President in Melbourne: Hungarian is the language of freedom – PHOTOS

“Hungarian is the language of freedom,” President Katalin Novák told a commemoration of Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet revolt organised by the Hungarian community of Melbourne on Sunday.

Marking the anniversary of the failed revolution on its eve, the president said “October 23 is the greatest holiday of the [Hungarian] diaspora, a day to celebrate and also to mourn.” “We celebrate our national identity, a love of freedom, Hungarians’ inevitable unity beyond borders . and we mourn for those that sacrificed their blood and life for freedom, mourn the physical distance between us . families torn apart and unwelcome emigration,” Novák said in her address.

Freedom, the president suggested, “must be fought for day by day”. “It is our duty to work for what the heroes of 1956 fought for: a free and strong Hungarian nation,” she said.

Novák noted that during her Australian visit she had first visited the Hungarian community, adding that during her term she would visit all large communities of the Hungarian diaspora. She also added that she was scheduled to inaugurate a church and community centre in Brisbane in a few days.