The March of Life was held on Sunday in Budapest: the participants of the 20th annual walk commemorating the victims of the Holocaust marched from the synagogue on Dohany Street to the square in front of the Keleti railway station; the speakers of the event all remembered the terrorist attack against Israel on October 7 last year, warning of the dangers of the revival of anti-Semitism.
The procession started at the sound of the shofar, led by almost a hundred Holocaust survivors traveling in electric minibuses. The participants marched along the closed Rákóczi út to the stage set up in front of the main entrance of Keleti railway station.
Jákov Hadasz-Handelszman, the ambassador of Israel in Budapest, warned in his speech: the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel will add additional meaning to this year's Elet march.
It is even more important now to educate the younger generations, to inspire them to fight against racism, discrimination and injustice, he added.
Who would have thought that 80 years after the Holocaust, Jews would once again feel fear around the world? - asked the ambassador, who at the same time described Hungary as an island of renewal, where a thriving Jewish community lives.
He thanked the Hungarian government for its support, emphasizing that Hungary is a role model in introducing a policy of zero tolerance against anti-Semitism.
Jichák Hercog, the President of the State of Israel, spoke in his video message: although the Holocaust is unique in history among the sins of humanity, in recent months the Jewish community has once again mourned a deep tragedy.
The blindness of hatred led the enemies of the Jewish people and the state of Israel to kill, torture, rob, destroy, rape and kidnap, referring to the October 7 terrorist attack by Hamas.
He added: the slaughtered, the tortured, the beaten and raped, the kidnapped and those who are still in captivity cry out to us for justice and freedom, for their right to life.
Gábor Gordon, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Élét Menete Foundation, emphasized: the terrible horrors of the Holocaust, one of the greatest genocides of humanity, must always be remembered, but in a way that "celebrates the love of life and the will to live".
He especially greeted the Holocaust survivors who participated in the commemoration, whom he called the true VIP guests of the event, who "overcame death with their will to live."
He recalled the terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, which he compared to "a holocaust that lasted for a day", and called it worrisome that not only in Muslim countries, but also in the major cities of Western civilization, crowds celebrate the murderous terrorist actions of Hamas.
Baruch Adler, deputy director of the international March of Life organization, spoke about the fact that those who participate in the March of Life every year prove the victory of good over the forces of evil. He remembered the Ukrainian villager hiding his mother, who risked his own life and that of his family every day to save his mother's life.
He spoke about the October 7 terrorist attack, calling the world's silence after the events "deafening". The promise of "never again" rang hollow in the face of relentless brutality, he said, adding that as citizens of the free world, we should be ashamed of ourselves for idly watching history repeat itself.
At the beginning of the event, the "1944. erected a plaque in memory of the 440,000 Hungarian Jews who were dragged away and murdered between May 15 and July 9.
Péter Niedermüller VII. the district mayor emphasized: it is a serious moral failure and sin of Hungarian society that "we did not protect our Jewish compatriots". He elaborated on the following: on the one hand, remembrance is a means of confrontation, and on the other hand, it also imposes the obligation on those who remember to tell the next generation that hatred and the incitement of hatred destroy society.
At the end of the commemoration, a candle was lit in memory of the victims of the Holocaust and the terrorist attack in Israel on October 7.
Among others, Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Andor Grósz, President of the Association of Hungarian Jewish Faith Communities (Mazsihisz), György Szabó, President of the Hungarian Jewish Heritage Public Foundation, László Győrfi, Vice President of the United Hungarian Israelite Faith Society (EMIH), lit a candle alongside others. Gábor, president of the Hungarian Autonomous Orthodox Israelite Faith Community, Iván Abonyi, who with her family hid five people in their Budapest apartment, as well as Holocaust survivors and students, was awarded the True Community Award.
MTI
Cover photo: The participants of the Élet menete event go to the Kelet train station on Rákóczi út on May 5, 2024.
The participants of the 20th annual walk commemorating the victims of the Holocaust marched from the Dohány Street synagogue to the square in front of the Keleti railway station. Source: MTI/Péter Lakatos
