Hungary Jews Will Rebury Remains of Nazi-Era Victims
Image by Getty Images
Hungary’s Jewish community received government permission to bury human remains from the Holocaust that were found in the Danube River.
The bones, which were discovered five years ago during construction work on the Margaret Bridge, belong to several people who were murdered either by being shot on the banks of the river and dumped into it, or thrown into the river alive in 1944 or 1945 by troops loyal to the Hungarian government of pro-Nazi collaborationists, Tamas Desi, a spokesman for the Mazsihisz umbrella group of Hungarian Jewish communities, told JTA on Wednesday.
Hundreds more were murdered in this fashion.
The government had intended to bury the bones in a municipal burial site, but following the Jewish community’s objections subjected the find to DNA testing that proved the bones were likely of Ashkenazi Jews, Desi said.
“Recently the government agreed in talks with the Jewish community to give the bones for a Jewish burial,” he said.
The burial ceremony is scheduled to take place March 20 at the main Jewish cemetery in Budapest.
In 2005, the Hungarian capital unveiled a commemorative sculpture along one area of the bank featuring 60 pairs of metal shoes set in concrete. The work by artist Gyula Pauer is one of the best-known monuments in Budapest.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
