Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1982. július-december (36. évfolyam, 26-49. szám)
1982-12-16 / 47. szám
10 AMERIKAI MAGYAR SZÓ Thursday, Dec. 16. 1982. Bernié Kay: MY FIFTH TRIP TO HUNGARY THE MOST UN-AMERICAN THING You have to understand, that the writer is one who has been to Hungary 5 times in the last 18 years and that my knowledge of the language is abysmal. However the woman, with whom I've just completed those same 18, does not resent that I haven't learned her native tongue, even though she had to learn mine. I am also proceeding from the premise that readers of this paper know that 1) Hungarians are living better then most. (In fact those of you who send packages to family or friends are having trouble finding items not available to them) 2) Transportation is cheap and fast. 3) The Danube is not blue. 4) Food is plentiful, cheap and good (make that very good). Armed with these gems of wisdom let us proceed to our just comleted trip, which began at the Thermal Hotel on Margaret Island. Since we tend not to appreciate the environment we grow up in, chances are the people of Budapest do not fully recognize the many beauties of Margaret Island. In the ten days we were there, we patrolled it vigorously and observed its advantages. I noted the following facilities. Not necessarily complete. Pools: Olympic, childrens, thermal and a large one that makes its own waves. Football fields: several (we call it soccer), Tennis: Hungary got beat by Denmark in the Davis Cup semis, while we were there. Ping Pong; An outdoor movie (remember those). An outdoor stage for dramas and operas An area of sculpture, that features busts of Hungarian authors, composers, poets, etc. Some of the most superb trees I have ever seen. Multiple trunks reaching to the sky gracefully and naturally. Kathy says many are over a thousand years old. They live well because the only pollution is from buses. Cars are not allowed on the island. A childrens zoo. Lovely gardens, areas, all well tended. A lovely fountain greets, when you enter the Island. At night it lights in various colors and heights. Ideally located between Buda and Pest, it is something every city should study. The Thermal Hotel is one of many new ones built to obtain Western currency. What they seem to get is Germans, which I'm sure is alright with management, but limits the interest of others. It also caters to those who need help for back trouble, rheumatic problems etc., which I figure at 90% of the population. Anyway mornings we are busy with the pool, sun, mud packs, sauna etc. Evenings are free and our first adventure is to the town of Szentendre. This is a suburb of Budapest, about a 40 minute train ride. In it, is the Margit Kovács Museum. The artist is not known outside Europe, but the things she's done with ceramics are just fantastic. Today her work is designated as a "National Treasure" and it cannot be sold. I am proud to say I appreciated her work on our first trip in '69, when it was available in the stores, and we were fortunate to purchase a few of her pieces. On our next trip in 1972 there was an exposition of her work. I met her there and since she knew some English I was able to tell her how much I enjoyed her style. Miss Kovács died in 1979. There is no : point in saying she is like a leading artist or sculptor. She is all by herself. She did things with ceramics that no one comes close. Her children are delightful, her ladies graceful of line, lovely of color and very expressive. You feel good just looking at them. Her house in Szentendre features examples of her work and everyone is special. Next night was a concert at the Erkel Hall. Lórin Mazel with the Vienna State. We heard Mahlers’ 5th. Now the Vienna State is considered one of the worlds best. They looked Very impressive, all in evening dress. All men. Chances are the Danube will run dry before women play in the Vienna State. But that is a subject for another time. The evening was a classical experience in more ways then one. Mahler has always impressed me, as a composer who provides employment for musicians. All his sympho- nys have everybody working and involvement is complete. And if you hear his tenth throws in a chorus of a few hundred until it looks like there isn't room for one more. We were seated in the first lodge, from where we could see the whole audience as well as the stage. And it was like a gigantic freeze frame. No one, but no one moved. When it was over, there was at first a complete silence. No one raced for the parking lot or the rest room. Them came the applause. Now applause in Europe is not to be taken casually. Everybody applauds and in rhythm. There are no slackers. Mazel showed his appreciation with an encore, a waltz from Rosenkavalier. Kathy said this was most unusual. Then the orchestra got up and left, and the audience got the hint. It was a classy evening. Saturday night we go to the Dohány Street synagogue. This is a sort of leftover when Hungary had enough Jews to fill its 2300 seats. It is a big hall with three levels. It is Simchas Torah, the time of the year when the Torah reading is ended and then begun again to maintain a concept of eternity. Symbolically the Torahs are held by the kids and paraded around the hall. I counted 25 Torahs^a lot in any synagogue. Then the rabbi went to the audience and asked the men to take Torahs. Which was done including by yours truly. There were about two hundred people in the hall. From what I gather the state pays the utilities, which enables them to keep open. The following Monday we go back because next door there is a Jewish Museum. This contains many exhibits of Jewish background in Hungary including a section on the Holocaust. The curator is explaining things in Hungarian and Kathy is translating to me, when we see this young fella who is obviously American and looked kind of lonesome. So Kathy inivites him over and translates for the both of us. After we invite him to a cafe for coffee and he tells us he has been backpacking over Europe, and that since most museums feature portraits of Jesus, it was nice to visit one that featured the Star of David. He was staying at a rooming house. He also mentioned he visited friends who were staying at the Inter* Continental. He took their daughter to the roof for a drink. Not knowing what to order, he had a Gran Manier and the next thing he knew he was broke. "Here, I said, you order the local wines not the foreign liquors." To be continued "The people want progress on nuclear arms control" - this is the headline title of an article by Anthony Lewis in the New York Times right after the recent November elections. It features the following memorable passage: "The nuclear arms question was the subject of what amounted to the largest referendum on any issue in American history. A quarter of the country's population had before it calls for a mutual freeze, and the resolutions carried nearly everywhere... That the freeze resolutions carried as they did was the more remarkable because Mr. Reagan worked hard to defeat them. He sent top aides to denounce their asserted dangers. He even said that people who wanted to weaken America were manipulating advocates of the freeze." Now this kind of rhetoric, slanderous as it is, revives memories of the sinister McCarthy era. Except that the situation now is basically different. More and more people understand that driving America towards an atomic holocaust is about the most unamerican thing imaginable, even if, nay, particularly' when coming from the White House. The idea - or rather idiot's delight - that there can be such a thing as a limited atomic war and that it can be won, is recognized for what it is, a gigantic hoax. Not so long ago, there was an announcement from the White House that in case of war the President is going to mount his stratespheric airplane rising above the earthly happenings and staying up there as an onlooker until it's all over. Incidentally, this news item was never repeated, - it's anybody's guess why not! In a recent issue of Newsweek an important article by Edwin Diamond under the title "That old 'Missile Gap' Madness" had, among other things, this to say: "Today the talisman of Soviet throwweight and other magical mystery powers are evoked by various Washington shamans... but we are not the same naifs of 25 years ago... and I can't see the press, or the public, swallowing whole, without question, whatever lies are being fed at the Washington news troughs. A co-worker of mine from the Sputnik years, since risen to even greater journalistic eminence once remarked of the daily news we print what we are told and what we can find out, therefore we print lies. He is half right. They may still lie to us, but we are better today at finding things out." I consider these excerpts, alongside with such emanations as the anti-nuclear, profreeze pastoral letter of the catholic bishops and similar declarations from many other sources, I consider them straws in the wind. And therefore, there is hope, even if it seems on a superficial view as if the warma- kers are having a field day. Observer---------------------------------1 IN MEMORY OF REGINA WEISS Esther Goldberg New York, N.Y.
