Holocaust Commemoration as Moral Leadership: Hungary and the IHRA Chairmanship

Discussion on the politics of Hungary's Holocaust leadership in europe

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) describes itself as an 'intergovernmental body whose purpose is to place political and social leaders' support behind the need for Holocaust education, remembrance and research both nationally and internationally. IHRA has taken a leading role in commemorative activity across the world since its founding in 1998. It operates a rotating Chairmanship, which last year was held by Britain and in March passed to the Hungarian government.

In recent years, however, serious concerns have emerged about the politics of Holocaust commemoration in Hungary. This raises the question: is it possible for Hungary to provide the moral leadership in Holocaust commemoration that is demanded by the IHRA Chairmanship?

This event hosted by The Wiener Library, and jointly organised with The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR), will provide an opportunity to explore this question in a discussion led by Paul Shapiro, Director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, who has previously spoken in some depth on the subject of Holocaust commemoration and the politics of memory in Hungary.

Following the keynote from Paul Shapiro, the discussion will be opened up first to a panel of commentators - including András Juhász (Political Affairs Counsellor, Embassy of Hungary, London), Susan Pollack (survivor of Auschwitz and Belsen, born in Felsögöd, Hungary), Michael Newman (CEO of the AJR) and Ben Barkow (Director of The Wiener Library). Thereafter the audience will be brought in for questions and further discussion.

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