“The Shoah has occupied its deserved place in our history, among our greatest historical tragedies. It belongs to us, being inseparable from us, and its shame, loss and grief are ours”, Minister of Defence Csaba Hende said during a wreath-laying ceremony held by Posthumous General Ferenc Koszorús’ memorial plaque in Dohány Street, Budapest on Friday, July 4.

The Minister said that “today we are paying tribute to the memory of a just man, a Ludovika military officer, the role model of his vocation, an excellent commander who executed his tasks professionally on the battlefield and in the office of the General Staff as well. Ferenc Koszorús did his duty at all times, and did not consider its consequences for himself.” 

Minister Hende reminded his audience that the posthumous general had stood up against the gendarmes detailed to Budapest, by which he had enforced a halt to the deportation of around 250,000 Jews collected in “yellow star houses”.  “This bought time for many, and meant escape to the majority”, he added.

“When we remember Ferenc Koszorús today, 70 years after his heroic deed, we must also remember those whom he saved, those whom were disowned from the nation, deprived of their living and pushed to the periphery of life, those who nevertheless escaped after a lot of suffering and were able to continue their lives. Today we must also remember those whom he could not save”, Minister Hende said. These people lived and died with our grandparents, went to school with them, did the shopping at the market together and fought and bled under the Hungarian Tricolour in the First World War. Still, they were the ones who were “given to death” because of their faith and ancestry. “They were given to death, with the active cooperation of the Hungarian state and so many Hungarians”, the Minister said.

Minister Hende said that our task and mission is to win the 21st century, to bind together again what is divided in the souls. Time after time, we must make it clear that this country is for everybody who lives with us, everybody who works to build it, everybody who is willing to work and, if needed, to fight for it.

At the end of the ceremony, the participants laid wreaths with full military honors by a memorial plaque on the wall of a house in Dohány Street. 

Among others, the event was attended by Ilan Mor, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Israel, André Goodfriend, Chargé d’affaires ad interim of the United States of America, and Maj.-Gen. István Kun Szabó, Deputy State Secretary for Public Relations, Ministry of Defence.

At the gala dinner held on the previous day in Stefánia Palace, Minister Hende had awarded Posthumous General Ferenc Koszorús the “For the Homeland” medal, which was received by his son, Ferenc Koszorús, Jr.

(Ministry of Defence)