Govt plans no inauguration ceremony for WWII monument

(MTI) – There will be no unveiling ceremony for Budapest’s new monument dedicated to the victims of Hungary’s 1944 German occupation, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office told a press conference on Monday.

Answering a question, Janos Lazar said that the government is aware of disputes and “misunderstandings” surrounding the monument, respects the grief of people opposing the structure, and decided to drop plans of an inauguration ceremony.

Lazar insisted that the monument was not designed and erected “against some people” but to ensure remembrance. “We have tried to act in a fair, honest and consistent way. There may have been mistakes, in coordination, which have cast a shadow on our decisions,” he said.

The government’s motivation was “to make it clear for the present generation and for posterity that the Hungarian Holocaust, the deportation of Jews from Hungary could not have taken place without the country’s German occupation”, the minister said. He added he regretted that “there had been no sober dialogue” concerning the responsibility of both Hungary’s administration and Germany for the Holocaust. Stressing that there would have been no Holocaust if Hungary had not been occupied does not mean denying the responsibility of the Hungarian governments or their officials at the time. “The crimes Germany committed against Hungary does not relieve us of the responsibility for the crimes we committed,” Lazar said.