It is unusual for diplomats to join a protest, but US, Canadian, and Israeli envoys in Budapest joined a crowd of Jewish organizations on Sunday, December 13th, protesting the erection of a statute of Balint Homan.   

Balint Homan was an interwar period historian and politician, who dies in prison in 1951. He is known for his eight volume history of Hungary, the drafting of the anti-Jewish laws adopted in Hungary, and his support of the German invasion of the USSR in 1941.

The statute commemorating the Nazi collaborator is erected by a “private group” linked to the far-right Jobbik party, but has received state and municipality funding, and has the moral support of the local Mayor, Andras Cser-Palkovics. The statute will be unveiled on December 29th in Szekesfehervar, to celebrate the 130th anniversary since his birth in the little town 60 km Southwest of Budapest. ...