Monika Balatoni, Hungarian Minister of State for Public Diplomacy and Relations , opened a Hungarian Holocaust exhibition in Moscow on Monday.

"We must nurture the memory of the victims and the survivors so that we can declare that Hungary is a country of well-intentioned people, a democracy that defends itself and its people against all who want to incite hatred," Ms Balatoni told an opening ceremony in the Hungarian Cultural Centre.

She said that the Hungarian government designated 2014 a memorial year to mark the 70th anniversary of the Hungarian Holocaust in an effort "to bow to the memory of the victims."

Speaking after the opening, she called it an important momentum of commemorations that Hungarian government officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Tibor Navracsics and UN Ambassador Csaba Kőrösi, apologised for the role of the Hungarian state in the Holocaust on several occasions. "This is a huge step since nobody had either pronounced or extended a public apology in the past several decades before," she added.
The exhibition will later travel on to Sofia and Buenos Aires.

Natalya Anisimova, a representative of the Russian Jewish Congress, said they would welcome the exhibition to be put on display in one of their synagogues in Moscow as well as in Sankt Petersburg, Kazan and the Far East.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)