Embassy of Hungary, Brasília, May 18th, 2012
(As prepared for delivery)
Dear Minister,
Madam and Mister Ambassadors,
Dear Guests,
Dear Friends,
It is a special honor for me to be able to open this Wallenberg exhibition commemorating the Swedish diplomat, rescuer of men here in Brasília. In this country which is home to the second largest Jewish community in South America (around 100.000 strong, it is the 11th largest Jewish community in the world), thanks to its open and receptive migration policy and religious tolerance.
As I came to learn, Brazil also has a diplomat to be proud of, who as a courageous humanist during dark times in Europe undertook the risks to save Jewish people in Paris, during the puppet government of Vichy. I am of course talking about Ambassador Luís Martins de Sousa Dantas, who represented his country in Paris from 1919 until 1944. His merits were perpetuated by Fábio Koifman in his book entitled “The Don Quixote of Darkness” (Quixote nas trevas).
The series of events spanning the entire year, organized by Hungary and Sweden in honor of a personality whose memory is one of the most important symbolic links between the two nations began on January 17th, 2012 at the Hungarian National Museum. In memory of a Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of our Jewish compatriots in Hungary during the horrible tragedy of the Holocaust. Therefore let me first salute the Ambassador of Sweden here, His Excellency Magnus Robach.
I would also like to greet with much warmth Ambassador Rafael Eldad, representative of the State of Israel, where Wallenberg is honored as a “Righteous among the Nations”. Keeping track of the Righteous among the Nations is one of the things we should wholeheartedly learn from Israel: the respect for those who in times of trouble and injustice stood up for us, thereby standing up for universal human values as well.
It is important to remember Wallenberg’s helpers, both Jews and non-Jews, Hungarians and Swedes. We must mention Miklósné Váli, member of the Wallenberg Memorial Committee, who – even though being herself persecuted during the Holocaust and saved by Wallenberg – joined him as a typewriter to speed up the issuing of the Schutzpasses.
Let us not forget the other rescuers either. Those common men and women with a healthy moral compass who saved close and distant acquaintances, friends and colleagues, or even total strangers. Who – just like Wallenberg – risked their lives to help their peers. Unfortunately there were too few of them. As a foreign minister of Hungary it is especially painful for me to profess: during the Holocaust the Hungarian state was weighted in the balance and found wanting. It was not able to protect its citizens, and – although under foreign occupation – even assisted in their destruction. Thus hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews became homeless in their own fatherland and, deprived of their humanity and Hungarian nationality, fateless. The fact that we consciously decided to officially open the Wallenberg Year at the National Museum is a symbol of our nation’s complete break with the dark spirit of the 20th century. This break does not mean that we do not wish to make clear our responsibility arising from the fact that this inhuman chapter of human history was among others took place in our country as well. We know that uncovering the past and drawing the appropriate lessons is more important than anything else.
Raoul Wallenberg was among those of his generation that through their own example proved – and let me here refer to the words of Hungarian poet Endre Ady, chosen as a motto of our memorial year – that it is possible to remain human amidst inhumanity.
Yes, when we evoke Raoul Wallenberg’s activities in Budapest, we remember on the one hand this personal drama as well. On the other hand it is not only this personal, human dimension of his story that is important for us, but also his profession. During the critical days of the Holocaust, Wallenberg served as a diplomat in Budapest, and thus a special tool – his own status – was at his disposal. The inherent privileges of a diplomatic status – immunities and exemptions – proved to be an important asset during Wallenberg’s rescuing work. And those who take their diplomatic function seriously know very well how great a responsibility this is. Wallenberg serves as an example for future diplomats as well.
A memorial year is always both about those we remember – who was he, what do we think of him – and those who remember: who we are and what we think of ourselves. Remembering Wallenberg we profess our belief that our ideals and our values are the same as his. Just as the Holocaust is a tragedy of the entire mankind, the Hungarian Holocaust is a tragedy of the entire Hungarian nation.
We reinforced this belief in our recently adopted foreign policy strategy document, in which we stated that our Europe Policy and entire foreign policy is based on the responsibility shared with our allies and other international partners for each other, each other’s citizens, for the security, well-being, freedom of each other’s citizens. Hungary will never be indifferent to the security of people anywhere in the world, but the Middle East is even more distinguished in this regard. The Jewish community of Hungary and the Hungarian-speaking Jewish community of Hungarian origin in Israel are linked together by strong family and friendly ties. These ties represent a special added value in the relations of our two countries.
At the same time it is my firm belief and spiritual urge to always remember the victims first, when commemorating the rescuers. In this regard please allow me to quote the words of Ferenc Mádl, which he delivered as president of the republic during the official opening ceremony of the Holocaust Documentation and Memorial Centre in Budapest:
“This memorial place is not located at a random place in the world, but is in Hungary, Budapest, not far from where the ghetto was established during the Holocaust in 1944. This memorial place is not about inhumanity in general, or violence, lowly instincts, the system of institutional murder at large, but about this place right here, where we now are, where everything we are talking about actually happened.
Because the endgame of the tragedy may have happened someplace else, but this does not change the fact that it was made possible from here. The guilty collaborators lived here, and the guilty indifference of the white-handed ruled exactly here. The fact that the whole world was silent is no excuse. All of this happened here. It was here that our resistance was not enough. It was here that our helping hand was too weak. This is how this tragedy became a personal matter for all of us, a common spiritual burden shared by all of us. This is where we must practice our atonement, to ask forgiveness for the memory of all those who were sent to die, and those of our brothers who survived.”
The Holocaust Memorial Center is our national institution. The Hungarian Government made the decision about its establishment in 1999, and selected the Páva Street venue for it in 2002. Its location has been consciously decided to be outside of the traditional Jewish quarter, thus indicating that it is a national memorial place. The Páva Street memorial center is one of the few state-founded institutions in the world dealing exclusively with the Holocaust.
We know that as a result of the well-known historical circumstances we cannot lay flowers on Wallenberg’s grave. The full historical research of his life – although yet elusive – is unavoidable. His fate reminds us that the ideological nature of dictatorships is identical. They do not tolerate, cannot tolerate the truth. It is important to mention that Wallenberg voluntarily met with the Soviets who abducted him. His niece, who took part in the opening ceremony of the memorial year, spoke thus: Wallenberg met with the Soviets because “he hoped for a better future for Hungary”. There would have been a witness who could have testified that the population of the country is not only made up of Nazis.
Several events of the memorial year especially address the youth. The high school competition entitled “Was it long ago? Where was it?” has been organized as a priority event in our country. 116 teams took part in it. For it is our common duty to hand down responsibility from generation to generation: we shouldn’t drift with the trends of history, instead we must always remain human – even amidst inhumanity. I wish for us all to have a thoughtful joint commemoration.
As I now open the Raoul Wallenberg exhibition here in Brasília, I would like to stress again that I do this in a country where Brazilian citizens of different origins and religion live side by side in peace.
Thank you for your kind attention.
(kormany.hu)