Hungarian Jewish leaders pay tribute to liberation of ghetto

Hungarian Jewish leaders have paid tribute to the end of the capital’s wartime Jewish ghetto, 77 years after its liberation by the Soviet Red Army in January 1945.

The ghetto was created in November 1944, on the orders of Hungarian fascist party Arrow Cross and was short-lived, with the city’s 70,000 Jews crammed into just a few streets for two months. However, despite the best efforts of Red Cross volunteers, most received fewer than 800 calories per day and, during December 1944, the situation deteriorated further, as the Soviets lay siege to the Nazi-occupied city.

At one point, up to 120 dead bodies were being removed from the ghetto every day and, upon liberation, more than 3,000 bodies were found on Klauzál Square alone.

“Remembrance is a part of our shared future,” said András Heisler, president of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities.

The event was organised by the Raoul Wallenberg Association, which is named after the Swedish diplomat stationed in Budapest who saved thousands of Jews.