Hungarian Righteous Gentiles Are Honored at Memorial Rites

Non-Jewish Hungarians who helped save Jewish lives when their country was allied with Nazi Germany in World War II were given places of honor at the Holocaust memorial ceremony at the Budapest City Hall on Wednesday.

The Jewish community’s focus on their valiant acts of a half-century ago was intended to serve as an indirect warning against the reversion to nationalism and anti-Semitism that is being witnessed today.

Only last week, graffiti on the walls of a Catholic church in Budapest equated a Star of David with the Red Star of the discredited Communist regime.

Five “Righteous Gentiles” were called upon to kindle five of the six memorial candles symbolizing the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, 600,000 of them Hungarian Jews.

The sixth candle was lit by two Jewish youngsters in the name of Jewish youth in Hungary today.

The ceremony was the first Holocaust memorial ever held on state or city property. In past years, premises owned by the Jewish community were used.

The solemn gathering was attended by the president of Hungary, Arpad Goncz, and Gyorgy Szabad, speaker of Parliament.

The Israeli ambassador, David Kraus, praised the Hungarians who risked their lives to save Jews. He noted that 150 Hungarians have received the Righteous Gentile decoration of Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem. About 40 of them attended the ceremony.

The Holocaust memorial ceremony was the first of a series of Jewish-related events in Hungary to be held through May 10.

A cultural, tourist-oriented week will feature a “Taste of Israel.” The chef and staff of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem will prepare the menu for one of Budapest’s luxury hotels.

Habimah, Israel’s national theatrical troupe, was supposed to come to Budapest for the week but had to cancel for financial reasons.