Hirünk a Világban, 1957 (7. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1957-10-01 / 10-12. szám
12 Hírünk a Világban Our Reputation in the World English Summary Rev. Sándor Daróczy calls to mind the legislalion initiated 400 years ago for religious freedom in Hungary. In a long series of laws the Hungarian parliament at Torda, Transylvania granted religious freedom without denominational restrictions — the first in Europe. The main act was the 1557 Toleration Act. It was passed unanimously by the Roman Catholic, Calvinist and Lutheran members of the Diet. (Protestants, however, were in majority.) This stipulated that "each person maintain whatever religious faith he wishes, with old or new rituals, while we at the same time leave it to their judgment to do as they please in the matter of their faith, just so long, however, as they bring no harm to bear on anyone at all, lest the followers of a new religion be a source of irritation to the old profession of faith or become in some way injurious to its followers." Two recent books on Russia and Eastern Europe discuss the significance of the Hungarian Revolution. Louis Fischer in his Russia Revisited has this to say about it: "The pessimists, the Cassandras, George George Orwell in 1984 said man would be robotized by the dictators; the race would survive as slaves. It is not true. Hungary proves that Communism is not the future. This is not the age of totalitarianism. It is the era of liberty and liberation from imperialism. Hungary has paid a high price in lives and sufferings to bring this message to mankind. But it has earned the deathless gratitude of modern civilization .... The civil war which developed between writers and government was the first battle or in fact the microcosm of the Hungarian revolution. The importance of literature in that revolution can scarely be exaggerated .... It was the author's revolt in 1955 which led to the spring, 1956 Petőfi Club phase, and that in turn inspired the historic uprising in October that year. As in Poland, so in Hungary the pen plowed the field and planted the seeds." The other author, Frederick L. Schuman (Russia since 1917) states — in flagrant contradiction to the U. N. Report on Hungary accepted by 60 nations — that there was no democratic revolution in Hungary in 1956! His sharply biased attitude is perhaps more understandable if we quote some passages from his misrepresentation of the reign of terror in Hungary in the "Events of 1949" (New International Yearbook): "The common man in Hungary was apparently less interested in .freedom’ or Justice' than in peace, land, bread, jobs and opportunities for leisure, recreation, and social security. In all those respects the Red rulers of Budapest afforded to the majority of their subjects appreciable and tangible advantages." Bartók's "Bluebeard" was recently presented in England. The Manchester Guardian wrote in its criticism that "the music has such pungency, is so rich in colour and emotion — while offering no difficulties which need dismay any lover of Vaughan Williams or Holst —— that it completely holds an audience's attention." Eighty-year-old Ernst Von Dohnányi’s Nursery Theme and his Piano Concerto No. 2) is highly praised by The New York Times. "The wonderful set of variations is a minor masterpiece .... As a pianist, Mr. Dohnányi is amazing. He has a tone and style, plus a quality of strength, that instantly set his performance off as something unusual." Professor Lamont’s well-known literary lists are republished. His new „Sixty Great Early Foreign Novels" contain three Hungarian works, two by Jókai and one by Mikszáth. Hírünk a Világban Editor; Csicsery-Rónay I. szerkesztő P. O. Box 1005 Washington, 13, D. C., U. S. A. Druck: GREIF-Verlag A. Ujváry, Greif nyomda- és kiadóvállalat, München 8 • Sedanstraße 14
