01—The Holocaust

The Holocaust is the name given to one of the darkest chapters of human history, the Nazi era of 1941 and 1945 (1933-1945 according to others), during which around six million people (Jews, Roma, gays, the mentally handicapped, communists and other groups) were persecuted and exterminated in an organised and planned manner within a state-sponsored system in Europe, so proud of its culture.

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The Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp (1944) [Photo: Fortepan / Fortepan]

Holocaust means 'burning victim' in Greek. Since the word is often used to suggest - wrongly - that the extermination of the Jews was a martyrdom rather than a genocide, the Hebrew term 'Soah' (catastrophe) is often used instead. Around 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, 564,000 of whom were Hungarian citizens, almost half of whom lived in the territories that were reannexed between 1938 and 1941.

"The very idea of the Holocaust is such an enormous undertaking, such a shoulder-shrugging intellectual task, that it is often beyond the capacity of those who struggle with it. Since it has happened, it is difficult even to imagine." (Kertész Imre Kertész: Long, dark shadow, lecture, 1991.)

The gypsy name for the Roma Holocaust is Porajmos/Pharrajimos, originally meaning "destruction, devouring, devouring". There are conflicting figures on the number of victims and serious professional debates on fundamental issues; the number of available documents is relatively small, and research is still ongoing. According to various estimates, the Roma Holocaust affected between 10 and 30 per cent of Europe's two million Roma (most sources put the death toll at between 250 and 500,000), while some scholars speak of tens or even hundreds of thousands of Hungarian victims, although contemporary documents suggest that only a few thousand Roma victims are known.  

In addition to the races declared inferior, the National Socialists sentenced some 50-60 thousand gay men, 5-15 thousand of whom were sent to various camps, many of whom died. There is no precise data on the fate of the Hungarian LGBTQ community, and little is known about their fate. little is known about their fate. On the other hand, because of their hiding, their identity, which they did not publicly admit, they were able to avoid stigmatisation more easily and therefore had a better chance of surviving the war.