The tragedy of our Jewish compatriots who were killed solely due to being Jewish is one of the heaviest burdens in the history of the Hungarian nation which must not be forgotten, the Minister of State responsible for the development and coordination of European Union policies at the Prime Minister’s Office told the Hungarian news agency MTI at the event March for Life on Sunday.
Szabolcs Takács said one of the goals of the walk remembering victims of the Holocaust is to enhance social awareness. There is no excuse for what happened in World War II in Hungary and throughout Europe, and it cannot ever be allowed to happen again, he stressed.
“The fate of our Jewish compatriots killed by Nazi occupiers and traitors collaborating with them reminds us that there is no compromise of any kind in the preservation of the nation’s unity and the rejection of hatred,” he said. After the horrors of the 20th century there is no room for any seemingly harmless Jew-bashing either in public discourse or in political discourse.
“Our joint responsibility lies in enabling present generations and our successors to make a conscious and responsible decision regarding the future, learning from the mistakes of the past and sincerely facing the problems and distortions that we have left behind,” the Minister of State stressed, pointing out that this requires not only joint commemoration, but also an authentic historical view.
Mr Takács expressed satisfaction in connection with the fact that the weight of anti-Semitism is gradually decreasing in Central and Eastern Europe today. Parallel with this, however, in the Western half of Europe a new type of anti-Semitism has emerged which poses a threat to the European Jewish-Christian identity, he said. We must remember and must draw the attention of today’s generations to what can happen if our identity comes under threat and if hatred takes over, he added.
The Minister of State recalled that it was the first Orbán Government in 2000 that introduced a memorial day for the Hungarian victims of the Holocaust. Ever since the Cabinet has pursued a conscious zero-tolerance policy against all forms of anti-Semitism without any compromise, he said.