Israel in talks with Hungary over controversial Budapest Holocaust museum

STUART WINER

Some local Hungarian Jews and Yad Vashem are concerned that new institute will whitewash country’s involvement in the Nazi murder of half a million Jewish citizens
The House of Fates Holocaust museum and education center in Budapest. (Yaakov Schwartz/ Times of Israel)

Israeli officials are negotiating with the Hungarian government to reach a compromise over a new Holocaust museum in Budapest that some fear could minimize its countrymen’s role in the killing of half a million Jewish citizens during the Holocaust, according to a television report on Wednesday.

Some members of the Hungarian Jewish community, as well as Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial center, have boycotted the project due to the historical account presented by the museum on events leading up to and during World War II.

Two advisers to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban have arrived in Israel and were to hold talks with representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday, Channel 10 television news reported Wednesday, citing senior Israeli officials.
An Israeli official, who asked to remain anonymous, told the station that the Foreign Ministry is firmly against any deviation from the historical facts about Hungarian Jews in the Holocaust, as documented by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Center in Israel and the Washington Holocaust museum.

According to the official, the PMO has not completely adopted the Foreign Ministry stance and ministry officials were not invited to participate in the talks.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his wife Aniko Levai (L) lay a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance on July 19, 2018 during their visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial museum in Jerusalem. (AFP PHOTO / GALI TIBBON)

The new institute, named “The House of Fates,” is scheduled to open next year, marking 75 years since the extermination of Hungarian Jewry began in 1944.

Andras Heisler, head of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (Mazsihisz) which rejects the museum, also arrived in Israel this week for an emergency visit about the project and anti-Semitism in Hungary, Channel 10 reported. He will meet with Jewish Agency chief Isaac Herzog, Yad Vashem officials, and chairman of the Yesh Atid political party Yair Lapid, whose father was a Hungarian Holocaust survivor. But Heisler will not meet with anyone from the Prime Minister’s Office.

The PMO said in a statement that Hungary is open to Israeli suggestions and eager to reach a compromise.

“Concerning the House of Fates, the Hungarians have a desire to create a consensus about the narrative as a condition for its opening. Israel and other entities involved in the matter are waiting for the updated Hungarian approach with the goal of reaching the desired consensus.”

The House of Fates Holocaust museum and education center in Budapest. (Yaakov Schwartz/ Times of Israel)

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