Posted on June 19, 2012 at 11:46 pm
Elie Wiesel in a fit of pique over honor for Hungarian writer
Elie Wiesel in 2012
By Carolyn Yeager (edited on June 21st)
Elie Wiesel is making news again by repudiating a Hungarian Government award he received in 2004. By this gesture, he apparently hopes to intimidate independent nation-states to take into consideration Jewish Power – Holocaust-Power – in every decision they make. Wiesel also likes to gain public attention for what he alleges to be the crimes of the Nazis and their collaborators.
The award Wiesel is returning (or is he? I cannot confirm that) is the Republic of Hungary’s Order of Merit, Grand Cross presented to him by president Ferenc Madl in 2004. Let’s hope he never gets it back.
Wiesel said last week that he was “outraged” that Hungarian House Speaker Laszlo Kover participated, together with Hungarian Secretary of State for Culture Geza Szocs and far-right Jobbik party leader Gabor Vona, in a re-burial ceremony in Romania honoring author Jozsef Nyiro, who was a member of the Arrow Cross Parliament during the 1930′s.
“It’s just too close to home,” Wiesel told an Associated Press interviewer. In a letter to Kover, he wrote “It is with profound dismay and indignation that I learned of your participation” with Szocs and Vona in a ceremony honoring “a fascist ideologue of the Horthy and Szalasi regimes”.
Background on Nyiro
From The failed reburial of József Nyirő in Transylvania, May 30, 2012 in the Buda Post:
József Nyirő was a Catholic priest who became a writer after Transylvania was annexed to Romania in 1920. His works, according to the government’s new draft curricula, should in future be taught in Hungarian high schools. In 1941, after the re-annexation of Transylvania to Hungary, Nyirő became a Member of Parliament in Hungary and as such went into exile in 1945. He died in Spain in 1953, and his last wish was to be buried in his homeland. At the initiative of the Hungarian Civic Party (MPP), a small Hungarian ethnic party in Transylvania, the Office of the Hungarian Parliament initiated his reburial. The new Romanian government, however, regards Nyirő as a Hungarian irredentist writer. Nyirő’s reburial, which was scheduled for Sunday (28 May) was cancelled after the Romanian authorities withdrew permission, claiming that the document carried the wrong registration number. Romanian PM Victor Ponta called the reburial a provocation.
A commemoration event was held instead of the reburial. What Elie Wiesel objects to is that three Hungarian officials attended the commemoration. Wiesel wants all-out condemnation of anyone and everyone who is painted as a “far right National-Socialist, fascist or antisemite.”
Here is the letter that Wiesel wrote to the Speaker of the Hungarian National Assembly. Sorry it is such poor quality. He writes in paragraph two that in 2009 he urged members of the National Assembly “to do even more to denounce antisemitic elements and racist expressions in your political environment and in certain publications … I believe they bring shame to your nation.”
He writes that since that time it has become worse, that Hungarian authorities are “whitewashing” Hungary’s criminal past.
Finally, “I do not wish to be associated in any way with such activities. Therefore, I hereby repudiate the Grand Cross Order of Merit … given to me on June 24, 2004 by the President of Hungary. He doesn’t say he is returning it, does he. But it is so reminiscent of his statements that he does not want to be in the same room with a “holocaust denier.” He clearly feels he’s being contaminated by those whose views are opposite to his.
And there is the famous Wiesel signature which doesn’t resemble at all the signature on the U.S. Military Questionaire signed by Lázár Wiesel in 1945. It was I who first thought to compare the signatures and brought it to light in September 2010.
Categories Featured | Tags: Elie Wiesel, Josef Nyiro, Laszlo Kover, Republic of Hungary Order of Merit, Romania
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17 Comments to Elie Wiesel in a fit of pique over honor for Hungarian writer
by who+dares+wings
On June 20, 2012 at 1:12 pm
This is part of the war on grave sites now. Witness the recent removal of the Hitler and Hess family plots. The Romanian/Hungarian story of Transylvania is a complex one. There’s very little non-Jewish exceptionalist history on this available in English. I’ve been studying it for some years and I still get confused. The 1995 Wiesel Commission Report on the Holocaust in Romania should be scrutinized by revisionist scholars in light of the fact Constanta was the secret departure point for European Jews illegally immigrating to Palestine before, during and after WWII.
by Carolyn
On June 21, 2012 at 7:33 am
who+dares+wings: Many who call themselves “revisionists” are too busy writing creative (safe) essays, preening among themselves, and watching their political p’s and q’s to do any real work like you are suggesting. People like yourself should write down your own research, get it published (online) and let others critique and/or add to it. More amateur revisionists should get into the act rather than standing on the sidelines observing the “professional team” do it all … as we are so familiar with in sports today.
I name Vincent Reynouard as one of the authentic, hard-working revisionists today, who lives in penury in France because of political persecution and the failure of the pro-revisionist community to support him financially. Put some neatly folded dollar bills in an envelope, folks, and mail it to Urbain Cairat, C.P. 1528, CH-1820 Montreux, Switzerland. Do it today!
P.S. You are so right to bring up the insane destruction of the Hess and Hitler family grave sites, which didn’t occur to me as I wrote the article. There is a definite tie-in that amounts to a complete dis-allowance of places where the “far right” might gather, show respect, and gain strength. It is a totalitarian rule by the Left, a real 1984 scenario.
by blake121666
On June 20, 2012 at 1:53 pm
You write “Josef Nyiro was of Hungarian ethnicity” but I’m not sure what this means. Hungarians are a mix of slavs and germanics with a sprinkling of Magyars as far as I know. I’m of course no expert and have never even been to that part of the world but the above is my understanding of the region. Does “Hungarian ethnicity” have a meaning to Hungarians?
by blake121666
On June 20, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Of course my comment above has little to do with the issue presented here. The phrase “Hungarian ethnicity” just struck me strangely. I of course agree with the jist of your article here.
by Jerzy Ulicki-Rek.
On June 20, 2012 at 5:17 pm
“Dear Mr.Wiesel
My name is Jason and I’m 8 years old.
I know that you are very busy but I have a problem and I hope you can help me.
I would like to have a dog and my dad promised to buy me one.
But the dog I like most is German shepherd and that worries me a lot.
Do you think I could be a Nazi?
Jason “
by Northpal
On June 20, 2012 at 5:25 pm
My bet is the Weasel had all the gold mountings removed and melted down ?
Now its time to invoke another shake down scheme upon the Hungarians ?
by Rehmat
On June 20, 2012 at 7:44 pm
So what is Elie Wiesel? Dr. Norman Finkelstein, whose both father and mother were Holocaust survivors – called Wiesel “a liar” in his famous book, ‘The Holocaust Industry’. World renowned Jewish academic and a Crypto Zionist, Dr. Noam Chomsky called Wiesel “a terrible fraud”. Jewish magazine Tikun Olam called Wiesel “the Master propagandist – Any political movement would give its eye teeth to have him on its side“.
Wiesel made a fool of himself on several occasions by asserting that the name Jerusalem appears more than 600 times in the Bible while it doesn’t appear at all in Koran. Wiesel has never felt ashamed to tell his listeners that while Jerusalem is the most holy city for Jews – it’s only the third holiest city for Muslims, therefore, Israel should exclusively control it as an eternal part of Israel.
Wiesel’s fellow Jewish writer, Israel Shamir slammed Weisel for misinterpreting Jewish scripture. Shamir claimed the name of Jerusalem is not mentioned even once in the Jewish Holy Book, the Torah. He also said that Jews were not even mentioned in the Jewish Bible. None of the great and legendary men Wiesel named, from King David to the prophets, were not called ‘the Jews’. This ethnonym appears the first and only time in the Bible in the Persian story of the very late Book of Esther. Persian Queen Esther was the force behind the first Persian Holocaust (Purim) during which militant Jews killed nearly 75,000 non-Jewish Persians, over 2,000 years ago.
http://rehmat1.com/2012/04/20/elie-wiesel-dont-equate-iran-with-holocaust/
by hungarian
On June 21, 2012 at 3:39 pm
Your article contains false allegations. Elie Wiesel only objected to the participation of Hungarian heads of state and goverment at the re-burial ceremony. He did not try to prevent the burying itself and did not object to it. Therefore your article is plain wrong and contains unsubstantiated accusations. Please correct your article.
Read Elie Wiesel’s letter here:
http://www.zsido.com/upload/th/ElieWiesel_level.jpg
by Carolyn
On June 21, 2012 at 9:03 pm
Thanks for the copy of Wiesel’s letter. He does not say he did not object to the burial of Mr. Nyiro. He doesn’t mention it since it had already been denied by the Romanian authorities. Thus he didn’t need to. Was Wiesel’s Institute one of the parties that lobbied the Romanian government not to allow the burial? It was finally disallowed on a technicality – that a wrong registration number was used. Therefore, my article is hardly wrong, but I will make a minor change as I add the letter to the article.
By the way, in his letter, Elie Wiesel says he “repudiates” the award, but does not say he is returning it. Can you answer if he has indeed returned it or is that just an “interpretation” by the media?
by hungarian
On June 22, 2012 at 1:40 am
Carolyn,
oh so if he doesn’t say he doesn’t object to something that implies he objects? Strange logic from you.
“Was Wiesel’s Institute one of the parties that lobbied the Romanian government not to allow the burial?”
I don’t know. Do you?
by Carolyn
On June 22, 2012 at 9:35 am
A minor point that you are trying to make into a major point. It is your logic that if he didn’t say in that particular letter that he objected to the previous issue over the burial itself–that means he did not. However, in light of the history of Wiesel’s Institute, the purpose of which is to advance establishment Holocaust-thinking in Romania, it is most reasonable to believe that it and Wiesel himself were on the side of not wanting Nyiro’s remains to be brought into the country for burial. After all, he was a “fascist, racist, antisemite National Socialist!!”
If you think Wiesel did not object, but was perfectly okay with the re-burial in Romania, but only objected to 3 Hungarian officials participating, then you present the proof. Otherwise, it is perfectly alright to say that he probably was among those who objected. Why would the Romanian government even have cared about it to begin with, except that the man was a Hungarian. There are lots of ethnic Hungarians living in that sector–a majority.
by Ministry of Truth
On July 15, 2012 at 6:41 pm
No one can deny Elie Wiesel is such a Great Humanist with a Big Heart:
Nobel laureate joins Toronto rabbi group in condemning refugee health cuts.
“Today, as yesterday, a nation is judged by its attitude towards refugees,” Mr. Wiesel wrote.
Now, once Mr. Wiesel and his fellow coreligionists have solved the terrible record of that country, they may feel free to scold Canada, or any other Western country that still accept them.
by Carolyn
On July 16, 2012 at 6:58 am
From the Globe and Mail story:
The Toronto Board of Rabbis has bought Elie Wiesel to join their complaint. These Jews are in a continuous campaign to force the Canadian government to bend to their will on every issue that they can twist around to claim it has something to do with them! They get in the news because they own the newspapers. Otherwise, who would care what a “board of rabbis” thinks.
by Mary
On July 17, 2012 at 9:06 pm
Just read this and had to send :)
TORONTO (JTA) — Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel joined a growing list of Jewish leaders who are calling on Canada to reverse changes to legislation that denies health care to refugee claimants.
In a letter released last week to the Globe and Mail newspaper, Wiesel said he supports the Toronto Board of Rabbis, which has called on Canada’s federal government to abandon the changes, which end most health benefits to certain refugees.
“As a former refugee, together with the Toronto Board of Rabbis, I feel morally compelled to remain on the side of other uprooted men and women everywhere,” Wiesel wrote. “Today, as yesterday, a nation is judged by its attitude towards refugees.”
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/07/09/3100211/wiesel-jewish-leaders-criticize-canadas-refugee-policy
by zam
On November 16, 2012 at 4:57 am
Cette lettre est en anglais !
Or le problème avec Grüner est justement sur la connaissance du hongrois par Wiesel. Il est censé savoir le hongrois, et un témoin en sa faveur a prétendu avoir discuter en hongrois avec lui.
Pourquoi aurait-il écrit sa lettre en anglais ?
by Carolyn
On November 16, 2012 at 10:11 pm
Translation of zam’s comment :
This letter is in English!
But the problem with Grüner is precisely about Wiesel’s knowledge of Hungarian. He is supposed to know Hungarian, and a witness on his behalf has claimed to have conversed with him in Hungarian.
Why should he have written his letter in English?
Answer: Because he’s not capable of writing it in Hungarian, and couldn’t be sure the Hungarians could read French, his favorite language? :-) Wiesel grew up speaking and writing Yiddish and was a poor student in school. He was a Jewish supremacist from the very beginning and looked down on and/or had no interest in anything non-Jewish.
I don’t think he knows Hungarian apart from a few phrases and simple commands. He has NEVER been heard to speak the language in public. I’m sure he hates Hungarians except for “the Jewish kind.”
by Attila Kovacs
On February 1, 2013 at 4:16 am
I too am wondering why Mr. Wiesel did not write that letter in Hungarian to the Hungarian government authorities. Sighet, where he was born (I assume0 and resided, was a Hungarian speaking town. Although it had various ethnic elements, it was Hugarian in culture and language. In the YouTube video of Mr. Wiesel’s visit to Sighet to retrace his history he is visiting (I do not recall when the video was shot, but he was elderly so I assum to be in the last 10-15 years) with older Hungarians, who are speaking Hungarian with him, and mr. Wiesel is asking them questions in Hungarian and replying in Hungarian. As such, there is something strange. I know, I left Hungary when I was eight years old and I can still speak. read, and write Hungarian. I know many other Hungarians who were in their early or mid teens, and they ALL fluent in Hungarian (read, write and converse). I would like too hear others’ thoughts on this specific subject manner.