deutch, and by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chris Smith, Kay Granger, and Peter Roskam from the Republican side.

On Sunday, the World Jewish Congress also protested against the monument, and called on the government not to provide financing for such a project.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters