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Socialist politician envisions “Mengele Plan”

July 11th, 2012

Columnists from across the political spectrum criticise a Socialist MP for likening the Orbán government’s new policies on the disabled to the practices of Josef Mengele, the ill-famed Nazi doctor who stood at the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp choosing which of the deportees were fit for slave labour and which should be sent to the gas chambers as “unfit”.

Last week, Lajos Kórózs, a member of the MSZP national council alleged that the government’s plans to cut back on disability pensions and return 200,000 ‘disabled’ to the workforce could properly be labelled a “Mengele Plan”. Both Fidesz and Jewish organizations criticised Kórózs for his tasteless slur. Kórózs apologized to Holocaust victims for his statement but added that he still considers the Orbán government’s proposal inhumane.

In Népszabadság, Ervin Tamás writes that Kórózs’s insensitive comparison shows clearly that Hungarian politicians like to make unfounded statements and use insensitive, bombastic metaphors without qualms. This habit, however, undermines reasonable public discourse, Tamás warns. The left-wing pundit believes that the government’s reform of disabled benefits can easily be criticized without using tasteless and excessive overstatements.

“Lajos Kórózs has offended the victims of the Holocaust by claiming that they were only the subjects of a disability check-up. And, in addition, he has also offended Hungarian physicians by comparing them to Nazi doctors,” Gábor Jobbágyi remarks in Magyar Hírlap. He points out that the medical staff at the Nazi death camp did not force the disabled to work, but committed something far more inhumane and unjust: they sent the young, old, disabled and those judged unfit to work, to the gas chambers and tortured others as part of what they called medical experiments.

As for the check-ups proposed by the Hungarian government, Jobbágyi notes that the condition of some disabled may have improved over the years as a result of medical treatment. Nor should it be forgotten that in the past doctors could easily be bribed to certify disabilities, the right-wing columnist points out.

Socialist politician envisions “Mengele Plan”
Columnists from across the political spectrum criticise a Socialist MP for likening the Orbán government’s new policies on the disabled to the practices of Josef Mengele, the ill-famed Nazi doctor who stood at the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp choosing which of the deportees were fit for slave labour and which should be sent to the gas chambers as “unfit”.
Last week, Lajos Kórózs, a member of the MSZP national council alleged that the government’s plans to cut back on disability pensions and return 200,000 ‘disabled’ to the workforce could properly be labelled a “Mengele Plan”. Both Fidesz and Jewish organizations criticised Kórózs for his tasteless slur. Kórózs apologized to Holocaust victims for his statement but added that he still considers the Orbán government’s proposal inhumane.
In Népszabadság, Ervin Tamás writes that Kórózs’s insensitive comparison shows clearly that Hungarian politicians make unfounded statements and use insensitive, bombastic metaphors without qualms. This habit, however, undermines reasonable public discourse, Tamás warns. The left-wing pundit believes that the government’s reform of disabled benefits can easily  be criticized without using tasteless and excessive overstatements.
“Lajos Kórózs has offended the victims of the Holocaust by claiming that they were only the subjects of a disability check-up. And, in addition, he has also offended Hungarian physicians by comparing them to Nazi doctors,” Gábor Jobbágyi remarks in Magyar Hírlap. He points out that the medical staff at the Nazi death camp did not force the disabled to work, but committed something far more inhumane and unjust: they sent the young, old, disabled and those judged unfit to work, to the gas chambers and tortured others as part of what they called medical experiments.
As for the check-ups proposed by the Hungarian government, Jobbágyi notes that the condition of some disabled may have improved over the years as a result of medical treatment. Nor should it be forgotten that in the past doctors could easily be bribed to certify disabilities, the right-wing columnist points out.

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