Readers’ letters: From Berlin to Budapest

Jan Patrik Vilhelm Brinkmann von Druffel-Egloffstein, born 1966, is a Swedish-German businessman and entrepreneur in mining and real estate. Brinkmann also has a longstanding commitment to charity in Sri Lanka, supporting schools, hospitals and orphanages. He has further devoted himself to international political patronage and has a broad political network covering everything from social liberal to conservative and nationalist parties.

Brinkmann gained fame In Western and Northern Europe when he in the 2000s, through personal contacts in the Knesset, set out to strengthen ties and defuse the tension between European and Israeli parties and politicians with similar views on things such as the left and the moral decay of society. Outside Europe, Brinkmann has diplomatic, political and business connections in e.g. Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, India, Israel, Nigeria, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Thailand.

Article

In November 1989, at the age of 23, I stepped out of a plane at Budapest Ferihegy International Airport. The Hungary I was about to meet was in the midst of great upheavals. The Iron Curtain was being torn down – only a few months earlier 200 km of fence had succumbed to the march of history. Now, after a quarter century has passed, I see great potential in this country – politically as well as economically.

Earlier in 1989 parliament had passed a so-called “democracy package” that changed the constitution in important ways, safeguarding relatively generous rights for the citizens, such as freedom of the press. The government had begun talks with the anti-communist opposition, including the then newly formed “Fidesz”. A figure of central importance in these talks was the 26 year old student Victor Orbán, who during the Summer of 1989 had gained international fame through a public speech in Budapest where he demanded that Soviet troops be withdrawn fro Hungary. Only a few weeks prior to my arrival at Ferihegy a multi-party system had been introduced, thus practically closing the chapter “People’s Republic of Hungary” in the country’s history.

As a businessman with an anti-Communist bent, Hungary was a very exciting place to be at the time. After nearly half a century of communist occupation the Hungarian people was ready to turn a new leaf. A number of generations of Hungarians had been raised in a totalitarian system and now would suddenly begin to build a national democracy.

Being a cultural conservative, I remember also how impressed I was by the strong, vibrant and proud heritage that awaited me in Hungary. The first thing that greeted me was Budapest – a magnificent European metropolis where every street corner tells of a proud and rich history. I also had time to visit a rural area with charming villages and grand estates. But above all, I encountered a people with a strong identity, a people with a deep appreciation for national values, culture and history.