Hungarian human resources minister Zoltán Balog’s comments that Roma were not deported from Hungary during the Holocaust and that Roma intellectuals need to be careful not to focus as much on the experience of the Holocaust as the Jews did, for fear that the sense of “victimhood” lead to schizophrenia, has resulted in calls for the minister’s resignation. Ágnes Kunhalmi, the president of the Hungarian Socialist Party’s (MSZP) Budapest organization, demanded Mr. Balog’s resignation, noting that the minister’s words “went against the grain of all academic historical research, were clearly false and intolerable.”
The Budapest Roma Holocaust monument.
Ms. Kunhalmi is the vice chair of Parliament’s cultural affairs committee and has called unequivocally for Mr. Balog’s departure, adding that the relativisation or denial of the Porajmos (the Roma Holocaust) goes against all norms of civilized society. Ms. Kunhalmi also found it disturbing that the minister had entered into a numbers game, in an attempt to call into question how many had died during the Holocaust. It is considered especially unnerving that Mr. Balog’s ministry is responsible for the development of school textbooks, including those used in history classes.
Ágnes Vadai, a prominent politician with the Democratic Coalition (DK), added that “this government has to constantly be reminded of historical sins,” as they are so inclined to deny the tragedy or to callously call upon survivors and descendants to “stop playing the role of the victim.”
Mr. Balog has offered no clarification or comment following his controversial statements on public radio.
