AHF Submits Letter to Secretary of State John Kerry

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5/9/2014 – AHF Submits Letter to Secretary of State John Kerry expressing concern that the US Embassy’s public (as opposed to private) statement about Hungary’s history concerning the treacherous year of 1944 may have the unintended consequence of alienating Hungarians at a time when NATO needs to be unified and resolute in confronting the challenges posed by Ukraine and Russia. The letter appears in full below and available for [download]

AHF Submits Letter to Secretary of State John Kerry. [download]

May 6, 2014

Dear Secretary Kerry:

The American Hungarian Federation (the “Federation”), founded over 100 years ago, represents a broad cross-section of the Hungarian American community.  It is a staunch supporter of good American/Hungarian relations, democracy, human and minority rights and stability in Central and Eastern Europe.  We write in connection with seemingly disparate but actually intersecting events relating to the foregoing issues.

The dangerous developments rapidly unfolding in Ukraine affect the security interests of both the countries of the region and the United States.  The members of NATO must be united and resolute if they are to effectively confront the challenges posed by Ukraine and Russia.  We applaud your efforts in this regard.

Hungary has been a strong NATO ally.  At the same time it has been the object of relentless, and in many instances unjustifiably harsh, criticism asserting that Hungary is anti-democratic and an incorrigible violator of human rights.   This in spite of the fact that the governing party has twice won a two-thirds majority in elections internationally recognized as free — an extraordinary feat for any democracy.

While much of the criticism has emerged from quarters that are prejudiced against the Hungarian government, it nevertheless has regrettably also found its way into official public pronouncements. The criticism even extends to topics that are generally in the purview of matters left to internal discourse of sovereign states, e.g., historical events and figures.

The April 22 statement issued by the U.S. Embassy in Budapest relating to the memorial to the “victims of the German occupation of Hungary” in 1944 squarely falls into this latter category. Without here expressing an opinion relative to the memorial itself, the Federation would note that the history of Hungary and the consequences of the occupation in that treacherous and dark year when hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews perished at the hands of the German occupiers and their Hungarian collaborators are much debated topics in Hungary this year as Hungarians remember the 70th anniversary of the horrors of the Hungarian Holocaust.

Diplomatic etiquette usually requires that issues relating to a host country’s history be raised in private, not publicly in a patronizing manner.  By publicly injecting itself into Hungary’s debate concerning the history of 1944, the April 22 statement serves only to humiliate and alienate many Hungarians who support NATO and its now critical mission.  This, in turn, could have the unintended consequence of undermining U.S. strategic interests.   Indeed, we Americans would understandably bristle if a foreign government publicly lectured us about, for instance, how we should commemorate the events relating to the U.S. Civil War and slavery.

Therefore, we respectfully urge that greater sensitivity be shown toward Hungarians and that all necessary steps be taken to shore up the alliance and thereby promote U.S. interests in restoring the rule of international law in a region that is emerging to be dangerously volatile.

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AHF REMEMBERS THE HEROES OF THE HUNGARIAN HOLOCAUST
The Federation takes this opportunity to remember Carl Lutz, Raoul Wallenberg and other foreign< diplomats as well as the Hungarian heroes who at great personal peril saved many Jewish lives. The Hungarians include but, of course, are not limited to the following individuals:

• Janos Esterhazy opposed the Slovak Nazi puppet regime of Jozef Tiso.  At great peril to himself, he was the only member of the Slovak Parliament to vote against the law authorizing the deportation of Jews in 1942.  Later, Esterhazy personally saved Jews from the Holocaust.
• General Vilmos Nagybaczoni-Nagy who upon being appointed minister of defense by the Kallay government took measures to end the gross abuse threatening the lives of Jews and others in the auxiliary labor force;
• Tibor Baranszky who, as secretary to Monsignor Angelo Rotta, the Vatican’s ambassador to Budapest, saved many lives by distributing protective letters to Jews on forced marches and elsewhere;
• Roman Catholic Priest Ferenc Kallo who gave Jews life‐saving certificates of baptism and who was killed by the Arrow Cross on October 29, 1944;
• Jozsef Antall Senior, who as a member of the ministry of internal affairs for civilian refugees
  gave refuge to and thereby saved Jews and Poles and who enjoyed the support and confidence of Minister of Interior Ferenc Keresztes‐Fischer and Prime Ministers Pal Teleki and after his death Miklos Kallay.
• Prince-Primate Jusztinian Seredi, Bishop Laszlo Ravasz of the Reformed Church and Istvan Bethlen who communicated protests to Regent Horthy in 1944 against deportations following Nazi Germany’s occupation of Hungary; and
• Col. Ferenc Koszorus, posthumously promoted to the rank of General by Prime Minister Antall after the fall of Communism, who volunteered his services and mobilized the 1st Armored Division under his command to militarily intervene on July 5, 1944 to stop Laszlo Baky, a secretary of state in the Ministry of Interior for “Jewish Affairs,” from deporting the approximately 200,000 plus Jews from Budapest.2

The Federation believes that the extraordinary courage, moral strength and fortitude of these and other individuals who despite overwhelming odds were willing to confront evil and act on behalf of humanity serve as examples for all of humankind; they must never be forgotten.
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1 When Minister of Interior Ferenc Keresztes-Fischer learned the details of these actions, he ordered them to be stopped.
2 On the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Holocaust, Congressman Tom Lantos (for whom one of the co-sponsoring organizations is named) referred to Col. Koszorus as “A Hero of the Hungarian Holocaust” and stated that “[a]s a result of his extraordinarily brave efforts, taken at great risk in an extremely volatile situation, the eventual takeover of Budapest by the Nazis was delayed by 3 1/2 months. This hiatus allowed thousands of Jews to seek safety in Budapest, thus sparing them from certain execution. It also permitted the famous Raoul Wallenberg, who arrived in Budapest on July 9, 1944, to coordinate his successful and effective rescue mission.” As is clear from Congressman Lantos’ remarks, had Col. Koszorus’ intervention not occurred, Wallenberg would not have had many lives to save. Neither would have Lutz.

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