On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Holocaust, the Government of Hungary is organising the Memorial Year, through the Hungarian Holocaust 2014 Memorial Committee. Within the framework of this series of events, a scientific memorial meeting organised to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day is taking place today and Prime Minister Orbán sent a letter to address the event.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the tragedy in Hungary, the Government of Hungary is organising several events through the Hungarian Holocaust 2014 Memorial Committee. The scientific memorial meeting organised today to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day is also part of this series of events, the primary aim of which is facing our past, understanding and atonement. For there can be no family, no community and no nation without memory and remembrance.

The Holocaust was a series of atrocities committed against the whole of humanity, and for precisely this reason it is the tragedy of the whole of humanity, just as the Hungarian Holocaust cannot by regarded as anything other than the tragedy of the whole Hungarian nation.

The Holocaust 2014 Memorial Committee was established to keep people's memories alive. We cannot and do not tolerate the branding, humiliation or mistreatment of anyone because of their religion or ethnicity. This is why the Government has introduced a policy of zero tolerance.

In a video that can be viewed at the House of Terror Museum, a survivor of one of the concentration camps states that it is possible to forgive the wrongdoings, but it is impossible to forget.

The Book of Proverbs also states that the memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot. Amen.

23 January 2014, Balatonszárszó


Yours Sincerely,


Viktor Orbán

(Prime Minister's Office)