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Residents Invited to Decide Fate of Controversial Budapest WWII Memorial

• 20 Jul 2026 11:23 AM

Consultation with the public is being launched over the fate of a memorial in Szabadság Square in downtown Budapest commemorating the German occupation of Budapest during the second world war, Mayor Gergely Karácsony said on Facebook on Saturday.

The Budapest municipality and the government will decide jointly over the monument, Karacsony said, adding that the monument was "infinitely tasteless and infinitely deceitful".

The memorial falsely suggests Hungary was blameless before the German occupation, ignoring the fact that anti-Jewish laws were enacted long before 1944, Karacsony said. The persecution of Jewish citizens began decades earlier, with the Hungarian state actively participating in the destruction of its Jewish population, he added.

"The claim that the Holocaust was solely a German crime against the Jews is a lie that must be erased from national memory," he said, emphasising that the Hungarian state and its citizens played a significant role in the Holocaust.

The statue rightfully provoked widespread protest when it was erected 12 years ago, he said. After 12 years and political changes, its place on Szabadsag Square must be reconsidered, he added.

He also noted that the memorial had inspired the Living Memorial project, where Hungarian citizens shared their family histories to counter the statue’s distorted narrative. Karacsony also warned that removing the statue could be exploited by the far right to fuel grievance politics.

MTI Stock Photo

Source: MTI – Hungary’s national news agency since 1881.

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