Congressman Tom Lantos is returning a distinguished state award to Hungary to protest the bestowing of the same award to journalist and writer Zsolt Bayer who has made anti-Semitic and racist references in his articles. Katrina Lantos Swett, who received the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit in 2009, joined over 100 other recipients in returning their awards. Lantos Swett was honored for her work in setting up the Budapest-based Tom Lantos Institute, which focuses on minority rights. Tom Lantos, a California Democrat who died in 2008, was the only Holocaust survivor in the U.S. Congress. Lantos Swett said that she had hoped to leave the award to her children, but felt Bayer's distinction had "sullied" the Knight's Cross.

Source: New York Times September 04, 2016 13:52 UTC