United Nations

Holocaust in Hungary Exhibition Opens at United Nations

Guests Encouraged to Remember, Learn, and Face Present Dangers

New York, NY- Holocaust in Hungary, a moving historical exhibit documenting the horrific events that took the lives of 550,000 Jews in Hungary during the Holocaust, opened yesterday at United Nations Headquarters, in New York.

Under-Secretary General Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal welcomed more than 150 guests and joined Ambassador of Hungary to the United Nations Csaba Kőrösi, to remember those who lost their lives as well as those Hungarians who had the courage to help save their fellow citizens from death camps. Max Teleki, President of the Hungarian American Coalition, spoke on behalf of György Vámos representing the Carl Lutz Foundation.

Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, daughter of the late Hungarian Holocaust survivor and US Congressman Tom Lantos, addressed the attendees and said, “We are here tonight not only to remember and to learn, but even more importantly to prepare and to arm ourselves to face the very real dangers of the present moment.”

Lantos Swett was referring to recent remarks that dismissed the 1941 deportations and ultimate deaths of nearly 20,000 Hungarian Jews as a local police action against illegal aliens, and she called on the Hungarian Government to stand firm against such attempts to revise history.

Sponsored by the Carl Lutz Foundation, Budapest; the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice; and the Hungarian American Coalition, with support from The Hungary Initiatives Foundation; and the Permanent Mission of Hungary to the United Nations, “Holocaust in Hungary” will remain at the United Nations until January 31st and will be on exhibit in Washington, DC later this winter.

Lantos Foundation Urges Retraction of Flawed Goldstone Report

April 8, 2011-The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice is urging Richard Goldstone to retract his flawed report to the United Nations condemning Israel’s action during the Gaza War.  In an opinion piece written for the Washington Post last week, Goldstone acknowledged that portions of his report about Israel intentionally targeting civilians during the Gaza War of 2008-2009 were not true.

“Many of us believed at the time that the controversial Goldstone Report was issued, that its conclusions were outrageous, slanderous, and without foundation,” said Annette Lantos, Chairman of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice. “Given the historic mistreatment of Israel at the hands of the United Nations and its auxiliaries, the Goldstone Report stood as one more example of disturbing bias toward the State of Israel by those who claim to speak for the world community.”

Though admitting that the report contains false information, Goldstone, a former South African Judge says he will not ask the U.N. Human Rights Council to dismiss the report.

Annette Lantos, widow of former Congressman Tom Lantos, the only survivor of the Holocaust elected to Congress and former Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, says she joins with others calling on the United Nations to cancel the Goldstone Report.

“While I am gratified that Mr. Goldstone has disavowed his earlier report, the damage caused by the fundamentally flawed Goldstone report cannot be so easily wiped clean,” said Lantos.