Fraternity-Testvériség, 1956 (34. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1956-06-01 / 6. szám
FRATERNITY 7 RIDING WHIP DIPLOMACY* By Andor Klay Early one morning in the spring of 1949, people passing through Liberty Square in the capital of Communist-ruled Hungary slowed down their steps and stared incredulously toward the building of the American Legation. Something was conspicuously missing from its immediate vicinity. The bronze statue of a man in uniform had vanished from the select spot it had occupied since 1936. The sturdy figure of Harry Hill Bandholtz, Brigadier General, United States Army, had mysteriously disappeared during the night. To telephone callers who wisely chose to remain anonymous, a voice from the office of the leading Communist newspaper tersely announced: “The statue has been removed for repair.” The rejoinder that as recently as the previous day nothing whatever seemed to be wrong with the statue drew a response reflecting the “irresistible logic” and “unshakeable proletarian discipline” of the Party’s house organ: “I repeat, Comrade: the statue has been removed for repair.” A sudden click in the receiver signaled the end of the case at the end of the line. Only someone foolish enough to risk being branded an “enemy of the people” would have pressed the matter further. But the people of Budapest, retaining their long renowned “akasztófahumor” (“humor under the gallows”) even in the most tragic era of their nation’s history of ten turbulent centuries, soon began to wag their sharp tongues — secret police or no secret police. “Have you heard?” one queried another. “After Rákosi’s latest speech, Bandholtz shot his way back to the West!” A note was found tied to a bush on the Square: “I shall return — with multitudes!” Invisible hands scrawled “H. H. B. - U. S. A.” on pavements of side- streets, across Communist posters on bill-boards, and even on doors — if only rear doors — of offices of the Party itself. The alleged repair became the longest of its kind on record; after more than five years, the statue is still missing. Over there, innumerable people still know all about that man Bandholtz. Here, in his homeland, not one person out of millions can recall ever having heard of him. Mention Hungary, and our man on the street will surely call to mind Zsa-Zsa and the other Gabors; but as to how an American general became the greatest of foreign heroes of that far-away nation after the collapse of one Communist regime, and why his statue was stealthily removed by minions of another, he has no idea. Only Reprinted from the Foreign Service Journal, Washington, D. C.
