Fraternity-Testvériség, 1960 (38. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1960-10-01 / 10. szám
FRATERNITY 7 the deadpan stiffness and autocratic mannerisms of Communist bigwigs. The consensus was: “It is incredible that the Vice President of the United States should mingle with plain people like us.” “Even if the tour was conceived as propaganda to dramatize America’s interest in the fate of the persecuted, we should be grateful to him”, said a medical student who was hoping to go to the University of California. “We were considered dirt in Hungary. No government official took any interest in us in Budapest, and we were praying to avoid any contacts with Communist officials. They only meant trouble for us. And here the second highest official of the United States is taking time to listen to our problems and is trying to help us — strangers to him.” She did not remain a stranger to him for long. He teas heading toward us and I introduced her. When he learned of her aspirations, he said: ‘’Well, I am a Californian, and I know you will be happy there.” He shook her hand warmly, and she beamed. * * * A group of Technological University of Budapest students, who zvere among the first to spearhead the revolution, overheard me speaking Hungarian with a journalist, and swarmed around me. ‘‘May we say whatever we want?” they asked in excitement. Suspecting that I had only a vague knowledge of political conditions in Hungary, one studious-looking bespectacled young man stepped forward and with visible anxiety observed: ‘‘We probably antagonized the United States government by boldly expressing our opinions about its policy toward us. You know, we didn't dare express our opinion to even a traffic cop in Budapest, but here we actually lectured the Vice President about his country's moral obligation, and, it seemed to us, he agreed with our views." ★ ★ ★ The camp at Traiskirchen, which housed the refugees, was a nineteenth-century military training school near Vienna. It was left in ruins by Soviet occupation troops. There, during the first weeks of their stay, the refugees slept on the straw-covered floor until the Austrian government was able to renovate the buildings and put in double-decked bunks, adequate bedding, and glass in the windows. A festive air filled the barracks as Nixon and his party arrived to inspect this, the largest camp, and to obtain first-hand information about the revolution. After the tour was completed, the distinguished guest was
