Magyar News, 2006. január-május (17. évfolyam, 1-5. szám)

2006-01-01 / 1. szám

Magyar Studies of America held their annual remembrance of the historical 1956 Freedom Fight at the Fairfield Town Hall.

First Selectman Kenneth Flatto welcomed the people with a short greeting. Following the First Selectman's kind words, the celebrating Hungarians sang the American National Anthem.

A beautiful prayer was said by Rev.

Béla Póznán from the Calvin United Church of Christ.

Part of the program was an excerpt from an interview with Gergely Pongrátz, which was heard on October 21, 2001 on Kossuth Radio. Gergely Pongrátz was the leader of the Freedom Fighters at the Corvin-köz. His name is still legendary among all Hungarians. These were his words: "The revolution started on October 23, 1956 and achieved victory on October 28, 1956. The Freedom Fight started on November 4, 1956 and was crushed by

3,000 T55 tanks and 200,000 Russian soldiers."

Gábor Dömötör recited a poem by János Arany, one of the great Hungarian poets. A short quotation from his introduction to the poem reads: "But when we today celebrate the 49th anniversary of the revolution, we must remember that the task ahead of us is to reconstruct the nation, healing the profound damages caused by 4

decades of Communism. And that requires heroism of another sort: not only diligent, intelligent and persistent work, but above all, a united national effort which avoids the pitfalls of egoistic human nature."

Then Gyula Egervári, the main speaker of the event, delivered a very moving day to day account of the Freedom Fight. His words brought back a lot of memories for quite a few people. As a finishing touch, he said a prayer, a revised version of Our Father, dedicated to our beloved Homeland. The prayer was so beautiful and touching that there were no dry eyes left in the room.

He also made a plea for help with the project of Magyar Studies of America to erect a statue in Budapest for the 50th anniversary, as a gift of Hungarian emigrants throughout the world.

Tamás Wolff, a student of the Hungarian school representing the younger generation, recited a poem which was written by an unknown poet on October 30, 1956.

Finally everybody went outside to lay the wreath and individual flowers by the memorial plaque, dedicated two years ago by Magyar Studies. Singing the Hungarian National Anthem ended this memorable event.

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