Marking Holocaust Memorial Day, Gergely Gulyás, Head of the Prime Minister's Office, said that not only should the murders of the Holocaust be remembered, but those who committed them must also be named.
According to MTI, the minister said those “persecuted, tortured and killed because they were Jews belonged to us; they were part of the Hungarian nation.” There is no such thing as collective guilt because “if everybody is guilty, then nobody is”, he said, adding that “the state, however, bears responsibility”. Ever since the 1989 regime change, Hungarian governments have always clearly stated their position that during the Holocaust, the Hungarian state “was not able to, and in many cases did not want to” protect its citizens, while the Hungarian authorities participated in the deportation of several hundred thousand Hungarian Jews, Gulyás said. He said the heroes who took risks or even sacrificed their lives to protect Jews must also be remembered.
The Israeli Embassy in Budapest said in a statement that more than 25 organizations in Hungary, including local councils, diplomatic bodies, sports clubs and other organisations joined the #WeRemember campaign organised by the embassies of Israel and Austria, the Austrian Cultural Forum and the World Jewish Congress.
Photo credit: MTI