“The Government of Hungary and the Ministry of Interior are using all possible means to counter extremism”, Minister of interior Sándor Pintér declared on Thursday in Budapest prior to presenting Righteous Among the Nations awards and Badges of Honour for Valour in recognition of the saving of Jews during the Holocaust.

In his speech, the Minister of Interior stressed. “Today, we have highly-developed legal institutions at our disposal to meet the challenge posed by those who want to change law and order in Hungary through force”. Police actions regularly prevent unwanted extremists from damaging our society, and one such mission recently cost the life of a police officer, he recalled.

However, the tragedy does not reduce our commitment to act against extremist, “on the contrary, it makes us even more resolute”; we want to quell the spread of extremism before it has a chance to even take root, he said.

Illegal migration is a defining phenomenon of our times, he said, explaining that preventing the terrorism and extremism that appears as a result is currently one of the greatest challenges, and the Hungarian Government is committed to keeping foreign radical groups outside the country’s borders.

Hungarians who the Israeli Yad Vashem remembrance authority deem worthy of receiving the Righteous Among the Nations award have for the past 22 years been traditionally also been presented with a Badge of Honour for Valour, the Minister of Interior reminded the press. We bow our heads in respect before the “genuine humanity coupled with bravery” of today’s and previous recipients of the award, and “recognise their heroic resistance”, the Minister said.

In addition to keeping the memory of the victims alive and recording their names and fates, the staff of the Yad Vashem Institute and the Holocaust Public Foundation also research the saviours and helpers of persecuted Jews and search for Righteous Among the Nations, “the propagators of faith and trust in humanity”, he said.

Mr. Pintér said that in his opinion the Holocaust must be talked about and we must use every possible occasion for remembrance to ensure that our generation and the ones to follow can commemorate the heroes who risked their lives to save others in a worthy manner. They knew and proved that “it is not the stipulations of the law that make it our duty to protect human life”, they knew and proved that people cannot be excluded because of their origins or religious beliefs, he explained.

Presenting the Badges of Honour for Valour to the Righteous Among the Nations today represents a message. We must strive to assure that “the memory of terrible dictatorships remains only a memory” and that people can never again be excluded, desecrated or murdered because of their origin or religion, he said, adding that “people who think responsibly agree with us and turn their backs on those who follow or support evil, extremist ideals”.

At the event, Israeli Ambassador Yossi Amrani spoke about the fact that everyone has a name and human dignity, and that irrespectively of politics, religions and national or other ideologies, nobody can deprive their fellow human beings of their right to exist and prosper. “We were created equal and received a name and a path in life through being born, and accordingly there is no leader, nation or religion that can deprive anyone of their name and character”, he said.

According to the diplomat, history teaches us that evil and hatred can gain power and is capable of controlling countries and nations. He pointed out that the dark days of the Second World War were the first time in history that a coordinated and premeditated attempt was made to eradicate a whole people. Nazi-ruled Germany directed this atrocity, but it is also unforgiveable that many assisted them in this, he said.

According to the Ambassador, everyone has a name: the victims and the guilty alike, “but people were not allotted the same amount of soul”, adding that today we are celebrating the few who dared to risk their lives and who, governed by their conscience and soul, saved their fellow humans.

The diplomat stressed: They will never be forgotten, and by keeping their memories alive we are making the world a better place. The story of today’s recipients of the award is one of strength, bravery and daring to take risks; their righteousness must serve as a compass, he said.

At the event, posthumous awards were presented to Gusztáv Bárczi, József Essősy, Iván Zékány, Gyula Chaben and his wife Bözsi, Zoltán Erdőkürti and his wife Krisztina, Mihály Hrabovszki, Géza Gyürey, Mihály Kiss, György Leszkovszky and his wife Margitnak, Rosa Boenke (Sister Elena), József and Mária Víg, and to Mihály and Anika Sonda.

Some of the awards were accepted by family members, and the awards of those with no living relatives will be preserved by the Yad Vashem Institute.

The Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem bestows Righteous Among the Nations awards to people who saved the lives of Jews during the Holocaust in accordance with legislation adopted by Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, in 1953. The committee made up of public figures, which corroborates with facts that these saviours of Jews acted of their own accord and risked their freedom, safety or lives to help Jews in territories under the authority of Germany or its allies without any kind of financial consideration, is chaired by a judge from Israel’s Supreme Court.

(Ministry of Interior/MTI)