New York, NY, July 8, 2015 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called on the Hungarian government to cancel plans for a statue in the city of Székesfehérvár to honor Balint Homan, a notorious anti-Semitic politician.
“Balint Homan sponsored anti-Jewish laws, was a Nazi supporter, and a minister under the anti-Semitic Horthy regime,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, “Honoring him would send a terrible message to Hungarian society.
“Prime Minister Orban committed to a zero tolerance policy for anti-Semitism and this is a perfectly fitting case to apply it. Erecting a statue to honor someone who has such a vivid and horrific past should never have risen to consideration in Hungary.”
In ADL’s recent poll of anti-Semitic attitudes around the world, four out of ten Hungarians agreed with a majority of anti-Semitic stereotypes tested. The score remained unchanged in the League’s polling from 2014 and 2015. The surveys also found that one in four Hungarians thought the number of Jews who died in the Holocaust was greatly exaggerated.