Serbian, Hungarian Leaders Attend Synagogue Reopening

At a meeting with Serbia's President in Subotica, northern Serbia, to attend the reopening of the city's magnificent Art Nouveau synagogue, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said his government had set aside around 32 million euros to restore ruined synagogues elsewhere around Europe.

Serbia's news agency Tanjug cited Orban as saying that since the Second World War and the Communist era, Hungary felt it an "obligation of all to allow Christians and Jews to live freely". He added that the "Serbian and Hungarian governments are joined in respecting the Jewish people.

"Serbs and Hungarians already live together in Subotica, and today we are sending a message that this is the Europe in which we want to live - in peace and security all together," he said.

The report added that Orban said Hungary has set aside 10 billion forints [around 32 million euros] for a synagogue reconstruction program throughout Europe.

The synagogue in Subotica is the second largest in Europe, after the one in Budapest and has a capacity to hold 4,000 people.

Serbia and the EU restored the façade by 2015. The Hungarian Government donated 1.6 million euros for the interior, the fence and the courtyard.

That year, the city authorities in Subotica, Jewish Community and National Council of the Hungarian National Minority in Serbia reached an agreement on the further financing of the reconstruction work.

The agreement envisaged that Serbia's Hungarian National Minority will decide on the cultural and artistic events held in the synagogue for the next 99 years.

Serbia's President thanked Orban for helping reconstruct the site.  "In the life of the Jews, as well as the other citizens in Subotica, the synagogue reconstructed...