Magyar Hírek, 1985 (38. évfolyam, 2-26. szám)
1985-09-21 / 19-20. szám
ABOUT THIS ISSUE CHRONICLE This issue of Magyar Hírek will reach most of our readers at a time, when international attention is focused on Hungary. The European Cultural Forum, where representatives of 33 European countries, the US and Canada, who participated in the European Conference on Security and Cooperation, will discuss possibilities and methods of cultural cooperation, opens on the 15th of October in Budapest. Hungary considers it a great honour that the Madrid conference entrusted the organization and staging of the European Cultural Forum to this city. It is an appreciation of the fact that the Hungarian representatives have always and at every forum argued in favour of peaceful coexistence among countries of differing social arrangements, supporting the achievements of détente, of the realization and furthering of the resolutions made at Helsinki. The European Cultural Forum is destined to promote the deepening of dialogue, which may be furthered to a great extent by cultural cooperation and the exchange of intellectual values. This was the idea, under the aegis of which the programme, which endeavours to give a comprehensive image of Hungarian culture, the past and present achievements of the intellectual life of this country was devised, as a suitable background to the sixweeks international discussions of the Conference. The National Széchényi Library will hold a special exhibition of medieval MSS, the Corvináé, that once graced the library of King Matthias Corvinus. The Petőfi Literary Museum is arranging an exhibition of documents on “The European Roots of Gyula Illyés and Tibor Déry”. “Window on the World” is an exhibition of translations from other languages into Hungarian and of foreign language editions of Hungarian poetry and prose. Of musical programmes let me mention the Ferenc Liszt Memorial Concert at the Academy of Music, the concert by the Juillard String Quartet, and another where works of Kristóf Penderecki will be performed. Students of the academies of music, art, theatre and cinema will give a series of concerts, exhibitions and performances in clubs for young artists, and in cultural centres. The Scythian gold smiths’ work from Leningrad Ermitage exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts and a selection from the material of the Thyssen-Bornemissza collection of Lugano and another of contemporary paintings at the National Gallery are looked forward to by all art lovers. It is to be hoped that the great international function^ that accompany the European Cultural Forum will give added impetus and inspiration to the deliberations, and that discussions will lead to the extension of cultural exchanges and the enrichment of the human spirit. The Hungarian part of this issue contains an extensive account on the Fifth Native Language Conference held between 5th—9th August in Veszprém. I should like to underline here the fact that the sponsors of the Conference selected the subject to place the most important problems at the focus of discussion. The role of the Churches in maintaining the Hungarian presence abroad has been mentioned at previous conferences, it was now a separate item on the agenda, thus enabling participants of the conference to have it discussed from the Hungarian as well as from the foreign aspects as thoroughly as its importance required. Native language conferences had in the past discussed Hungarian literature and the role of literature in holding together Hungarians living scattered around the globe, but the guiding aspect of the current discussion was what literature could and must do in the interest of maintaining and protecting Hungarian culture and national identity in the Western world. The Conference discussed aspects of the fine arts, folkart as well as the film and video. Having discussed the complete first part of the “threestep” series of language books in preparation, the Conference furthered their completion. International Symposium on School Health Almost five hundred school doctors and youth health workers from all parts of the world met in the halls of Semmelweis University of Medical Sciences in Budapest. Imre Hutás, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Health referred to the fact in his opening address that Hungary has had a well-developed school-health network by any standards, which had been founded a century earlier by Professor József Fodor. The work of school doctors has been an important contributory factor to the low child mortality in Hungary. After addresses by Dr Jaqueline Bande Knopps, President of the European School and College Health Union, and Jan Young, a representative of the World Health Organization, the three-days conference got under way. Lectures were given on health education in schools, on avoiding the consequences of stress at school, on effects of environmental factors on child growth and the state of health of children, on the activity of school doctors, their problems, and on the results of scientific research. Hungary is one of the leading meat producers of the world According to figures recently published by the Central Statistical Office, Hungary is one of the top ten in per capita meat production: the per capita annual meat production is 151 kg here. New Zealand holds the world record, where the annual average is 413 kg. Australia, Denmark and Ireland also recorded higher figures than Hungary. By comparison, the per capita average meat production stands at 90 kg in Czechoslovakia, 68 kg in Finland, and 27 kg in Japan. Overeating, overweight The journal of the Association of Hungarian Doctors published a study on the results of an enquiry of a working team into the eating habits and body weight of Hungarians and the effects these had on their health. An analysis of the data revealed that overeating is assuming steadily increasing proportions and, in consequence many people became overweight. From the data of questionnaires returned by people between 20 and 60 years of age, it was found that people are consuming an average of 3,380 calories of food a day, which is far in excess of what they need. Consumption of fats is higher than necessary, and the decisive majority of the people questioned still preferred traditional ways of cooking. Beside the high level of meat consumption that exceeds all earlier records sugar consumption is also excessive. The medical team responsible for the enquiry recommended public health as well as therapeutic and preventive measures in order to check the tendencies that are harmful to health and to develop more up-to-date eating habits. János Hunyadi Memorial in Belgrade At the scene of the 1456 victory over the Turks—known in Hungarian history as the Battle of Nándorfejérvár—in the fort raising above the Yugoslav capital, a joint Serbo—Croatian and Hungarian memorial was inaugurated in recent weeks. The trilingual inscription proclaims that “On 22nd July 1456 the defenders of Belgrade led by János Hunyadi won a decisive victory over the Turks in this place”. At the unveiling Ferenc Rátkai, Deputy-Minister of Education, delivered an address in the name of the government of the Hungarian People’s Republic, and Milica Bdbic, Chairperson of the Metropolitan Cultural and Education department on behalf of Belgrade, the city that erected the memorial. In his speech, Ferenc Rátkai emphasised that Hungarians, Serbians and Croats fought side by side in the besieged fortress, realizing at a moment of common danger all that is rarely achieved at the conference table. Continuing, he pointed out that the unveiling of the Hunyadi memorial was proof of the growing readiness experienced on both sides to give more attention to those aspects of our shared history, which can strengthen the friendship of our peoples. Success of the “Femina” series of books Europa publishers with the cooperation of Nők Lapja (Women’s Journal) started the publication of a series of books under the common title of “Femina”, for works dealing with the problems of women. Of the books published so far, the autobiography of a Székely peasant woman. Mrs István Csibi, née Marika Siklódi under the title of “Full stops, commas I do not know” created a great sensation. Liv Ullmann's book, “Changes”, is a great success, and so is the documentnovel of Dea Trier Morch, “Winter Babies" about the life of a maternity clinic in Copenhagen. Vilmos Huszár memorial exhibition in the National Gallery Vilmos Huszár, the outstanding artist of the early part of this century, who spent the better part of his life in Holland, where he was a member of one of the important movements of modern European art, the De Stijl group, has been under - servedly forgotten in his home country, Hungary, as well as at the scene of his working life, in Holland. Now young Dutch art historians collected the works of Huszár and the National Gallery of Budapest was able to stage this exhibition. Huszár was eminent not only as a painter, but also a sculptor, interior designer and draughtsman. “Mechanical Dancing Figure”, a recently reconstructed moving mechanical sculpture of his created in the late 1910s, which already pointed towards the art of Tinguely and Nicholas Schöffer was also shown. 60
