Commemoration of 2006

18. June 2006.

Expert from the county's newspaper "Nógrád Megyei Hírlap" :

Never let it happen again:

There was a commemoration in 18th June, both at Salgótarján and Balassagyarmat, on which they remembered the jewish victims of the city and the area.

[...] In Balassagyarmat, the commemorators also gathered at the local jewish cemetery, those, who live - by the words of Ariel Sharon - and able to forgive, but never to forget. Survivors of the sufferings and their relatives arriving from Canada, Israel, Budapest, Aszód, Érsekvadkert, and their christian friends together remembered those 2800 man and woman from the city and those other almost 3000 martyrs from the area, who were deported 62 years ago. On this soul-stirring event participated Mr. Gusztáv Zoltai, the president of MAZSIHISZ (Alliance of Hungarian Faith Communes), and Mr. József Bauer, president of the Jewish Community of Balassagyarmat, too. He emphasized, that our duty is to remember, and he added that Balassagyarmat always guarded the memory of its victims, and its glorious jewish heritage and past with dignity, and also told that the István Kertész Foundation and Béla Majdán town- historian played a huge part in this.
Mr. István Lombos, Member of the Parliament, Mayor of Balassagyarmat shared the story of the 8 siblings of his father and the fate of his grandparents, who all suffered martyrdom, and also about the never ceasing mourning of his father with the audience. Rabbi Tamás Verő told that the local authorities has "cleaned" whole Northern Hungary in just two weeks, and by the 16th June they entrained all the children, women and elderly in the area. Cantor Immánuel Zucker's praise ended the ceremony at the graveyard. After this event, the commemorators, following the tradition, went to the old tabernacle, where they listened to the presentation of Béla Majdán, who told them about this multifunctional building, which not only serves as a museum, but also as an educational center for the local youth.