He disclosed last month that he had been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. Lantos said at the time that he would serve out his 14th term but would not seek re-election in his Northern California district, which takes in the southwest portion of San Francisco and suburbs
to the south, including Lantos’ home of San Mateo.
Last week, health concerns also forced Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany to cancel a visit to Lantos in Washington to present him with the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, at a scheduled ceremony that was to be attended by American President George W. Bush.
The timing of the diagnosis was seen as a major blow for Lantos, who had assumed chairmanship of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, adding to his profile as a global campaigner for human rights, including those of persecuted Christians and other religious minorities. When he became chairman, he said that in a sense "his whole life had been a preparation" for this job – and it was.
HITLER ERA
Lantos, who often referred to himself as "an American by choice" was born to Jewish parents in Budapest, Hungary. He was 16 when Adolf Hitler’s forces occupied Hungary in 1944. He survived by escaping twice from a forced labor camp and coming under the protection of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who used his official status and visa-issuing powers to save thousands of Hungarian Jews. Lantos’ mother and much of his family perished in the Holocaust.
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."
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 last month on his Web site.
CLOSE RELATIONSHIP
Yet, he kept a close relationship with his native Hungary, which he encouraged to overcome the legacy of Communism and to fight extremism. After the collapse of Communism, Lantos often traveled to Hungary and supported its efforts to join NATO and the European Union in 2004.
Hungarian leaders said Monday, February 11, they were deeply saddened about his death. Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom said he would express his condolences over Lantos’ death in a private letter addressed to his family.
"Hungary and the Central European region has lost one of his most important foreign affairs representatives," Prime Minister Gyurcsany added Monday, February 11. "He never compromised his principles, neither with the Communists, neither with the extreme rightists," he stressed.
"LOYAL SON"
Lantos, Gyurcsany said, realized that it was important to "fight for democratic rights." He described Lantos as Hungary’s "loyal son" who was willing "to make sacrifices", both for America and his native Hungary.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz said that Hungary had lost its most important lobbyist in the United States "Tom Lantos was both an American and Hungarian — if anyone went to the US from Hungary, he was always ready to help; for instance, he played a major role in paving the way for the return of Hungary’s Holy Crown [of Hungary’s first King Stephen] in 1978," she said in remarks published by Hungarian News Agency MTI.
Hungary’s opposition Fidesz and Christian Democratic parties also expressed "deep sadness" over Lantos’s death, saying he "greatly contributed" to the American public understanding of the situation of ethnic Hungarian minorities and their struggle to preserve their identity. "Although our political views differed on several issues, we are aware that Hungary has lost a true friend," the main opposition Fidesz party said.
PERSECUTED CHRISTIANS
Persecuted Christians and other religious minorities could also count on Lantos’, support a Christian rights group said Monday, Februrary 11. US-based International Christian Concern (ICC) with Website www.persecution.org recalled that Lantos was one of five Congressmen arrested for participating in a protest at the Sudanese embassy in Washington DC "against the Sudanese government’s human rights abuses in Darfur." In addition, "he was one of few US officials who sent a letter to Afghan President Hamid Karzai requesting safety for Christian convert Abdul Rahman, who was facing the death penalty in early 2006 for his conversion."
ICC President, Jeff King, told BosNewsLife in a statement that the United States and the world "lost one of our best champions of religious freedom." He described Lantos as "an incredible leader in the US Congress." King said those fighting for the plight of persecuted Cgristins "will miss his aggressive defense of human rights for all the persecuted and oppressed…We hope and pray that we will find someone soon to take up his mantle. Men like Tom Lantos are truly few and far between."
Funeral arrangement were not immediately announced Monday, February 11.
ALSO READ:
BREAKING NEWS: US Congressman, Holocaust Survivor Lantos Retiring For Cancer Treatment |
