Új Magyar Út, 1953 (4. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1953-03-01 / 3. szám
CONTENTS GÁBOR EGRESSY, the great Hungarian actor of the last century and an outstanding personality of Petőfi’s generation, has described the events of March 15, the first day of the Hungarian revolution in 1848, and published them still in the same year. Hungarian youth of Pest, headed by Petőfi, the great lyrical poet, Jókai, the great novelist, and others who later became leaders in the War of Independence, abolished censorship of the press, printed the famous Twelve Points containing the principles of a modern political system; liberated political prisoners, victims of the Hapsburg oppression, and so on. This “bloodless revolution” started the brilliant events which brought to light the political reforms under the leadership of Lajos Kossuth. Vienna, however, responded with military actions. The combined forces of the “Holy Alliance” of the Austrian Emperor and the Russian Czar were necessary to crush the Hungarian independence in the fall of 1849, though Polish, Serbian, Slovak, Italian and even German soldiers sided with the Hungarians against the Hapsburg oppression. England, America and public opinion of the then free world followed the heroic struggle with the greatest sympathy. ★ ÖDÖN VASVÁRY: Hitherto unknown portraits of Kossuth and his entourage, painted in Kutahia, Asia Minor, 1851. Second and final installment. Walter Gould, American painter, spent 33 days in Kutahia and painted five larger and 14 smaller portraits of the Hungarian exiles. The portraits, with the exception of that of Suleyman Bey, who was the jailer of Kossuth, were taken to the United States. Gould wrote an interesting letter during the early Épp egy kanyarhoz értünk, mikor hirtelen fülsiketítő zakatolás kélt mögöttünk. A félelem sebtiben elűzte gondolatainkat. Apám lerántott a töltésről, le a szakadéknak tűnő árokba és biztos kézzel ott marasztott. Dobhártyarepesztő csattogással dübörgött el mellettünk a vonat. Egy vaksötét szerelvény, teljes sebességgel. Miféle vonat lehetett ebben a menetrenden kívüli órában? Csak a mozdony hatalmas kazántorkának rőt fénye világított, amint újból és újból színültig tömték. A szikrahad tébolyultan kerengett az éjtszakában. A tűz visszfénye megvilágította a mozdulatlan mozdonyvezető merev, halottsápadt arcát. Apám nem ismerte. Nem tudta, ki ez a halott-tekintetű ember, akinek egyetlen gondja az lehetett, hogy minél észbontóbb rohanással fúrja bele magát a végtelen éji sötétbe. Én pattanásig feszült idegekkel, lihegő szájjal, szemem az éjbetűnő látomást követte. A sötétség rögvest elnyelte mindenestül. Apám visszasegített a vágányra. Sietősebbre fogta a lépést és tűnődve szólt: — Vájjon miféle vonat lehetett? Nem ismertem meg a vezetőt. Azután hallgatásba mélyedt. Egész testemben remegtem. Ez a vonat az én vonatom volt. Igen, az enyém. Tudtam, hogy mindannak a nyugtalanságnak jelképe, ami még jönni fog és amiről apám mit sem sejthetett, amely ellen nem tudhatott megvédeni. A reám váró élet jelképe volt ez a vaksötét szerelvény, azé az életé, mely mit sem hasonlít majd apám csupa nyugalommal, csupa biztonsággal teli életére. Az én világom nem lesz szabvány-világ, sem pedig életem szabvány-élet. A végnélküli örök sötétbe fog rőt lobogással belérohanni. Svédből forditotta: Vajay Szabolcs part of his sojourn in Kutahia, which was published in a New York daily. Among the subjects of the smaller portraits there are three men who later became officers in the Civil War. One of these rose to the rank of Mayor General and after the war he became U. S. Minister to Argentina and Paraguay, one became a Major on Gen. Grant’s staff, and one, after one of his legs was amputated on account of a bullet wound, died in Washington. ★ In his essay on William Faulkner, DR. JOSEPH REMÉNYI, Professor of Comparative Literature at Western Reserve University, discusses the aesthetic, sociological and psychological significance of the American novelist. He brings out his regionalism and universality. Placed against the background of the American South, Dr. Reményi emphasizes the interplay of irony and pity in Faulkner’s writings; their timely and timeless characteristics, with special reference to his novels, “Sanctuary”, “Intruder in the Dust” and “The Sound and Fury”. ★ FERENC UDVARHELYI, General in the Hungarian army between the two world wars, considers the Possibilities of Hungarian Armed Defense after 1945. He finds such a defense impossible during the open and complete Russian occupation of 1945-1947. After this period, the Communist Party came to power and the armed forces were exposed to complete subjection. The defense of national interests by armed forces is at present paralyzed. ★ KÁLMÁN VÁMOS, a journalist on the staff of the Ministry of National Information during World War II, answering to a previous article of Károly Bartha (Új Magyar Út, Nov.-Dee. 1952) informs us that government persecution of cheap, sensational literature in Hungary was initiated by writers of democratic convictions like Zsigmond Móricz and others. During the execution of the ordinance, the officials of the above Ministry who were not under German influence, watched that the interests of literature of lasting value should not suffer. ★ SZABOLCS VAJAY, Director of the Free Hungarian University in Buenos Aires, Argentina, writes about the art of the Swedish writer and Nobel Prize winner, Par Lagerkvist, and publishes his own translation of the writer’s short novel, “My Father and I.” ★ FERENC SAÁD: Answering to a previously published article, states that the Hungarian national armed forces made remarkable progress between the world wars though the outward equipment was not sufficiently developed. The author, a former Professor of the Budapest Military Academy and Associated Professor at the University of Budapest, gives a survey of the reforms in the Hungarian army e. g. the introduction of aptitude tests, education of non-commissioned officers, promotion of studies at the universities and other humanizing reforms. All noncommissioned officers had, at the end of the 1920-s, at least four years of middle school. One fifth of the officers obtained university degrees, mostly under fellowship granted by the Ministry of National Defense. Many officers were members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, of the National Council of Public Education, of literary and scientific societies. Finally, the author reaches the conclusion that military education should be a part of national education as Kossuth saw it in America during his visit in 1851-52. 22
