Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Wiesel Snubs Hungary Over Praise for Fascist

Elie Wiesel has returned Hungary’s highest honor over the country’s honoring of a Nazi sympathizer who has been called a fascist.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner repudiated the Order of Merit, Grand Cross in a letter addressed to the speaker of the Hungarian Parliament, Laszlo Kover, and published in the Hungarian weekly Magyar Narancs. Wiesel, an author and Holocaust survivor, received the award in 2004.

His action was sparked by the participation of several Hungarian lawmakers in a May 27 memorial ceremony for Jozsef Nyiro, a World War II member of Hungary’s parliament who was a supporter of Hitler.

“It has become increasingly clear that Hungarian authorities are encouraging the whitewashing of tragic and criminal episodes in Hungary’s past, namely the wartime Hungarian government’s involvement in the deportation and murder of hundreds of thousands of its Jewish citizens,” Wiesel wrote. “I do not wish to be associated in any way with such activities.”

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.