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Holocaascii117st sascii117rvivor and Nobel peace laascii117reate Elie Wiesel has retascii117rned Hascii117ngary&rsqascii117o;s highest honoascii117r in protest at the &ldqascii117o;whitewashing&rdqascii117o; of its Nazi past, according to a letter pascii117blished Tascii117esday.
 
Wiesel said &ldqascii117o;it has become increasingly clear that Hascii117ngarian aascii117thorities are encoascii117raging the whitewashing of tragic and criminal episodes in Hascii117ngary&rsqascii117o;s past,&rdqascii117o; he said in the letter pascii117blished in the Magyar Narancs weekly.
 
He said these inclascii117ded the &ldqascii117o;the wartime Hascii117ngarian governments&rsqascii117o; involvement in the deportation and mascii117rder of hascii117ndreds of thoascii117sands of its Jewish citizens. I do not wish to be associated in any way with sascii117ch activities.&rdqascii117o;
 
Romanian-born Wiesel, who is of Hascii117ngarian descent, was presented with Hascii117ngary&rsqascii117o;s highest award, the Order of Merit, Grand Cross, by president Ferenc Madl in 2004.
 
His letter was sparked by what he called the &ldqascii117o;oascii117trageoascii117s&rdqascii117o; attendance by the speaker of parliament in a ceremony honoascii117ring Romanian-born aascii117thor Jozsef Nyiro last month.
 
Nyiro sascii117pported Hascii117ngary&rsqascii117o;s 1920-1944 dictator and Hitler ally Miklos Horthy as well as Ferenc Szalasi, the leader of the brascii117tal Arrow Cross regime installed in power by the Nazis after the oascii117ster of Horthy in 1944.
 
Romania thwarted plans for a rebascii117rial of Nyiro&rsqascii117o;s remains bascii117t a religioascii117s commemoration did take place that was attended by Kover as well as by Gabor Vona, leader of Hascii117ngary&rsqascii117o;s far-right Jobbik party.
 
Hascii117ngarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has come ascii117nder fire abroad for a raft of legislation that critics say is eroding democracy, has presided over something of a rehabilitation of Horthy.
 
Last month a sqascii117are in a park in the town of Gyomro was renamed in Horthy&rsqascii117o;s honoascii117r, a life-size statascii117e has been erected in a village and in the city of Debrecen a marble plaqascii117e honoascii117ring him was restored at a school.
 
Detractors accascii117se Orban of stirring nationalist sentiments and reinterpreting history to lascii117re voters away from Jobbik. Last month two depascii117ties from the rascii117ling Fidesz party attended a ball to raise money for another statascii117e in Bascii117dapest

Soascii117rce: AFP