March of the Living Held in Budapest

The annual March of the Living event was held in Budapest this Sunday. Participants in the 20th annual walk in memory of the victims of the Holocaust marched from the Dohány Street Synagogue to the square in front of Keleti Railway Station, where speakers commemorated the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 last year, warning of the dangers of a resurgence of anti-Semitism.

The procession set off to the sound of the shofar, led by almost a hundred Holocaust survivors travelling in electric vans. The participants made their way to the stage set up in front of the main entrance of Keleti station.

In his speech, Israel's Ambassador to Budapest, Yaakov Hadassah-Handelsman, warned that Hamas's October 7 terrorist attack on Israel would add more meaning to this year's March of the Living. "It is now even more important to educate the young generations and inspire them to fight racism, discrimination and injustice," he added.

"Who would have imagined that 80 years after the Holocaust, Jews around the world would once again feel fear?" the ambassador asked, describing Hungary as an island of renewal with a thriving Jewish community.

He thanked the Hungarian government for its support, stressing that Hungary is a role model in implementing a zero tolerance policy against anti-Semitism.

Gábor Gordon, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the March of the Living Foundation, said that the terrible horrors of the Holocaust, one of the greatest genocides of mankind, must always be remembered, but also "in a way that celebrates the love of life and the will to live."

He especially welcomed the Holocaust survivors who took part in the commemoration, whom he described as the real VIP guests of the event, who, he said, had overcome death by their will to live.

At the beginning of the event, a plaque was unveiled on Herzl Tivadar Square in front of the Dohány Street Synagogue "in memory of the 440,000 Hungarian Jews deported and murdered between May 15 and July 9, 1944".