Following an international outcry, plans in Hungary to erect a statue in honor of the late Bálint Homan, who drafted anti-Jews laws prior and during World War II, were finally withdrawn.
The City Council of Székesfehérvár voted against the proposal of the private Bálint Homan Foundation to erect the statue in memory of Homan, with a big grant from the Hungarian government.
Homan served as minister of education and religion in the 1930s and 1940s and was partly responsible for drafting legislation in 1938 and 1939 to restrict the rights of Jews in Hungary.
The plan to erect a statue in his honor provoked protests by local and international Jewish groups, including the World Jewish Congress, and was denounced Tuesday by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Hungary's Jewish community and the WJC had called on the Orbán to block the plan which would have been partly funded by government money.
US Special Envoy Against Anti-Semitism Ira Forman said on Sunday that the plan seemed "incomprehensible".
WJC President Ronald Lauder said: “Prime Minister Orbán’s clear statement on this matter comes very late, but it is nonetheless welcome. I thank him for making the standpoint of the Hungarian government very clear: No honors must be given to those who prepared the ground for the mass murder of 600,000 Hungarian Jews by Nazi Germany in 1944. It would have been a travesty if the taxpayer, including more than 100,000 Hungarian Jews, would have had to contribute toward a statue for a man who not only hated Jews, but who helped actively in their persecution."
The private fund that initiated the statue’s erection this week sent a letter to the municipality and to the mayor, informing them that they would withdraw the statue project.
The foundation also repaid authorities the US$ 55,000 given to them for the project, according to JTA.
The Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary (Mazsihisz) expressed its satisfaction with the decision and "hope that the issue of this politician with evil memories will be off the agenda once and for all." The organization said it was open to further discussion with the Székesfehérvár local government and the Hungarian Government "regarding the task of transmitting knowledge of about the past through education and visiting historical sites."
