Record turnout in Budapest for March of the Living reflects anti-Semitism fears
Between 10 000 and 12 000 people gathered for the March of the Living (Élet menete) on Sunday in commemoration of the 600 000 Hungarian victims of the Holocaust. The march, now in its 11th year, is estimated to have gathered more than double the usual turnout with numbers fuelled by concern over growing anti-Semitism and racism.
Starting from MPs’ offices near Parliament, it followed Carl Lutz rakpart on the Pest side of the Danube opposite Margit Island, and closed with the release of 600 white balloons in memory of those murdered.
“We have learnt from the past, we don’t want war, we condemn racism and we resist the threats that are re-appearing,” Agnes Hirschli, whose father Carl Lutz, as Swiss vice-consul, is credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews by issuing protective letters between 1942 and 1945, said.
