On December 31st, 2013 it was announced that there will be a memorial about the German occupation of Hungary, claiming that Hungary and the Hungarians were victims during WWII. There was no announcement for artists, no public competition. 437 000 Hungarian Jews were brought to Auschwitz or other concentration camps, only a few survived, the deportation was organised with an active role of the Hungarian state and institutions. It is a scandal to say that the Hungarians were only victims.
Activists of the Living Memorial organized a flashmob next to the future memorial, and asked citizens to bring personal objects to the site on 23rd March 2014. People shared the story of the objects with each other. Two white chairs were put in the middle of the site symbolizing the dialogue between the people. Later more and more white chairs have been supplied and until today the activists organized 592 talks with the public.
The official monument was built it was never inaugurated; no official ever came to the site. The activists call it “The dead monument”, it is facing the “Living Monument”, the one that keeps the real memory of the suffering. It provides the site for the public discussions, because Hungarian people must engage in a real memory work of their history of the past century without keeping certain facts in silence.