The Holocaust in Hungary, as elsewhere, leaves many questions unanswered — history provides as many puzzles as clues. Scholars refer to a "Golden Age" for Hungarian Jews from the end of the nineteenth century to World War I, when the the country was hospitable to Jewish emigration and assimilation, and when the Hungarian kingdom enjoyed the support and loyalty of its Jewish population.

The Hungarian Jewish community was the largest community to be deported so late in the war, and those outside Budapest were deported with frightening speed. Yet, until the German occupation in March 1944, Hungary was a place where Jews could still find refuge from the Holocaust.

The Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies sponsored this symposium on November 9, 1999 to examine the impact of the Holocaust on Hungary and the efforts of Hungary to confront its past and come to terms with the implications.