Jewish Leader Sees Relations With Govt Fundamentally Changed

  • 18 Mar 2015 12:00 AM
Jewish Leader Sees Relations With Govt Fundamentally Changed
The government’s House of Fates project has “started developing in the right direction” and relations with the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities (Mazsihisz) have fundamentally changed, the chairman of the organisation said in an interview published by daily Magyar Hírlap.

András Heisler said cabinet chief János Lázár’s promise that the House of Fates will open only if a consensus is reached between the government and Jewish organisations has been a positive development.

Commenting on the assumption that consultations on plans might take years, Heisler said the establishment of similar institutions in Washington, Jerusalem, Warsaw and Berlin was also preceded by 6-8 years of talks and preparations.

“This is no reason for concern,” he said. Heisler added, however, that education could be launched prior to the opening of the project and a temporary exhibition could also be set up. On the whole, preparations are developing in the right direction, he added.

The House of Fates memorial and education centre is planned to be set up in the disused Józsefváros railway station in Budapest’s 8th district associated with deportations of Jews to concentration camps.

The project sparked debates early last year as Mazsihisz proposed setting up an institute displaying Hungarian- Jewish coexistence instead of creating a centre to commemorate the children victims of the Holocaust.

Source www.hungarymatters.hu

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MTI photo: Marjai-Janos

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