Yesterday at the Dohany Street Synagogue in Budapest, more than 1,000 people gathered to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Budapest ghetto, where tens of thousands of Jews were enclosed near the end of World War II.
The group included the President and Prime Minister of Hungary, and the leader of the opposition party. An AP report gives this account:
Around 550,000 of Hungary’s 800,000 Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Most of those who survived were in Budapest, including those in the ghetto. Others were in specially designated "Jewish houses," and around 20,000 lived in hiding all around the city.
At a religious service in the Dohany Street Synagogue, Chief Rabbi Robert Frohlich spoke about the contradictory feelings of Tuesday’s commemoration.
"We mourn because a whole Jewish world was destroyed in the Holocaust, because our family members were murdered," Frohlich said.
"But we also rejoice because we were saved and we give thanks for the liberation and for the life we received." . . .
"The Holocaust in not one among many sins, but sin itself," [Prime Minister] Gyurcsany said to more than 1,000 people gathered in the synagogue. "It is the modern repetition of ancient sin and there is no forgiveness for it."
Jozsef Schweitzer, Hungary’s former chief rabbi, recalled his own experiences during the ghetto’s existence and recounted that the synagogue where Tuesday’s memorial was held was then used by the Nazis and their Hungarian allies, the Arrow Cross, to round up Budapest Jews.
"I was brought to this temple and I felt that nothing too bad could happen to us here," said the 82-year-old Schweitzer. "But this was a time of terror, dread and shame."