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 Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:37 pm Post subject: Remembering the Courage of Hungarian Prime Minister Imre Nag |
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http://www.ff.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=443&Itemid=61
Remembering the Courage of Hungarian Prime Minister Imre Nagy and His
Associates
Written by Istvan B. Gereben
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
Remembering Hungarian Prime Minister Imre Nagy and his Associates on the
50th Anniversary of their Execution
In this year, on the 50th anniversary of his death, we pay tribute to the
memory of Imre Nagy, Prime Minister of Hungary during the heroic uprising of
1956 and his martyred associates. As many of us still recall, Imre Nagy led
the revolutionary government that took the first steps toward a free and
independent, pluralistic Hungary, until the savage retaliation of Soviet
Forces quashed the popular revolution leaving thousands of innocents dead.
Following the bloody suppression of the revolution, Imre Nagy sought refuge
in the Embassy of Yugoslavia in Budapest. Tricked out by false assurances of
amnesty, he was arrested and imprisoned before being tried and executed by
the Soviet-installed Kadar regime along with several of his closest
colleagues. He and the other martyrs of the revolution were ignominiously
buried in prison graves, bundled in tarred paper, face down. His writings
and name were banished from usage, his memory submerged beneath the weight
of Soviet domination.
Yet Imre Nagy continued to play a pivotal role in Hungary's transition away
from Communist rule. His reburial, in 1989, represented a turning point in
that country's post-war history. Several hundred thousand people, including
many of the survivors of the 1956 Revolution, attended the ceremony to pay
tribute to the fallen leader. But the reburial of the heroes of 1956 also
marked the beginning of the end of communism in Hungary, as Socialist
Workers Party leaders opened negotiations with opposition groups on the
multiparty elections that would vote them out of power. We, bow our heads
before the Communist Imre Nagy and his comrades, for two reasons.
We respect them as people who identified with the will of Hungarian society
and therefore had to disregard two sacred Communist taboos: unconditional
service to the Soviet Empire, and to party dictatorship. To us Imre Nagy and
his follow martyrs are heroes who even in the shadow of the gallows refused
to side with the murderers decimating society, and who did not betray the
nation that accepted them and placed its confidence in them, even though
their refusal to do so cost them their lives. From their fate we have
learned that freedom and democracy are incompatible.
The principles and beliefs for which the courageous freedom fighters stood
and died are universal and enduring. Let us draw strength from the memory of
Imre Nagy and those like him, as we continue the struggle for human rights,
democracy, liberty, and freedom worldwide.A longstanding issue between the
Hungarian Communist Government and the Opposition, the many millions of
Hungarians abroad, and more significantly the United States Government was
the unwillingness of the Communist Government to identify the secret
location of the graves in which the executed Freedom Fighters were buried,
as we discovered later, facing down. A campaign covering several decades and
several continents by head of States and Governments lead by U.S.
Presidents, Senators and Congressmen, the Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe, hundreds of leading public figures and civic
organizations world-wide culminated in a letter sent on June 20, 1988. by
Congressman Frank Horton, along with forty-three other U.S. Representatives
urging Prime Minister Karoly Grosz of Hungary to comply with the many
request filed with the Hungarian Communist Government in the past and allow
the family members of the executed to have access to the remains of their
relatives.
Responding in letter dated July 18, 1988, a few days before his visit to the
United States, the Prime Minister wrote:
"My Government has the intention to settle this problem in a humane spirit
in the near future, enabling the families to rebury the dead and to pay
their tribute at the graves."
The public ceremony of the reburial took place on June 16, 1989 in the
presence of 200,000 grieving Hungarians. With this act the road opened to
free parliamentary and local elections and the formation of a free
Government.in 1990.
The demands of the Hungarian people were fulfilled. The building of a
constitutional parliamentary democracy is on its way.
In these days worrisome news come from Hungary indicating that the road to
democracy and prosperity is not smooth. The diamond of twentieth century
Hungarian history that was created in 1956 under the pressure of the
circumstances, and in the fire burning in every Hungarian's heart is in
danger today. In Hungary and in the United States false prophets, eager
mouths, zealous hands driven by dark emotions attempt to pulverize this gem
into powder of coal and then burn it into ashes and dross. They will not
succeed. History, Hungary's friends worldwide and many of us who believe in
the message sent to the World by Imre Nagy's sacrifice will not let them to
succeed in destruction of our heritage by falsifying the truth.
In this year of the 50th Anniversary of the execution of Imre Nagy, the
Prime Minister of the Hungarian Revolution and his follow martyred
associates - sadly - the first time since 1959, there was no public
remembrance held in the United States. No proclamation was issued, no
statements were made not even the Hungarian communities payed tribute to
those who sacrificed their life for freedom, independence and democracy.
When we, a few but enough of us, continue to remember and pay tribute to the
ideals and heroes of 1956, we also affirm our deeply felt conviction that
lasting freedom and democracy will not take hold in Hungary unless the
precepts of the Revolution regarding resolute national unity, self-sacrifice
and commitment to the self-evident interests of the country are adopted, and
the hard lessons taught by thousand years of Hungarian history are learned.
We call upon those who are responsible for Hungary's welfare to heed to the
principles for which so many died in 1956, and to whose memory we pay
tribute with the following Statement:
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTE TO PRIME MINISTER IMRE NAGY AND HIS ASSOCIATES
EXECUTED JUNE 16, 1958 BY THE COMMUNIST REGIME
Statement by the American admirers of Imre Nagy and the Hungarian Revolution
This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the communist-sanctioned murder
of Imre Nagy, Prime Minister of Hungary, and others who were members of his
government during the short-lived Revolution of 1956. The world remembers
the dignity and courage of these reluctant heroes and patriots.
Remembrance has often become a divisive political force even though it
should be a force for peace and reconciliation. In Central and Eastern
Europe, unless history's tragedies are to be repeated, the accumulated
hatreds and the destructive prejudices on which they are based must not be
renewed and again become the foundation for political conflict.
It is, therefore, an overdue obligation for all of us, beneficiaries of Imre
Nagy's quest for freedom, to put forward a simple but radical idea best
expressed by Dr. Rieux in Albert Camus' novella, The Plague: "If there is no
hope it must be invented." At the height of the Cold War and the total
domination of the Soviet Union in Central and Eastern Europe, the Hungarian
response to the absolute subjugation of nations and individuals was the
reaffirmation of the core values of democracy - freedom, independence and
the rule of law. In 1956, within the Soviet Empire, the Hungarian Revolution
presented an alternative to the dangerous idea that the best solution to a
war-ravaged world is to eliminate political, cultural, religious, economic
and national differences by imposing a single, universal truth on
humankind - the dogma of Communism. Left unchallenged, democracy was in
danger of being declared an error to be conquered and then destroyed in the
name of that false truth.
The events of October 23, 1956 occurred when these two antithetical ideas -
tyrannical communism and the eternal principles of democracy - met and
clashed in the middle of Europe, in occupied and defenseless Hungary. In
this inherently uneven conflict, blood was shed and lives were lost. Imre
Nagy asked and was granted asylum in the Yugoslav Embassy in Budapest but in
spite of being assured of free passage home by Janos Kadar, the Soviets'
appointed strongman in, after Nagy and his associates left the Embassy, they
were promptly arrested and interned in Snagov, Romania. Later they were
transported back to and secretly tried. All the leading figures in the group
were sentenced to death and executed on June 16, 1958.
Since their death, the political and human challenge has been to find a
rationale for their sacrifice. This rationale turned out to be the most
elementary dignity of every human being. By refusing to beg for his life,
Imre Nagy showed his commitment to the principles and goals of our
revolution. repudiated the cruelty of dictatorship and "invented the hope"
of a better future, not just for , but also for the World.
The significance of his and the other Hungarians' sacrifice is indelibly
etched onto the political map of the twenty-first century. The hope
"invented" by Nagy and the other leaders of the revolution is burning
brightly and encouraging others who fight for freedom and democracy
throughout the world. That people in so many different places are demanding
and gaining freedom is the miracle foreshadowed by the events of 1956. As we
witness these events, we understand the reason for the martyrdom of Imre
Nagy and his fellow freedom fighters.
Those who are confident in their beliefs are not afraid to die. No matter
how we are challenged, we too must find this confidence, must believe in the
enduring values of our existence. In the words of János Arany, the
nineteenth century poet:
Understand the word, whether the tide is high or low
Your faith must be like a rock against the waves
We cherish their memories and will ever be proud to live and preserve the
legacy of the Hungarian Revolution.
Washington, D.C. July 16, 2008.
Frank Bakonyi
Applied Laser Solutions Inc. on behalf of the First California Hussar
Regiment, Milpitas, CA
Tamas Balla, MD., Ph.D
Research Scientist, Rockville, MD
Ferenc Czene
Founding President, Executive Council of Southern California Hungarian
Organizations, Los Angeles, CA
Eszterlanc Magyar Nepi Egyuttes
Foster City, CA
Rudolf Fury
Retired Research Scientist in Geodesy and Geoinformation, Bethesda, MD
Istvan B. Gereben
Retired Oceanographer, Former (1972-1990) Executive Secretary, Coordinating
Committee of Hungarian Organizations in North America, Chippewa, PA
Ilona Maria Gyorik
Curator for Life, Alba Regia Memoril Chapel and Park of the Hungarian
Freedom Fighters Federation of Berkley Springs, WV
Tamas Gyorik de Salanky
Member of the Board, National Capital Optimist Club, Member of the Board,
Hungarian Freedom fighter Federation of West Virginia, Washington D.C.
Istvan Harmath
Journalist , Canadian-American Magyarsag
Dr. Lajos Koncz
Retired Physician, Founder Harvard Circle, Boston, MA
Ernest Konnyu,
Former Member of U.S. Congress
Rev. Gabor Magyari-Kope
Free Magyar Reformed Church San Francisco and Vicinity
Louis Munkachy, Ph.D.
Retired Professor, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA
Fr. Maurusz Nemeth O.S.B.
Pastor, Hungarian Catholic Mission, San Francisco, CA
Dr. George A. Olah,
Professor, University of Southern California,
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, 1994
Laszlo Papp
Architect, New Canaan. CT
Peter Pastor,
Department of History, Montclair State University, NJ.
Steven Polgar
Teacher, translator and student of Hungarian literature, Philadelphia, PA
Dr. Miklos K. Radvanyi
Vice President for International Policy, Frontiers of Freedom Institute,
Washington, D.C.
Andras Rekay
President, Hungarian Freedom Fighters Federation of San Francisco, CA
Cecilia Rekay,
Treasurer, Hungarian Freedom Fighters Federation of San Francisco, CA
Denes Szegedi,
Former Secretary, Hungarian Freedom Fighters Federation U.S.A, Robbinsville,
N.J. |
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