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Civilians Protest Against Monument Falsifying History

This monument was ordered by the government of Hungary (or, to be more exact, by Premier Viktor Orbán of almost unlimited power) and erected stealthily, following numerous delays, under the cover of the night dawning on July 20th 2014.

On the edge of the pavement opposite the memorial, you can see commemorative carvings, personal objects, photographs, books and documents. These have been brought here uninvited in recent years by citizens outraged by the falsification of history that is manifested in the monument, which has been arbitrarily erected without consultation with urban planners and the community.

In the official wording, the sculptural ensemble commemorates Hungary's German occupation on March 19, 1944. As a result of the scandal following the publication of the design, the text has been changed to "the victims of the occupation". The central figure of the composition is Archangel Gabriel impersonating the innocent Hungary, dropping (actually, it looks like offering) the country's orb, while the German imperial eagle is preparing to strike. Thus does the work subserviently reflect the populist and authoritarian ruling political party's new constitution, forced upon the population again without any consultation, suggesting that the state of Hungary bears no responsibility for the genocide following the German occupation, including the deportation of nearly half a million Hungarian citizens (mostly Jews but also gypsies, gays and dissidents) to Nazi extermination camps.

This monument is a lie serving a political intention.

Hungary was a faithful ally of Hitler's Germany during WW2, being the first in 1940 to join the Axis powers. On March 19, 1944, the arriving German troops were received with bouquets rather than bullets. That occupation left the state administration untouched and the administration, in turn, enthusiastically and very effectively organized and executed the mass deportations, surpassing even German expectations.

Hungary was the first in Europe, back in 1920, to pass an anti-Semitic law followed by a row of similar, increasingly heavy-handed laws stripping Hungary's Jewry of more and more rights; the state that sent to their deaths twenty thousand people unable to certify their Hungarian citizenship in; the state whose gendarmes and soldiers murdered several thousand civilians at Novi Sad in the winter of 1942-43; the state that sacrificed two hundred thousand soldiers in a senseless war, while some of its occupying units abroad committed a series of war crimes against the civilian population.

Historians of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences have unanimously condemned the message suggested by this monument, labeling it as an attempt to rewrite history.

The protesters point out that, by erecting this monument, the government is making a concession to Hungary's far right: the advocates of the nationalist, racist, xenophobic Jobbik party, while endeavoring to whitewash the memory of their admitted mentor, Admiral Miklós Horthy who governed the country on a clerical-authoritarian platform between the world wars, then led it to destruction.

The civil groups organizing the protest action, representing the sober and responsible citizens of Hungary and Europe, demand the false monument to be removed from this location. They call on the government not to monopolize social memory, nor to rewrite history; but to initiate a dialogue with society for carefully exploring the past, in order to facilitate the honest reckoning with old crimes and processing the lessons learned.

As a matter of fact, the monument is really a genuine symbol. It is the monument of the government's arrogance and the criminal steps it took. Its removal will also be symbolic, signaling that liberty has returned. The protesters have stated they will continue their protest actions and presence as long as this mendacious monument stands here.