We Americans seem to know a lot about World War II and the Holocaust from films. Even if we never meet a Jewish person in our life, if we go to the movies we've probably seen at least a couple films that show the horror of the Holocaust.
Even here there are Holocaust Deniers. That's why so many of the survivors have recorded their testimonials before they die to be preserved so that in the future the Holocaust Deniers won't succeed in saying it never happened. To most of us, I think there is this: genocide is not limited to the Jews or the past.
In Hungary there is an openly anti-Semitic Jobbik Party. I'm just learning about them. I don't know if they want another Holocaust, or exactly how anti-Semitic they are or why. I did find this story about a man who has learned his grandmother died at Auschwitz and has had to step down from that Party. Articles on the net say he is going to Israel and meeting a Rabbi.
This year I went to a Museum of the Holocaust for a Memorial Day event. It was overwhelming and depressing. I didn't have to be Jewish to feel that. I think what struck me the most was the realization that the Holocaust was before I was born, but closer on the time line than the films I've seen felt to me.
It may be very American and idealistic of me, but I do think Hungary, a country that takes such pride in its Christianity, needs to consider that Christianity's Jesus was Jewish.
