March of Life
On Sunday the March of Life took place in Budapest for the 20th time to remember the victims of the Holocaust.
With almost a hundred Holocaust survivors (who were transported in electric vehicles this year) and to the sound of the shofar, participants in the vigil march marched from the synagogue on Dohány utca to the Ostbahnhof. Speakers there recalled the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7th and warned of the dangers of a resurgent anti-Semitism.
Hungary is a role model for zero tolerance policy
Israel’s Ambassador to Budapest, Yakov Hadas-Handelsman, emphasized the importance of educating the young generation to combat racism, discrimination and injustice. He noted with regret that 80 years following the Holocaust, Jews around the world have to fear once more. In this context, he described Hungary as an island of renewal with a thriving Jewish community. He thanked the government for its support and emphasized that Hungary is setting an example in implementing a zero-tolerance policy once morest anti-Semitism.
Call for freedom and life
In a video message, Israeli President Yitzhak Herzog said that while the Holocaust was a unique crime in human history, the Jewish community had suffered another deep tragedy in recent months. Referring to the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, he said that the blindness of hatred had driven opponents of the Jewish people and the State of Israel to murder, torture, robbery, destruction, rape and kidnapping. The victims of the attack would demand justice, freedom and their right to life.
Gábor Gordon, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the March of Life Foundation, said the terrible horrors of the Holocaust – one of humanity’s greatest genocides – must always be remembered, also to celebrate the love of life and the will to live. He particularly welcomed the Holocaust survivors who took part in the commemoration event. He described them as the actual VIP guests of the event, who had overcome death through their will to live. Reflecting on October 7, he said it was disturbing that crowds celebrated Hamas’s murderous acts of terrorism not only in Muslim countries but also in major cities in Western civilization.
Western world watches idly
Baruch Adler, deputy director of the international organization March of the Living, said the world’s silence following the events of October 7 was “deafening.” The promise of “Never once more!” rings hollow in the face of unrelenting brutality; we, as citizens of the free world, should be ashamed for standing idly by and watching history repeat itself. He called the March of Life a triumph of good over evil.
At the beginning of the event, a plaque commemorating the 440,000 Hungarian Jews who were deported and murdered between May 15 and July 9, 1944 was unveiled in Tivadar-Herzl Square in front of the synagogue on Dohány utca. At the end of the memorial service, candles were lit in memory of the victims of the Holocaust and the October 7 terrorist attack.
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