Fraternity-Testvériség, 1956 (34. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1956-09-01 / 9. szám
6 FRATERNITY — and that new era found one of its dominant figures in Hunyadi’s own son, King Mathias the Just. Unfortunately, Hunyadi died shortly after his triumph. He fell victim to a plague on August 11, 1456, as did his faithful associate Capistrano on October 23. But memory of him lived on and memories are a mighty force. I am reminded of what Louis Elekes wrote, “Every people, even the smallest, has its heroes, and every nation, if it is worthy of the name, has its memories. Perhaps it is this very gift of remembrance that consecrates a community of people and makes it into a nation. The common past is a common treasure, mutual joy and mutual suffering, sublimated into a memory, may build up the nation’s pride and its faith in the future.” On his death-bed Hunyadi left this advice: “Defend, my friends, Christendom and Hungary from all enemies, and follow my example in opposing the pagan foe. Do not quarrel among yourselves. If you should waste your energies in altercation, you will seal your own fate as well as dig the grave of our country.” The memory of this has lived on and has been consecrated into an ideal that pervades the nation’s entire personality. Today the pagan foe is not the Turk. He and other Moslems are joining Christians in the formation of a world-wide united front of peoples who believe in one Almighty God. In the poem “Szózat” the poet Vörösmarty drew the pathetic picture of a great day of burial when the nations of Europe would. stand around the grave where the Hungarian nation had been entombed. I perceive no such fate for the Magyars. Great national misfortunes always light the flame of patriotism. Mohács, for example, strengthened the feeling of patriotism just as the Reformation increased religious fervor. The feeling of national unity moves the heart of the nation with the unconscious but mighty force of an universal instinct. The fire of the Turkish wars only served to make this element in the Hungarian character as strong as iron. The foe changes from time to time. But whether Tatar, Turk, Austrian, Nazi or anyone else the Magyar can be counted on to fight for God and country just as he did in the middle ages. My dear friends! The central idea of American history is the struggle for human freedom. It is all the more natural that countless Hungarians have chosen this great, free country for their new
