Prime Minister Viktor Orbán sent a letter to the Chairman of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (Mazsihisz), András Heisler, on the occasion of the Memorial Day for the Hungarian Victims of the Holocaust. The full text of the letter can be read below.

Mr. András HEISLER,
Chairman of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (Mazsihisz)
16 April 2014, Budapest

Dear Mr. Chairman,
The Hungarian Constitution considers human dignity as the basis for human existence. On this Memorial Day, we profess with the words of our new Fundamental Law that “after the decades of the twentieth century which led to a state of moral decay, we have an abiding need for spiritual and intellectual renewal”.

Now is the time for renewal, the time has come to finally regard our nation’s history as a whole. The pain of Hungarian Jews is the pain of all the Hungarian people. Although the horrors of the Holocaust were inflicted on our Jewish compatriots and destroyed their lives and assets, it was a common loss and pain for the whole nation. Since in our view, the Hungarian Jews were and always will be part of the Hungarian nation. I assure you that the Hungarian Jewish community can count on the respect, friendship and protection of the newly elected government in the future.

On the occasion of the Memorial Day for the Hungarian Victims of the Holocaust, please accept my deepest sympathy and allow me to express my deep respect for the Jewish community in Hungary.


Yours sincerely,
Viktor Orbán

(Prime Minister's Office)