The diocese of Szeged-Csanád commemorated the victims from that region claimed by the tragic events that took place 70 years ago by unveiling a memorial in the park surrounding the Cathedral of Szeged.

Throughout the realization of this project, the diocese maintained a close and fruitful dialogue with the Holocaust Memorial Center in Budapest and the Jewish community in Szeged.

At the unveiling ceremony on July 17, chief rabbi of Szeged, Zsolt Markovics underlined that Szeged is the first town, where the Holocaust memorial has not been put up by the government or the city council, but by the Catholic Church.

In his commemorative address, László Kiss-Rigó, bishop of Szeged-Csanád described the complexity of the emotions that Catholics feel when remembering the Holocaust. They share sadness and compassion, but also feel that in spite of many bright examples of rescuing lives, more could have been done. The whole town misses the deported, as the relations between the two communities in Szeged had been traditionally good. According to the bishop, the memorial expresses strongly all these feelings.

Indeed, the monument by Jenő Kovács conveys powerfully these emotions. It depicts two persons in a boat. One of them, symbolizing the Jewry, is about to fall out from the boat and perish in the water, while the Catholic one, in desperation, raises his hands in prayer toward the sky.

(Based on MTI)