Dr. Ambedkar School

On December 1st, 2008, we will have a special guest, the Reverend Victor István, a Hungarian, Presbyterian priest. Reverend István spent his childhood in a Christian community where many Jewish people had to be rescued from Fascist persecution, in 1944.

The father of our guest, Victor János, made great efforts in 1944 – with members of his Liberty Square Temple – to rescue Jews and other persecuted people in Budapest. Before their rescue, many of these Jews resorted to hiding within the church; inside mattresses, under the church’s flooring; where ever there was safety. At times, this meant receiving false papers stating that they were not Jewish, but in fact Christian. Victor János was fully aware that he was risking the very lives of his own family…nevertheless, he perservered. Liberty Square Temple deserves its beautiful name: “Freedom,” “Place,” “Temple” – a holy space, where we can be proud of our liberty.

The Yad Vashem Institute, in Jerusalem awarded Victor János the Righteous of the World Award, in 1994.

It is a pity that nowdays the Liberty Square Temple gives shelter to ideas not in line with its original model.

Hegedűs Loránt Jr. was dismissed as of November 27, 2008 as Liberty Square Temple’s pastor, at a non-public church court trial

In March of 2007, Presbyterian priest Hegedűs Loránt Jr. publicly endorsed a nazi-friendly book. The book alleges that Hitler did not persecute Jews, Gypsies, Gays and the Disabled. He claims that there were neither gas chambers nor mass-massacres, and that there was not (in his opinion) a Holocaust. If these claims are in fact true, then what has happened to the Jews in Sajókaza, Szikszó, Lak, Ózd, whom was lived amongst us? They certainly are no longer here. They were, in fact, murdered in those very gas chambers in 1944 that Mr. Hegedűs claims never existed.

Holocaust denial is normally punishable by most Western-European countries; however, in Hungary, one can still freely post Nazi advertisement, even in churches.

Presbyterian Bishop of Debrecen, Dr. Bölcskey Gusztáv simply had enough of this complete disregard for one of the most horrific events of the Twentieth-Centry. He petitioned the Church Court to deny pastor Hegedűs from climbing the ranks of the priesthood within Liberty Square Temple.

The Church Court felt that Bishop Bölcskey’s request was unfounded, and denied his petition. Fascists continue to congregate within the Liberty Square Temple in God’s name.

Date: 2008-11-27