A Roma woman, Mária Balog, was shot dead in her home in Kisléta, Hungary, on the night of 2 to 3 August 2009, and her 13-year-old daughter was seriously injured. The crime was the latest in a series of murders that caused the death of six ethnic Roma Hungarian citizens, including a five-year-old child.
That very night, 65 years earlier, in 1944 almost three thousand Roma and Sinti were exterminated at the hands of the SS in Auschwitz-Birkenau.
On Friday, 2 August 2024, the Community of Sant'Egidio in Budapest held an ecumenical prayer vigil in St Joseph's Church in Józsefváros to commemorate these events. The celebration was presided over by Bishop János Székely, Bishop of Szombathely. Lutheran Bishop Tamás Fabiny, the Greek Orthodox pastor Joszif Ötvös, Father Géza Dúl, former head of the Bishops' Conference's Roma pastoral, Dmitro Sidorenko, pastor of the Ukrainian Orthodox faithful in Hungary, and Antal Michels, pastor of the church, also participated. Rabbi Péter Radvánszki, on behalf of the Jewish community, also attended.
The presence of the relatives of the victims of the attacks, who have become friends of the Community over the years, confirmed that memory and prayer must be preserved.
After the speeches of the ecumenical representatives, everyone was able to light candles in memory of the victims in front of the icon of the Mother of Mercy.
