Verhovayak Lapja, 1944 (27. évfolyam, 1-52. szám)
1944 / Verhovay Journal
May 25, 1944 Verhovay Journal HEROES OF HUNGARY DIE FOR LIBERTY The expansio» of Nazism has developed some new types of citizenship. At least, their names are new, though they represent attitudes that have prevailed in every country under the sun, ever since the beginning of human history. The two best known types are those which have become known as ‘‘quislings ’ on the one extreme, and “underground'’ on the other. We all know what they mean and we also know that between these two extremes there are many different groups of citizens. Some of them are collaborationists and others again sympathize with the underground but do not dare to join it because they fear the consequences. In order to understand the situation clearly, it must be noted also that all collaborationists are not necessarily traitors. Some are convinced that for the time being it is best to humor the enemy in order to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. They prefer to save their energy for the time when an uprising may be started under favor, able auspices. On the other hand it is quite obvious that there are spies among the members of the undeground, too, whose aim is to weaken the resistance of their people. Obviously, it is not so simple to divide a people into Quislings and patriots ... there are different shades of political attitudes which are hard to classify before the final outcome of the conflict. * * * Now the representatives of every nationality here in the United States proclaim loudly the deeds of the patriots and claim that only they represent the true spirit of their people. There are millions of Quislings in France, but every French-American in the United States will insist that it is not they who represent the true character of their nation, but the heroes of the underground. Czecbo Slovakia, Rumania, Jugoslavia, Norway, Sweden, and all the other countries have their Quislings but there is not a single nation among them which would admit that the Quislings are the true representatives of their people. Naturally, it is always the out standing citizen of a nation who is accepted as the representative of its spirit, while no nation on earth would be willing to identify itself with the lowest type of its citizens. The United States of America, too, has had its Benedict Arnold, yet .the nation will always insist that George Washington represented the true type of the ‘ real American and not Benedict Arnold. The people of Europe have always heard more about the gangsters of Chicago than of that type of American man which we consider the American type and, therefore, they believe that the Chicago gangster is the true representative of the American citizen. We Americans are apt to make the same mistake when we attempt to judge foreign people from the distance... we believe that all French people gesticulate like a windmill... that all Hungarians are gypsies ... that all Rumanians are shepherds, etc. Just as we Americans have the right to select George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and other men of similar character as represen tatives of the American type, so have other nations their right to select their own outstanding men and women as representatives of the true type of their nation. In the light of the foregoing we will first of all admit that Hungary, too, has its Quislings, just as has any other country under the sun. But like all Americans, we American citizens of Hungarian origin, have the right to insist that they are not true representatives of the spirit of the nation from which we have descended. We have not only the right to do so, but we also possess all the facts necessary to prove our contention. I have three individuals in my mind to-day, whom I want to present as the true type of Hungarian. All three of them are outstanding personalities: they have been elected by the Hungarian people to serve as their represen. tatives in the legislative and executive departments of their once parlementary form of government. The Hungarians themselves recognized in them those qualities which made them eligible to serve as the representatives and executives of the national will. This is one of the reasons why I feel that they should be accepted by us as the true type of Hungarian, instead of the Quislings who have gained power, not by the will of the people, but by methods that have been superimposed over them through the help of all of those rotten methods the Nazis have developed exactly for such purposes. I further contend that these individuals are the representatives of the true Hungarian type because their attitude was consistent with Hungarian history. Through what they have done, they have followed the example of those heroes of Hungary’s past who always have been upheld before the nation as the true representatives of the spirit of Hungary. Their consistency, their harmony with Hungarian tradition certainly makes them appear before us as the true type of the Hungarian. * # * COUNT PAUL TELEKI is the first one who, in the present conflict, represents the true Hungarian national attitude. He made a non-aggression agreement with Jugoslavia, a country which through the Trianon treaty has received a substantial part of Hungary which, before that, had belonged to that country for more than a thousand years. Yet, he signed a non-aggression agreement and had every honest intention of keeping it. When Hitler demanded that German troops be given the right of way through Hungary, against Greece and Jugoslavia, he refused on the ground of this agreement. When Hitler, neverthe. less, sent his troops through Hun gary, Count Teleky, unable to stop the Nazis, shot himself in protest, on April 3, 1941. He was dead when they found him. But that shot made him a national hero, because through his act he expressed the protest of the Hungarian people against the outrage, and thus he became the true type of the Hungarian, at a time, when Hitler was in full tide of victory. We deeply respect the members of the underground of each and every oppressed nation. But respectfully we ask: does any other nation have a Count Teleky, who, not wanting to shed the blood of his nation in useless resistance, shed his own, thereby voicing the protest of the entire nation in an unsurpassed drama of self-sacrifice?! BAJCSY-ZSILINSZKY, for many years a representative of the Hungarian agricultural group—the farmers—is the second person who represents the Hungarian spirit. Many a time, before Hitler overran Hungary, he protested against collaboration with the Nazis and by his protest voiced the convictions of those who elected him to the parliament. As soon as the Nazis occupied Hungary, a Nazi detachment was sent to the home of Bajcsy-Zsi linszky for his arrest. Bi> sy- Zsilinszky was ready for then*. He waited for them with a gun in his hands, and when they forcefully entered his home, he shot several of them, until he was shot. Here we have the fearless type of the liberty-loving Hungarian who made the enemies of his nation pay for his life and through his uneven struggle again voiced the protest of the Hungarian peo pie in one of the most moving dramas of history. * * * The third one is a WOMAN. She, too, was an elected representative of the Hungarian parlia ment, for many years. MISS ANNA KETHLY who was a member of the Hungarian Socialist party, was not looked upon favorably by the Nazis, either. Another detachment was sent for her arrest, too. But this woman awaited her. visitors just as Bajcsy-Zsilinszky did: with a pistol in her hand. And she, one woman, took up the fight with the oppressors who invaded her home and died in the ensuing battle, in which she, too, killed several of the oppressors of her beloved nation. * * * We have a historical basis for considering these heroes as the representatives of the true type of the Hungarian-. Teleki died as Széchényi did, almost a century ago, who killed himself when he saw the sun of liberty sinking over the bloody sky of Hungary. Bajcsy Zsilinszky died like Zrinyi did, many centuries ago, when he left his fort and attacked with the remnants of his little army the gigantic Turkish army, preferring death to surrender. Miss Kethly acted true to the tradition of those heroic women who fought with their bare hands against the Turks when they attacked the fort of Eger, and they would have captured the town, had not the women of Hungary taken an active part in the bloody battle. * * * These heroes of the present conflict have re-enacted the heroic deeds of the past. They were led by the same motives. And the response of the Hungarian people to their heroic deeds proves that they are considered by the Hun garians themselves as the true type of the nation. Daily new stories are read of a similar character. We already know that Hungary has not only three representatives of its true character but many more. Only after the war shall we know how many have shed their blood in open resistance. It is, therefore, unjust to condemn Hungary on the ground that it has Quislings. So has Norway, Netherland, Belgium, France, Jugoslavia, Greece and every country in Europe. One cannot judge a nation from its lowest individuals but from the highest types of character it has developed. As far as we can see, Hungary is writing a new, bloody chapter in the book of its thousand year old history and this chapter will, at the end, be one of the most impressive chapters. So, let us not be ashamed of our ancestors: those who are real Hungarians, do resist. They do fight with the same determination and with the same love of liberty that has made American history glorious. There will come a time, when, after all is done, the deeds of the true type of Hungarians, will serve as a shining beacon to all oppressed peo pie who thirst and hunger for liberty. Until that time, let us believe in the true Hungarian spirit, which may have many faults, but never that of denying liberty. While there are rats, too, in Hungary, just as there are in any other country, there are stars, also. Rats only smell, but those stars shine brightly and their light shall shine for centuries to come. FAMOUS CLOSE SHAVES By Barber Sol IHISVO, JOHN WISE, FAMOUS BALLOONIST, ASCENDED IN HIS AIRSHIP TO 13,000 FEET. 5UDPENLY IT EXPLODED. WISE LOST CONSCIOUSNESS. BUT THE BALLOON FABRIC FORMED A PARACHUTE AND LANDED HIM SAFELV. Ä»|Ei MUSIC INSTRUMENTAL... every KNOWN TREATMENT WAS TRIED To AWAKEN DORLIEN PEABOOY, FROM A CbMA -YET SHE DID NOT RESPOND. ON A HUNCH, A FAMILIAR VIOLIN MELODY WA! PLAYED AND SHE SNAPPED OUT OF HER fe5-PAY SLEEP. BARBER SOL SAYS: GOEBBELS' LINE IS MONKEY TALK NO SEE, NO HEAR ONLY SQUAWK REEP ßUy/N6 NAß BONDS AH ARMY ÄI/AF^, accidentally RELEASED FROM ITS Tow-PLANE CLEARED ONE FENCE, CRASHED THROUGH TWO OTHERS, LEAPED DITCHES AND DUCKED TELEPHONE WIRES BEFORE COMING TO A HALT. YET, NO ONE ON BOARD THE 6LIDER SUSTAINED ANV < INJURIES. *t Page 7 YOUR BLOOD OR HIS LIFE Quite soon the great invasion will begin. Quite soon the precious blood of our soldiers ... our friends ... our brothers... husbands... sweethearts ... will begin to flow, in order that victory may be achieved. It will not be an easy victory. It will cost billions in dollars... perhaps millions in dead ... and many millions in wounded ... Do you want to save a wounded soldier from dying? Of course you do. You could never sleep in peace if you knew that a soldier lost his life because the blood you could have given to him, did never arrive at the front Due to the blood-collecting activities of the American Red Cross, millions of lives already have been saved that, otherwise, would have been lost. The supply so far was up to the demand. But now the demand will suddenly increase. Twice and three times as much blood will be needed. EVERY AMERICAN should donate blood, not only once, but regularly, every other month. IT IS YOUR BLOOD OR HIS LIFE. There is a great difference between the loss of blood of the soldier and that of the civilian. If you give that pint of blood ... in a few weeks you will have it recovered. Immediately after you have given blood, you may feel a very slight weakness which perhaps is more a nervous reaction than the actual consequence of the loss of blood. But the soldier will never regain the blood he lost on the battlefield, unless it is given to him IMMEDIATELY. He will need in most instances not only one pint of blood, but many, sometimes as many as 10—12 infusions. It is up to you to make sure that not a single soldier perishes because there was not enough blood-plasma to go around. Each and every branch should make it its business to make sure that every member shall do his and her duty. Don’t forget: IT IS YOUR BLOOD —OR HIS LIFE! WHERE THE FUEL GOES r**" It takes 12,500 gallons of g*sa line to train one pilot.
