March of the Living in Budapest

Speakers at the March of Living event in Budapest on Sunday afternoon emphasized the importance of combatting indifference and hatred, as well as the duty of remembrance.

At the end of the march commemorating the victims of the Holocaust, Budapest mayor Gergely Karácsony spoke of a divided country now giving itself a new chance to "tear down the walls of hatred" and ensure that social solidarity proves stronger than indifference.

The best strategy against all forms of indifference and hatred, including antisemitism, he said, was to seize this hard-won opportunity and build an open and inclusive Hungary and Budapest, a homeland that returns to the commandments of truth, solidarity, and humanity.

Gergely Karácsony stated that forgetting things was not an option when the normalization of inhumanity remained a constant threat. "We must remember, and in order to remember with dignity, we must deal with some illusions. The Hungarian holocaust was committed by the Hungarian state against Hungarian citizens," he said, adding that relativization and remembrance could not coexist.

The mayor also noted that the Holocaust did not begin with the gas chambers, but with words and hatred. "It is our common duty to renew public discourse, since words capable of inciting hatred are still with us. It is time for all of us in this country to find our way back to where we have the most to do now, to each other," he pointed out.

Andor Grósz, president of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary (Mazsihisz) and chairman of the board of trustees of the March of Living Foundation, said the message of the March was simple and crystal clear: "We must not allow hatred to gain ground again, the memory of the martyrs to fade, or indifference to override responsibility."

He added that participants in the march should net let "the silence that was once upon a time louder than a cry, cover this city, this homeland, ever again. We won't let forgetfulness win or hate take root once more – for the phrase 'never again' to become mere words."

Speaking at the Righteous Among the Nations memorial, he said: "Their example teaches us that the future must be shaped in such a way that there is no place in it for hate, and indifference should not become an accomplice."

Israeli Ambassador Maya Kadosh was of the view that the fight against anti-Semitism in our time could not be separated from standing up for the state of Israel. "Israel can, of course, be criticized, but there is a difference between criticism and denying Israel the right for its citizens to live safely in their own country. This is not a political issue, but a modern form of anti-Semitism," she said.