"Routine medical tests have revealed that I have cancer of the esophagus," the Hungarian-born Democratic congressman said in a statement monitored by BosNewsLife. "In view of this development and the treatment it will require, I will not seek re-election," said Lantos, serving his 14th term in office.
Lantos, who turns 80 next month, was 16 in 1944 when the Nazis invaded his native Hungary. He fought in the anti-Nazi underground during World War Two when some 600,000 Hungarian Jews were massacred. Lantos could become visibly upset when asked whether Hungarians were also to blame for the Holocaust.
"Vast numbers of Hungarians personally participated in the most outrageous, murderous acts," he told a BosNewsLife reporter several years ago. "I deeply regret that there are still elements in Hungary who wish to blame the Holocaust entirely on Germany, which is inaccurate."
LEAVING HUNGARY
Lantos left Hungary and in 1947 arrived in the United States where he worked as economist and a consultant prior to his 1980 election to represent a San Francisco area district.
"It is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family, and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a member of Congress. I will never be able to express fully my profoundly felt gratitude to this great country," he said Wednesday, January 2, on his Web site.
Lantos, a powerful member of Congress and chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, also became a global campaigner for human rights. He is the founding co-chairman of the 24-year-old Congressional Human Rights Caucus, which his wife Annette directed as a volunteer since its inception.
RIGHTS VOICE
"Throughout my adult life I have sought to be a voice for human rights, civil liberties and social justice, both at home and around the world. My wife, Annette, and I look forward to continuing this vital work with purpose and verve every day for the remainder of my term,” he explained.
"Annette is my full partner both in Congress and throughout my life; she has dedicated herself to promoting human rights, and she sustains me daily.”
He suggested he was hopeful about the future. "I am fortunate beyond measure to be surrounded by loving family members, including two daughters and sons-in-law, 17 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren." (With reporting by BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos).
