Senior figures in Hungary's Jewish community expressed satisfaction at the statements made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting with him last Friday, held in the hotel hall where he was staying in Budapest during his official visit.
Among other things, Netanyahu said: "We have discussed with the Hungarian government a fixed annual grant to the fund dealing with heirless property and the restitution of heirless Jewish assets. Our new ambassador in Budapest, Ms. Maya Kedosh, has a lot of work ahead of her. With God's help, we will continue this effort."
The context for these remarks is the vast amount of Jewish property that belonged to Hungarian Jews murdered in the Holocaust by the Nazis and their Hungarian collaborators. Many of the victims had no heirs. Some were childless individuals, while many were entire families who perished in the gas chambers or were executed by gunfire, leaving behind no surviving relatives. Their assets were seized by the Nazis and, after the war, transferred to the Hungarian government.
The post-Holocaust Hungarian government pledged to return these assets to Jewish hands. However, 80 years have passed without significant action, primarily because most Hungarian governments in the ensuing decades were communist.
It has also emerged that in addition to Netanyahu's public comments, a similar message was conveyed by a senior Israeli official in a closed-door briefing held before Shabbat. In the briefing, the official said the government is engaged in advanced talks with Prime Minister Orbán to achieve justice for the victims of the Nazis by transferring their assets to living Hungarian Holocaust survivors, to the Jewish communities to support their growth and prosperity, or to relatives of the victims.
Hungary's Chief Rabbi Slomo Köves said: "We were pleased to hear about this important progress. There is no doubt that transferring these assets to Hungarian Holocaust survivors will help them live in dignity. Transferring other portions to the Jewish community will undoubtedly strengthen it, ensure its prosperity and continued presence here. This adds to the fact that under Orbán's leadership, Hungary has become the safest country for Jews in Europe, and one of the safest in the world. Returning the stolen property of those martyrs to the survivors, the Jewish community, and their families is a form of justice for the Hungarian Jews murdered in the Holocaust. It is a victory over the Nazis and helps expand Jewish activity in their memory."
