Memorial plaque unveiled in Budapest for Roma leader

A memorial plaque was inaugurated at Budapest’s Nyugati (Western) railway station on Sunday in honour of Béla Puczi, who led the Roma defending the Hungarians in the 1990 ethnic clashes in Targu Mures (Marosvásárhely), in central Romania. 

Addressing the ceremony, Jenő Setét, head of the Idetartozunk (‘We belong here’) Association, said he had never heard of anyone else before who expressed his identity as clearly as Béla Puczi, who insisted on being Hungarian and Roma even while he was being tortured.

Setét said that

the role played by Roma in Hungarian history, e.g. in the fight against the Turks, in the 1956 revolution and freedom fight or the 1989-1990 change of system, is still ignored in schools.

In a joint press statement, the Roma Press Centre and the Idetartozunk Association said the Roma defending the ethnic Hungarian residents of Targu Mures shouted “Don’t be scared, Hungarians, we, Roma, are here to help!”