Court: Budapest avenue named after former Hungarian PM Horn unlawful

The renaming of a street in Budapest after one-time Socialist prime minister Gyula Horn was unlawful, the capital city’s government office said in a statement on Tuesday, noting a Budapest court’s decision regarding Horn Gyula Avenue in Budapest’s 13th district.

The Budapest city assembly’s – lead by Mayor Gergely Karácsony – naming of the avenue after Horn, a one-time Communist foreign minister who then went on to head the Socialist government from 1994 to 1998, is now null and void, the statement said.

Gyula Horn in 2007. Photo: Creative Commons

Citing the law on local councils, the statement added that “no public area or public institution may bear the name of a person that participated in the founding, development or maintenance of despotic political regimes of the 20th century.”

The Budapest district council should have sought the position of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences after concerns were raised that the naming of the avenue could break the law. After the Budapest local council failed to seek the academy’s position on the matter, despite a warning from the government office, the latter turned to the Budapest-Capital Regional Court in April 2023, the statement noted based on MTI.

The former Horn Gyula Promenade. Source: Google Maps

Gyula Horn was a member of the Communist “pufajkás” brigades between December 1956 and June 1957, following the crush of the 1956 Hungarian revolution and freedom fight. “Pufajkás” was a communist paramilitary body set up to help the invading Soviet troops restore the communist regime. His alleged role is controversial in some circles because such squads were accused of involvement in torturing, harassing and even executing civilians during and after the uprising.

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Featured image: Gyula Horn serving as Hungary’s foreign minister (Németh-cabinet) in May 1990. He was elected prime minister between 1994 and 1998.