Posted on 02/09/2019 2:53:25 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
Hungarian Jews find themselves divided in a bitter dispute over the long-delayed opening of a new Holocaust museum in Budapest.
Some 600,000 Hungarian Jews perished during the Holocaust, most of them deported in the space of a few months in 1944 with the assistance of the Hungarian authorities.
"Schmidt’s previous concept for the House of Fates covered just the years between 1938 and 1948, omitting rising anti-Semitism and the introduction of the first anti-Jewish law in post-World War I Europe under Hungary’s interwar leader Miklos Horthy.
An official memorial erected in 2014 that portrayed Hungary as an innocent victim of Nazi Germany incensed many Holocaust survivors.
(Excerpt) Read more at ewn.co.za ...
Very interesting article about Hungary and the war.
Just for the record, I have a good friend who is a Hungarian Jewish writer in New York City and she LOVES President Trump.
Is George Soros on display as a collaborator.
“Some 600,000 Hungarian Jews perished during the Holocaust, most of them deported in the space of a few months in 1944 with the assistance of the Hungarian authorities...An official memorial erected in 2014 that portrayed Hungary as an innocent victim of Nazi Germany incensed many Holocaust survivors.”
The fact is that Hungary protected its Jewish population from the Nazis until Germans occupied Hungary in early 1944. The same situation played out in Italy; Mussolini thought Hitler’s racial policies were ridiculous, and didn’t let the Nazis kill the Jews in Italy while he was in control. When it happened, Germany had already taken control of Italy.
Look up the Arrow Cross; if you dare
An interesting footnote to the situation in Hungary: Raoul Wallenberg was saving Jews there after the German occupation, and it was the Soviets, not the Nazis, who killed him.
Admiral Horthy was not particularly brutal nor was he particularly hostile to Jews. Though Hungary was an Axis country - largely due to historical reasons since the Hungarians had been utterly screwed over by the French at the end of WWI in the Triannon treaty and wanted to regain some lost territory and because they’ve always hated the Russians - Horthy consistently refused to hand over Hungarian Jews to the Nazis.
However, Hungary had its own Nazi party called the Arrow-Cross Party. They eventually deposed Admiral Horthy in 1944 and then started shipping out Hungary’s Jews wholesale. Although many were killed in the concentration camps, the reason why a larger percentage of Jews in Hungary survived than in other countries in the region is that the Arrow Cross party did not have time to send them all. Horthy’s refusal did in the end save many Hungarian Jews.
...and a certain young fellow that grew rich by confiscating property of those sent to Auschwitz.
Well, from what I read on Wikipedia, the Arrow Cross performed dismally in the 1939 elections and came to power in 1944 only after Germany invaded Hungary, ousted its Democratic leadership and installed the Arrow Cross. Is this not a fair description?
And, from what I’ve just read, the Arrow Cross party was imposed on Hungary by a Nazi invasion in 1944 after Horthy directed his military not to resist a Soviet invasion.
Yes, I don’t think the average Hungarian feels responsible for the mass murder under the German occupation, and from what I know of it they shouldn’t. The regent’s son was held by the Germans to stop him from surrendering Hungary to the Soviets long before the war ended; like most Eastern Europeans, they were trapped between two monsters and the West left them to fend for themselves in 1939.
My family visited Budapest’s Jewish museum several years ago. It included one area devoted to telling the history of the Holocaust in Hungary. The museum itself was small and traditional.
After we left the museum tour, we were appalled when we were standing in the courtyard next to the museum to hear a local English language tour guide tell a monumental lie to a visiting tour group. He told them that during WWII no Jews from Budapest were rounded up and none sent to their deaths and that only a very few Jews from the rural areas were affected. All documentary evidence and first hand accounts were thrown under the bus by this tour guide or whoever perhaps wrote the script he was delivering. We were shocked and furious to hear the vast untruth. We know people who lost their entire families from Budapest. The Shoes on the Danube in Budapest is one moving memorial to the city’s Holocaust victims.
We were told by a local college age student with whom we spoke that just the night before during the dead of night, the local government had removed a long, permanent outdoor Holocaust memorial. They removed it completely, sending a chill in the hearts of the Jewish community and others who abhor revisionism. So, revisionism of the well-documented, and personally experienced events of the Holocaust in Hungary were already rampant when we visited.
True as to Mussolini, Italian Jews were rounded up by the Nazi. Hungary, Jews were rounded up by Hungarians under the Arrow Cross government. A party established in 1935. Pro Nazi, true, but hardly a result of the Nazi occupation.
..................
10,000 Jews of about 10 million Hungarians, not much to worry about. Like most of Europe, Hungry's Jewish problem was solved, the remaining concern being who solved it.
My point was that the Jews in both countries (Italy and Hungary) were murdered until Germany took control of those countries late in the war (unlike other areas where they were killed much earlier). Left to their own devices, Italy and Hungary took no such actions.
“were not murdered until”
That’s true, though I’d draw a distinction for countries with collaborationist governments willing to do the job. Vichy fits that description as well. I recognize you may not emphasize that aspect of your history, denying it is a different thing. Similar to slavery in the US, it did happen. Hungarians did deport both kill and Jews. Raised several SS divisions as well. I would draw a distinction between Italy and Hungary, both with governments allied to Hitler. Under Mussolini Italy persecuted Jews, but didn’t murder them systematically. And I recognize the threat of Russia as regards raising divisions for Hitler. I’ll note Finland, an ally of Hitler, which didn’t persecute Jews at all. I don’t think these distinctions should be erased, since they’re historical facts. Acknowledging that doesn’t mean Hungarians didn’t suffer under the Nazis which seems to be the issue.
Should have noted Hungary began persecution of Jews in 1939 with Nuremberg style laws. Like Italy
I understand that; if you draw no distinction between legalized anti-Semitism and outright murder, then there is another Holocaust occurring right now - every time Farrakhan opens his mouth.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.