The principle of zero tolerance against anti-Semitism will be included on the agenda of the Jewish Community Roundtable’s discussion scheduled for December, emphasised State Secretary László Szabó at the inauguration ceremony of the Holocaust Memorial in Siófok.
The memorial, erected in the garden of the Synagogue, forms a harp with barbed wire strings and a Star of David attached to them. The memorial project was a civil initiative, financed by the American sister organisation of the Tom Lantos Institute, the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice and supported by the local government.
László Szabó highlighted that out of the nearly 500 Jewish citizens who were taken away from Siófok only 72 returned home after the Second World War. He also reminded that this Thursday, 18th September marks the 25th anniversary of the re-establishment of Israeli-Hungarian diplomatic relations. Over the past 25 years, economic and cultural relations have flourished between the two countries and were strengthened both by the Jewish community in Hungary and the Hungarians living in Israel.
According to His Excellency Ilan Mor, Ambassador of the State of Israel to Hungary, some may find the numerous events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Holocaust too overwhelming. However, we should never forget this tragedy and the many people taken away from Hungary.
Annette Lantos Tillemann-Dick, daughter of Tom Lantos and Co-Chair of the Advisory Board of the Lantos Foundation emphasised the need to remember all the victims of this tragic era. We should not remain silent on what happened because there are some who want to misinterpret history and we must do everything to avoid that a tragedy happens again.
The Tom Lantos Institute was established in 2011 in Budapest with the aim of cultivating the politician’s heritage, helping minority groups and contributing to the development of an equal and tolerant society without discrimination.
Tom Lantos, a Hungarian-born American democrat was a member of the House of Representatives from 1981 onwards until his death. As the only Holocaust survival who served in the Congress he was a representative of a district in California. From 2007 onwards he was the chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs.