The annual competitions “It was a long time ago – Where was it?” deal with the topics of the Hungarian Holocaust, the activities of the rescuers, and the coexistence of Jewish-Hungarian culture. It aims to make the students familiar with the Holocaust and rescuer memorial places. 

Last year, in the first round the participants took a city knowledge tour to the Holocaust and rescuer memorial places in downtown Budapest where they received questions and tasks regarding the topic. Before the tour, the students listened to a lecture on the era.  In the second round the students prepared a short film about the city knowledge tour and wrote an essay on the work of Raoul Wallenberg and other rescuers. The final result based on the marks obtained in the two rounds.

The winners of last year’s competition are:

1st place: Nagy Ágnes Humanities Vocational and Secondary School, class 11/B (teacher: Magdolna Juhász)

2nd place: Bolyai János Technical Vocational and Secondary School, class 12/C (teacher: Éva Schiffer)

3rd place: Puskás Tivadar Telecommunication College, class 13/E (teacher: Ferenc Sós).

In the Wallenberg Year of 2012 the competition will be organised on a nation-wide level, and therefore will pay respect to the historical events of both the capital and the country-side. The students will become acquainted with the Jewish memorial places of their local area and will meet Holocaust survivors or their descendants. By learning about these these human fates, they will know the consequences of prejudice, discrimination and racial persecution. More information on the competition is available: www.wallenbergegyesulet.hu.

The co-operating partners of the Raoul Wallenberg Association are the Holocaust Memorial Center, the Ferenc Mérei Institute of Education and Career Counselling, and the Raoul Wallenberg Humanities Vocational and Secondary School. The competitions have become possible by the supports of the Budapest Bank (2011) and of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2012).