Fraternity-Testvériség, 1956 (34. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1956-12-01 / 12. szám
FRATERNITY 11 LETTERS ABOUT THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS GALLANT HUNGARY By this time, many Americans know that Hungarians love liberty. But few Americans will comprehend how deep that love of libery lies in Hungarian breasts, and how closely connected it is with individuality and self-respect. Two incidents during a lengthy stay in Budapest years ago before World War II will always loom large in my memory. They reveal far more than thousands of words by commentators. I had become acquainted with an attractive Hungarian girl who spoke English, learned during a visit to England. She was a sports-loving girl; she played soccer on a club team; she loved to ski; she was an intelligent, normal, young Hungarian female. During our acquaintance, which extended over a period of nearly two years, I discussed many subjects with her in order to learn how she and Hungarians thought and felt. In one of our conversations I asked her what she wanted to do in life, what was her ambition. Her reply was grave, unhesitating. She had one wish, she said, and that was to marry and bear sons to defend her country. The other incident concerns a young Hungarian man, also in his early 20’s. He informed me one day, with some excitement, that he had received a challenge to a duel from an acquaintance, and asked me if I would be his second. I, an American, snorted at this foolish (outmoded, in my opinion) method fo settling differences. Especially so, because the cause of the challenge was merely the fact that he had failed to tip his hat to the challenger in encountering him on a public street, thus insulting him. (In Hungary, men tip their hats to each other as well as to ladies.) My own attitude may have influenced him somewhat; the duel with swords (my young Hungarian friend was good at this, and, challenged, he had his choice of weapons) never came off. In Hungary, patriotism is synonymous with pride, honor and self- respect, and, above all, human individual dignity — characteristics which communistic philosophy regards as bourgeois decadence. Hungarians will never fully accept communism. They will continue to die, gallantly, in a world that has largely forgotten gallantry and honor, fighting it. Washington, D. C. Walter Slavik ★ ★ ★ "FAITH IN PEACE?!" What has the world come to when public opinion allows the United Nations to give priority to the Middle East mess and rush off a pathetic little force to “police” everybody’s oil interests there while in Hungary, a U. N. member is committing wholesale murder and shipping those Hun
