Addressing the event in the 13th district where Lantos used to live, David Kostelancik, the US Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires, called the congressman “a true gentleman and statesman”, “who always focused on the dignity of his fellow humans” irrespective of their political views.

József Tóth, the district’s mayor, said Tom Lantos was a hero who fought for the cause of democracy and equal rights. He was someone who as a politician was fighting against anti- Semitism, discrimination and genocide and was an advocate of national minority rights, the mayor said. 

Tomicah Tillemann, a grandson of Lantos, said the congressman was “a son of Budapest” who used to return to his home town on every possible occasion. 

Born on this day in 1928, Lantos was the only Holocaust survivor to have served in the United States Congress. He died in February in 2008. The statue has been erected at the Tom Lantos Promenade.