Israel Condemns Bust of Nazi Collaborator Placed in Hungarian Parliament

A bust of Hungarian statesman and Nazi collaborator Miklos Horthy was erected in the country’s parliament building in Budapest on Tuesday, August 30, prompting condemnation from the Embassy of Israel in Hungary.

Video released by Hungarian far-right political party Mi Hazank Mozgalom, or Our Homeland Movement, shows the unveiling of the bust.

Local media reported the statue was erected in the office of the vice president of the party, Dora Duro.

Toroczkai Laszlo, the leader of Mi Hazank Mozgalom, said on Twitter that the statue “speaks to the present.” According to a machine translation, he said: “Despite the war, the Spanish flu, and Trianon, Hungary began to develop then. This is the task now.”

The Embassy of Israel in Hungary said the statue glorifies “a person who was also responsible for the inhumane sufferings and death of hundreds of thousands of Hungarian citizens among them the majority of the Jewish community.” Credit: Mi Hazank Mozgalom via Storyful