1987. április (33-52. szám) / HU_BFL_XIV_47_2
24/0 l(tti« Rutkell Street, LONDON, WC.i • Ttl. PV-*ao a< u • G. krasati 37/1987 /e/ 7th April, 1987 We want a Hungarian-Polish Friendship Society? The following artiele was published in the March 1987 issue of “Demokrata", one of the journals of the Hungárián democratic oppositions "In our ranks two nations blend And what two nations Polish and Hungárián Is there a fate mightier than These two nations striving fór one end?" (Petőfi) HUNGARIAN-POLISH FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY/ Is it nőt strange? To this day no association exists in Budapest fór strengthening Hungarian-Polish friendship, developing cultural relations with a scope of social initiatives as well. Prince Ferenc Rákóczi, who led the struggle fór freedom against the Hapsburgs in the early 18th century, raised the flag of the war of indepen- dence on his return from Poland, while in 1848-49 the Polish freedom movements provided our national liberation struggle nőt only with thousands of soldiers and heroes, bút with generals as well. Between 1939-1944 somé 100,000 Poles fleeing from Hitler found asylum in Hungary and were thus able to reach the free Polish troops formed in the West,continuing the fight fór their homeland. In 1956 it was the burst of the Polish nation's longing fór freedom, which spurred the first rnoves of the Hungárián intelligentsia against the Stalinist dictatorship. However, all this has nőt been a good enough reason to create a Hungarian-Polish Friendship Society in "socialist" Hungary fór as long as forty years,a Society which would systematiely work at the strengthening of the cultural and personal links of the two nations. Nőt that nobody had wanted it, nőt that there hadn’t been any initiative to achieve this. Relations, however, remained within the framework of officialdom. The Jo'zsef Bem Cultural Association belongs exclusively to the Poles in Hungary; the office of the Polish Cultízre, which is managed by the Polish Embassy in Budapest,has a relatively small field of activity and conforms, naturally, with the official Warsaw line. On the other hand, nobody deals with the hundreds of thousands of Hungárián tourists visiting Poland once they had finished their short journey. The cultural servicing of the 60,000 Poles working in Hungary alsó remains unsolved and so does their relationship - as well as that of the Polish tourists here - with the Hungárián population. Granted, there is no Hungarian-Czechoslovak or Hungarian-Yugoslav Friendship Society either (nőt to speak of the lack and necessity of a {A _____ ___
