Hungary: parliamentarian quits after joke about Holocaust

A Hungarian lawmaker has announced that he would resign after being caught on camera making a joke about the Holocaust. 27-year-old Janos Zuschlag, one of the youngest members of Hungary’s parliament, apologized for his remarks on Monday, but described his comments as a “mistake, but not a sin”. He said he would keep his post in the governing Socialist Party’s youth organization and run again for a parliamentary seat in 2006. Last week, while waiting to take part in an anti-fascist protest, Zuschlag was filmed making a joke about Holocaust victims. Responding to a comment about the cold weather and the fact that Holocaust victims probably had endured similar low temperatures, he had said laughing: “It wasn’t cold for them anymore.” Zuschlag’s remark was widely condemned.