It is with support from Hungarian Jewish organisations and help from the international Jewish community that the Government wants to put together the professional programme of the House of Fates, a memorial centre for child victims of the Holocaust – Minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s Office János Lázár said on Tuesday, after the Jewish Community Roundtable’s over-4-hour meeting, where eight subjects were discussed.
"The re-launch of cooperation was perhaps most important of all” said the Minister who mentioned among the questions raised the financial and social status of Hungarian Holocaust survivors; the issue of Hungary’s Jewish cemeteries; and the representation of the Holocaust in public education. He recalled that four subjects had been initiated by the Government and four by Jewish organisations.
The Hungarian Government seeks to reach consensus with Hungarian Jewish communities on the question of the House of Fates planned to be established at the Józsefváros train station. In summing up the meeting, which he called expressly cooperative in its spirit, the Minister stressed that it had addressed all points of conflict between the Government and Hungarian Jewish organisations but they were all considered open questions and that the objective was to conclude as many of them as possible on the next occasion.
He said that the next meeting was scheduled for December, which administration of justice leaders and policy ministers would be invited to attend to discuss how zero tolerance for anti-Semitic phenomena was enforced. At the press conference, János Lázár confirmed that he had requested Gusztáv Zoltai, the former Managing Director of Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (MAZSIHISZ), to advise the Prime Minister’s Office.
MAZSIHISZ President András Heisler said to journalists that he considered the resumption at the Jewish Community Roundtable of dialogue broken three quarters of a year before a significant step forward. He added that a great many issues had been resolved. The President of MAZSIHIZS called it a positive development that the Government “received with openness” the Jewish organisations’ initiative to make the roundtable a regular event.
At the press conference, Executive Rabbi of EMIH Unified Hungarian Jewish Congregation Slomó Köves described the roundtable as “a step towards productivity and constructiveness”.
(Prime Minister's Office)
