Magyar News, 2003. szeptember-2004. augusztus (14. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2004-04-01 / 8. szám
Malice topped by stupidity Top: Talking across the wire fence from the Slovak side. Center: This photo taken from the Ukranian side shows the two halves of the Székely gate. Below: The road to the neighbor ends midway. We learned from the Hungarian Hill, Center for Hungarian American Congregational Relations (CHACR) about a Hungarian village, Szelmenc. In the horrendous Trianon Treaty it was cut off at the northern part of Hungary and placed under Slovak rule. After WWII, with a stupid idea, it was cut into two, half under Slovak, the other half under Soviet rule. It looks like the huge Soviet couldn’t exsist without the few acres they gained with a half village. This is what the Hungarian Hill wrote: Although brother and sister have lived in the same village all their lives, Maria Ivan and her brother, Arpad, have been able to hug each other only twice in the past 53 years. As a result of a post-World War II treaty, a barbed wire fence marking borders has divided them, reported the Associated Press. Szelmenc is found near where the Ukrainian, Slovakian and Hungarian borders meet. The village, which is mostly populated by ethnic Hungarians, once belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The border running through the village was constructed at the end of World War II and was typical of the inner Iron Curtain of the Communist block. The border cut the villages into half and today one part of Szelmenc belongs to Ukraine and the other part to Slovakia. The border not only divides buildings and streets, it also separates people. The most painful division Crossing through this border fence is illegal. According to the Ukrainian Weekly, when the border fence was initially raised in the middle of Szelmenc, villagers were allowed to cross borders freely to visit family members, attend church and tend to crops. One day those rights were forbidden and strict border regulations were enforced. Many of the people who were on the wrong side that day have never been allowed to reunite with their families. A little girl who was sick with the flu was resting at her grandmother's house on the Slovak side while her mother worked in the fields in Ukraine that day. She was never permitted to return to her parents. The division is most painful for the families that have been forcefully separated. Even today, when people on the Slovak side send letters to the Ukrainian side, most of their letters are returned, stamped "address unknown." "I could never bury my family members.” The nearest boarder crossing is 30 miles away and the cost of travel documents and traveling is too expensive for most inhabitants. Ms. Veres attended her sister’s wedding in 1945. According to her, everything was fine until the family tried to return home after the wedding. While they enjoyed the wedding ceremony, Soviet soldiers set up a barbed wire fence and divided the village. After long negotiations the family members were able to returned to their home but never to go back to visit their family on the other side of the fence. Stefan Ignác: “ I could never bury my family members.” His grandmother and mother lived and died on the Slovak side. Since Stefan Ignác lived on the Ukrainian side, he missed their funerals. He cannot even bring flowers to their graves. The Silent Protest The Ukrainian village cannot be found on the map. There is also a major difference between the two sides of this fence in terms of living conditions. While the shops in Slovakia are increasingly filled with Western products, people on the Ukrainian side lack even basic commodities. Similarly to the former wall between East and West Berlin, the fence dividing Szelmenc is a Cold War relic. Protesting their division, the inhabitants of the divided village cut a wooden Szekely gate in half, and erected the parts on each side of the border on October 28, 2003. C.H.A.C.R. is now working to solve this crucial problem with the help of the U.S. Congress. We have organized a nation wide grassroots campaign to call on members of Congress to come to the rescue. What the villagers ask for is a border crossing to end their 60-year old separation. We are working to convince members of Congress to sign onto a letter to the governments of Slovakia and Ukraine regarding this issue. Please join our organization in this effort today! Address: CHACR, 316 F. Street, NE Suite #201, Washington, DC 20002. Web:www.chacr.org Page 1
