Calvin Synod Herald, 1998 (98. évfolyam, 1-6. szám)

1998-01-01 / 1. szám

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD- 6 -AMERIKAI MAGYAR REFORMÁTUSOK LAPJA

HUNGARY:

A ‘Bridge Between Bast and ‘West?

“East is East and West is West, And the two shall never meet.”

(Rudyard Kipling)

The image of Hungary projected in The Spirit of Hungary by Dr. István Sisa, shows Hungarians as they evolved from nomadic horsemen to a nation which threw off the shackles from Communism in the October Revolution of 1956.

As John F. Kennedy extolled that event: “October 23,1956, was a day that will forever live in the annals of free men and free nations. It was a day of courage, conscience and triumph. No other day since history began has shown more clearly the eternal unquenchability of man’s desire to be free, whatever the odds against success, whatever sacrifice required.”

Looking back at that history, Hungary’s struggles have often been extolled in the West, but - sadly - she has seldom been aided in her proverbial role as “the Bastion of Christendom,” and a “vanguard of liberty.”

From her achievements, Hungary has profited little or nothing - an injustice that has been keenly felt and eloquently commented on by Hungarian writers. In an essay entitled Between East and West, the historian writer Viktor Padanyi wrote:

“We were bled white in fighting against the East rather than siding with it - and what did we get as reward? When the Slavs coveted our land, historic Hungary was dismembered with Western assistance at Trianon in 1920. The Slavs and Pravo-Slavs, Romanians mattered more in the eyes of Western statesmen than all our deeds and sacrifices and the moral justification of our existence... following World War II we have been punished anew and thrown mercilessly into the claws of Soviet Russian Imperialism.

All this despite our contributions to culture and mankind.

Although our fight for independence had made our nation the revered symbol of world liberty in Kossuth’s time, the West does not seem to care about our fate.

Considering the indifference we have to realize more than ever that we stand

utterly abandoned and are terribly alone in Europe. Yes, we are alone. We have been carrying this burden of loneliness for more than a millennium and under the weight of this almost unbearable heritage many of our greats uttered their cries of anguish...

Hungary’s greatest poet, Sándor Petőfi, also lamented about the isolation of the Magyars, calling his people the most orphaned nation in the world in his poem Life or Death.

And though I were another nation's son,

I would help this people, I hereby,

for they are deserted, the most forsaken

people of all the world are under the sky.

However, it was Endre Ady, the foremost Hungarian poet of this century, who hammered on this East-West duality with the passion of an apocalyptic soul. Some of his poems seem to suggest an arbitrary escape from the Occident. Ady’s works are rich in symbolism - a peculiar Eastern trait of the Magyars - although his works were also strongly influenced by the new ideas he had acquired during a long stay in Paris.

New generations of Hungarians rooted in the West may help the Hungarian nation achieve her just aspirations and accomplish what a modern idol of their ancestral land, Bela Bartók, expressed with these words: “We want to realize a synthesis of East and West. Our origins and geographic location has predestined us to such a role, for Hungary is at the same time the westernmost point of the East and a bastion of the West.” (Sisa: Spirit of Hungary).

And as for NOW! Hungary almost unanimously voted for NATO!

Will history defeat Kipling’s prophecy? Will East and West meet?

□QQ

HUNGARY Republic of Hungary Magyar Köztársaság

People: Population: 9,935,774. Age distrib. (%) <15: 18; 65+: 14. Pop. density:

277 per sq. mi. Urban: 65%. Ethnic groups: Hungarian 89.9%; Gypsy 4%; German 2.6%; Principal language: Hungarian (Magyar; official). Chief religions: Roman Catholic 67.5%; Calvinist 20%; Lutheran 5%.

Geography: Area: 35,919 sq. mi. Location: in E central Europe. Neighbors: Slovakia, Ukraine on N; Austria on W; Slovenia, Yugoslavia, Croatia on S; Romania on E. Topography: The Danube River forms the Slovak border inthe NW, then swings S. to bisect the country. The eastern half of Hungary is mainly a great fertile plain, the Alföld; the W and N are hilly. Capital: Budapest. Cities: (1996 est.): Budapest 1,909,000; Debrecen 211,000; Miskolc 180,000.

Government Type: Parliamentary democracy. Head of State: Pres. Árpád Göncz; b. Feb. 10,1922; in office: May 2,1990. Head of Government: Prime Minister Gyula Horn; b. July 5, 1932; in office: July 15, 1994. Local divisions: 38 counties, 1 capital. Defense: 1.7% of GDP (1995). Active troop strength: 64,300.

Economy: industries: Iron and steel, construction materials, processed foods, pharmaceuticals, vehicles. Chief crops: Wheat, corn, sunflowers, potatoes, sugar beets. Minerals: Bauxite, coal, gas. Crude oil reserves (1996): 120 mil bbls. Arable land: 51%. Livestock (1996): pigs: 5.0 mil; sheet: 977,000; cattle: 928,000. Electricity prod. (1995): 32.9 bil kWh. Labor force: 30% ind.; 16% agric.

Finance: Monetary unit: Forint (Aug. 1997: 194.53 = $1 US). Gross dometic product (1995 est): $72.5 bil. Per capita GDP: $7,000. Imports (1995 est.): $15 bil; partners: Germany 23%, Austria 12%, Russia 12%. National budget (1995): $13.8 bil. Tourism (1994): $1.4 bil. International reserves less gold (Mar. 1997): $8.56 bil. Gold: 101,000 oz t. Consumer prices (change in 1996): 23.5%

Transport: Railroads: Length: 4,772.4 mi. Motor vehicles in use: 2.2 mil passenger cars, 310,000 comm, vehicles. Civil aviation: 1.0 bil. passenger-mi.; 1 airport with scheduled flights.

Communications: Television sets: 1 per 2.3 persons. Radios: 1 per 1.6 persons. Telephones: 1 per 5.4 persons. Daily newspaper. 228 per 1000 pop.

Health: Life expectancy at birth (1997): 64.4 male; 74.2female. Births (per 1,000 pop.): 11. Deaths (per 1,000 pop.): 15. Natural increase: -0.4%. Hospital beds: 1 per 104 persons. Physicians: 1 per 280 persons. Infant mortality (per 1,000 live births 1997): 12.

Education: Compulsory: ages 6-16. Literacy: (1993): 99%.

Major International Organizations: UN

(IMF, FAO, WHO, World Bank, WTO), OECD

Embassy: 3910 Shoemaker St. NW, Washington, DC 20008; 362-6730.