Thousands came out for the March of the Living in Budapest, where World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder urged the Hungarian government to speak out against anti-Semitism.

Lauder also denounced the far-right Jobbik party, the second largest in the country, as “extremist” at the annual commemoration of the Holocaust in the Hungarian capital on April 12.

“The March of the Living reminds us what happens when the world is silent,” Lauder, the event’s keynote speaker, told the crowd, which was estimated at 10,000. “We will never be silent again. And when it comes to anti-Semitism, the Hungarian government must never be silent.

“Today, when the world looks at Hungary, it does not see its great culture. Today the world sees Hungary and they see Jobbik. They see an extremist party that promotes hate.”

Jobbik is behind only the ruling Fidesz party of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

About 560,000 Hungarian Jews were killed during the Holocaust, most of them in 1944. Today, Hungary’s Jewish community numbers around 100,000. — jta