70 years after Hungarian Holocaust, historian protests planned memorial

This year Hungary is commemorating the 70th anniversary of the deportation of more than 430,000 Hungarian Jews to concentration camps during the Holocaust. To mark the anniversary, the Hungarian government is planning to erect a statue depicting the German imperial eagle devouring the Angel Gabriel, who represents Hungary....

Meanwhile Dr. Randolph L. Braham, a prominent Holocaust historian and a survivor from Hungary, chose to return an award—the Medium Cross of the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic—that he received from the Hungarian government in 2011, in a personal protest against the planned Holocaust memorial. In an open letter addressed to the memorial’s executives in February, Braham wrote that the memorial was for him the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Braham is a distinguished professor emeritus of political science at the City University of New York who has published and edited 62 books and contributed chapters to 50 others. In an exclusive interview with JNS.org, he discusses his decision to return the Order of Merit, the unfolding of the Holocaust in Hungary, and the country’s modern political climate. 

JNS: As a young boy, what were the first signs of repressions you witnessed around you against Jews and how did it impact the Jewish community of you and your family?...