The Memorial for Victims of the German Occupation is a monument created in memory of the

German invasion of Hungary Operation Margarethe (''Unternehmen Margarethe'') was the occupation of Hungary by German Nazi troops during World War II that was ordered by Adolf Hitler. Course of events Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós Kállay, who had been in office from ...

, located in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

's Liberty Square. The memorial has sparked controversy and angered Jewish community organizations, with critics alleging that the monument absolves the Hungarian state and Hungarians of their collaboration with

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and complicity in the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

Dedication

First announced in late 2013 and approved in a closed cabinet session on New Year's Eve of 2013, the memorial was built on the night of July 20/21, 2014.

Description

The memorial features a stone statue of the

Archangel Gabriel In Abrahamic religions ( Judaism, Christianity and Islam), Gabriel (); Greek: grc, Γαβριήλ, translit=Gabriḗl, label=none; Latin: ''Gabriel''; Coptic: cop, Ⲅⲁⲃⲣⲓⲏⲗ, translit=Gabriêl, label=none; Amharic: am, ገብ ...

, holding the globus cruciger of the Hungarian kings, the national symbol of Hungary and Hungarian sovereignty, and this later is about to be grabbed by an eagle with extended claws that resembles the German coat of arms, the eagle representing the Nazi invasion and occupation of Hungary in March, 1944. The date "1944" in on the eagle's ankle. The inscription at the base of the monument reads "In memory of the victims." The statue is the interpretation of the Millenium Monument of the Heroes Square in Budapest.

Gallery

File:A német megszállás áldozatainak emlékműve, Budapest.jpg File:Monument to the victims of the German occupation (18).jpg

References

{{Commonscat, Monument to the victims of the German occupation Antisemitism in Hungary Belváros-Lipótváros Buildings and structures completed in 2014 Buildings and structures in Pest County Commemoration of Nazi crimes Holocaust historiography Hungarian nationalism Jews and Judaism in Budapest Military history of Hungary during World War II Monuments and memorials in Hungary The Holocaust in Hungary Tourist attractions in Pest County Works about Nazi Germany