American Ivy League students at the Jewish Museum in Budapest

A group of fourty students from Harvard and Yale University (20 from each) visited Budapest to learn about the history and present state of Hungarian Jewry. Organizing had begun, but in the meantime, the horrors of October 7th occurred, and afterwards anti-Semitism flared up on several American campuses, which gave the study tour a deeper meaning. 

They were led by Zebulon Erdős, 22, of Hungarian descent, who has lived in the United States with his family since childhood and is currently a graduate student at Harvard.

The two Ivy League universities began organizing this study trip last autumn, originally to Auschwitz-Birkenau, but Zebulon's idea was to include a trip to Budapest so that the students could see what a vibrant, thriving Jewish community looks like. Zebulon's volunteer work at the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives in Budapest, Hungary, when he was in high school, played a significant role in this.

Organizing had begun, but in the meantime, the horrors of October 7th occurred, and afterwards anti-Semitism flared up on several American campuses, which gave the study tour a deeper meaning. In this respect, the fact that the 40 students from the two elite universities were able to experience first-hand what a real Jewish community is like and, as their journey took them from Budapest to Auschwitz-Birkenau, they were also able to understand the dramatic consequences of anti-Semitism.

Many of the students were visiting Europe for the first time and almost none of them had ever been to Hungary. We spoke to a girl studying international relations at Yale University, who, for example, was quite amazed at Jewish life in Budapest – and, like many of her fellow students, at how the Holocaust could have happened to Hungarian Jews.

They were given a brief summary of Hungarian Jewish history by Dr Andor Grósz, President of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary (Mazsihisz), who welcomed them with Dr Péter Kunos, Executive Director of the (Mazsihisz-BZSH). Then they visited the exhibition of the Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives – a place where they were able to truly discover the religious and cultural values of the Hungarian Jewish community that was almost completely destroyed by the Holocaust. 

Their shock was visible and perceptible – and hopefully this shock will be shared with their fellow students in the United States who, wrapped in Palestinian shawls, are demonstrating against Israel and the Jewish people.The students will return home in early June, equipped with historical knowledge that can be passed on to others, and which will be made all the more authentic by the emotional touch. 

Source: Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives