The 60th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution

Anniversary of the 1956 anti-Soviet revolution at Berlin’s Konzerthaus

Berlin, October 19 (MTI) – Zoltán Balog, Hungary’s human resources minister, attended a ceremony marking the upcoming anniversary of the 1956 anti-Soviet revolution at Berlin’s Konzerthaus.

At the ceremony organised by the Hungarian Embassy, the minister thanked Germany for its solidarity with the people who fled Hungary after the failed uprising.

In his address, Balog said Hungary had “paid a high price for freedom” and he paid tribute to the 2,500 victims of the revolution, including many Roma “of whom we are proud”. He also noted that 249 people had been sentenced to death for their participation and 22,000 were imprisoned. Some 18,000 people were interned and a total 180,000 left the country at the time of communist retaliation, he added.

The ceremony was also addressed by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble. He noted that Hungary had been the first country to dismantle the Iron Curtain, an act which had created a close link between the two countries.

After the ceremony, Balog told Hungarian public media that “Schauble is an important ally” for Hungary. “He helped us a lot in Brussels when they wanted to punish Hungary with illegitimate financial measures,” he said, adding that he trusted that the German minister’s approach would help to convince those who “still fail to understand Hungary’s endeavours in Europe”.

Photo: MTI

October 19, 2016

Photo exhibition on 1956 opens at EP

Brussels (MTI) – A photo exhibition marking the 60th anniversary of Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet uprising opened in the European Parliament building on Tuesday.

The exhibition has been organised by the European People’s Party and is being held in the EP building’s Yehudi Menuhin Space in Brussels.

Hungarian MEP József Szájer opened the event on behalf of House Speaker László Kövér who was unable to attend due to illness.

The 1956 revolution “provides faith, strength and an example to all freedom-loving communities in the world, including the community of the European Union”, he said.

In order to combat the challenges the EU faces today, it should not weaken but strengthen “the national identities that give strength” to the community, he added.

Photo: fortepan

October 19, 2016

Commemoration of the 1956 revolution in Munich

Munich (MTI) – The opening of the border in 1989 and the protection of the border today are two sides of the same coin, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a speech on Monday in Munich at a commemoration of the 1956 revolution held in the Bavarian Landtag. “Then we acted for Europe’s freedom and today we are protecting it,” he said.

Bavarian-Hungarian friendship is special and unique in Europe, Orbán said. “This friendship forms a huge arc; we undertook bad things and good things in the course of history, but now we are progressing on the right track because we have undertaken a joint goal of creating a secure, free, peaceful and blossoming Europe,” the prime minister said. “This aim is a cause for pride and is worthy of the legacy of the 1956 freedom-fight,” he added.

Orbán said that by virtue of its geographic position, Hungary is thrust into the “mainstream” of “European battles” once every thirty years. “This is how it was in 1956, in 1989 and in 2015-16 when we had to seal the border to stop the migration wave from the south.” He said Hungary had never “asked” for these “tasks”, but they were rather placed before the country “by fate”. “Hungarians never ran away, never backed down; they fulfilled their duty,” the prime minister said. Orbán said Hungary will cope with its tasks even if it is “being attacked from behind by those whom we are protecting”.

Orbán said his own generation had always dreamed of reuniting Europe so that their children could live in a free world and enjoy a higher standard of living. Hungarians had also dreamed the “European dream” of peace, security and prosperity, which was why Hungary joining the EU was a natural step, he said.

Today Bavaria and central Europe make up one of the strongest regions in the world, Orbán said. And it is their joint responsibility to develop and prosper as “Europe’s engine of growth” for the good of the European Union as a whole, he added.

He said the only way freedom could have any meaning was if “we put aside our petty goals, overcome our fears and take action”. To do this, one must have courage, Orbán said. Europe now faces a situation in which “we cannot cowardly look away”. The EU is in trouble, he insisted, adding that the bloc faces nothing but unresolved problems, unanswered questions and disputes. But there are no common answers to these, he said.

The prime minister said the EU could not expect others to resolve its problems, insisting that Europe must take control of its own fate. Changes are needed “if we are to preserve Europe and the European dream,” Orban said. The only question is whether Europe has the “courage” to enact “meaningful changes”, he added.

He said reforms were not enough to change Europe. Europe must renew itself and the changes must come from within, Orbán said. “We cannot allow European unity, for which we have sacrificed so much,” to fall apart due to “ideological” reasons, “financial interests” or bad decisions by politicians, he said.

He noted that after the Soviet intervention in the 1956 revolution, 60,000 people had gathered for a march in Munich to silently commemorate the Hungarians who had fallen in their struggle for freedom. Once the “brutal Soviet communist retaliation” had crushed every form of resistance, many Hungarians emigrated to the west where they were helped by the Bavarians, Orbán said. The Hungarian refugees waited patiently for the authorities to rule on their admissions, he noted. Many Hungarians were taken in and went on to become law-abiding and hard-working German citizens in Christian Bavaria, the prime minister added.

Hungary is a one thousand-year-old Christian state that has always been “the land of freedom fighters” that does not tolerate oppression, invasion or dictatorship, Orbán said. Hungary will always be “on the side of European freedom” in the future, too, he insisted.

He said that the military intervention by the communist regime in the 1956 revolution was a “defeat” for all of Europe. Europe can only be free and strong if it is united, Orbán said, arguing that it was this approach that had led to the idea of the European Union.

Orbán said the reunification of Germany had made the EU a world power. Germany supported the central European countries which were then able to join the EU, ushering in the heyday of the bloc, Orbán said.

Photo: MTI

October 18, 2016

1956 programmes at the Hungarian Opera House until 4 November

The 60th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution is commemorated by a series of events at the Hungarian State Opera. Beside opera world premieres, ballet performances and symphonic concerts, exhibitions, international guest performances and an open day at the Opera House awaits audiences.

László Seregi – Aram Ilyich Khachaturian: Spartacus– ballet in three acts
14 October 2016 | Opera House
(Further performances until 4 November)

Einojuhani Rautavaara: The Mine (Kaivos) – world staged premiere
Judit Varga: Love– world premiere
Director: Vilppu Kiljunen
Conductor: Tibor Bogányi
Premiere: 21 October 2016 | Opera House
Further dates: 27, 29 October, 3 November 2016

Cziffra 1956 – Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra concert
Celebration speech delivered by János Áder, President of Hungary
Conductor: Balázs Kocsár
Piano solo: János Balázs
Concept: Szilveszter Ókovács
22 October 2016 | Erkel Theatre

Gipsy Heroes of 1956 – digital exhibiton and screening
22 October – 4 November 2016 | Erkel Theatre

Revolution, Black and White – József Ferenc Ács memorial exhibition
23 October – 18 November 2016 | Erkel Theatre

Tamás Novák: Kádár’s Last Speech – documentary play
World premiere: 23 October 2016 | Opera House, Underground Trapezium Room
Further dates: 25 October – 4 November 2016

56 Drops of Blood – revolutionary musical
Director: János Szikora
23, 31 October 2016 | Erkel Theatre

Citizens of Kassa – Freedom Gala
Guest performance in Košice
Conductor: Máté Hámori
23 October 2016 | Grand Theatre of Košice

UN Day Gala Concert
Concept: Katalin Bogyay, Ambassador of Hungary to the United Nations
Soloists: Andrea Rost, Boldizsár László
Conductor: Kálmán Szennai
24 October 2016 | UN General Assembly Hall, New York

Frigyes Andrássy: Weeping of the Winter Night
Musical history lesson about the revenge taken after 1956
Conductor: János Kovács
Director: János Tóth
3, 4 November 2016 | Jókai Street Orchestral Centre

1956 Requiem
Verdi: Requiem
Soloists: Klára Kolonits, Atala Schöck, Stuart Neill, András Palerdi
Conductor: Daniele Rustioni
4 November 2016 | Erkel Theatre

October 18, 2016

The heroes of 1956: The girl, who was already dead when her photo went around the world

On the 13^th of November, 1956, a red-haired, freckled, quilted coated, 15-year-old Hungarian girl looked at the readers of the Danish Billed Bladet from the cover, with proud defiance in her eyes. She held a Russian cartridge-disc rifle in her hands. The photo of Erika Szeles went around world press. According to szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu, many people looked at the photo as the symbol of the Hungarian revolution, the symbol of courage and hope. But no one knew that the girl was already dead when her photo was published on the cover of the Danish newspaper.

The revolutionary girl was shot to death on the 7^th of November, when she was trying to help the injured in a Red Cross armband. The bullet came from a Soviet rifle and hit Erika on her neck. But who was this girl? A Danish man and the fact-finding Hírszerző portal, which doesn’t exist anymore, found out about her life a few years ago.

The photo that went around the world was made by Danish journalists. Paul Raae and his photographer, Vagn Hansen got to Hungary in the autumn of 1956 with a lot of luck as they didn’t have any permission to enter the country. They joined a Red Cross convoy with their small Volkswagen, so they were among the firsts to get to Budapest. The Danish were shocked by what they saw.

Paul Raae reported with aghast astonishment on how the crowd rushed at the State Defence Authority with bare fists. They saw a girl who jumped in front of a Russian tank to stop it. They also took photos of victims, revolutionaries, youngsters and the elderly. They were at the Üllői Road, near the Kilián barrack, and at the Köztársaság Square.

Meanwhile, they met Erika. The famous Danish photographer, asked by Hírszerző, remembered the moment precisely, even decades later. “I accidentally managed to take a photo, which went around the world and became the symbol of the revolution. I saw a beautiful, bloused and armed girl with a serious look on her face, and I convinced her to pose for a few photos.”

This serious looking, beautiful girl was born in the 13^th district of Budapest. Erika was three years old when she lost her father due to the war. She was brought up by her mother. She studied cookery and worked in the Béke Hotel in the autumn of 1956.

She often visited her uncle’s literature club. Endre Bondi was known as a conductor, composer and writer. “The 15-year-old girl joined our word-fencing with surprising maturity. She had an opinion about the debates in the Petőfi Club, and she hoped for a democratic revival with fire in her eyes” wrote journalist Tamás Földes about the girl.

When the revolution broke out, she joined the rebels on the side of her friend, who was 3-4 years older than her. It might have helped in the making of the photo that Erika probably spoke a few words in Danish, because she spent some months in Denmark at the end of the 1940s. She got there with the help of a society called Red Barnet, which helped poor kids after the war.

Szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu writes that, a few days later, Erika changed her rifle to a white gown and a Red Cross armband, to help the injured on the streets. She was just helping the injured when a Soviet soldier attacked her. He rifled a series of shots that killed the girl immediately. According to her death certificate engrossed by the hospital of Péterfy Sándor Street, she died from a neck shot.

Henning Schultz was also 15 years old when Erika’s photo was published on the cover of Billed Bladet. He was deeply affected by it and sometimes wondered how great it would be to visit Hungary and find the girl, whose name he didn’t even know back then. People simply called Erika “the cover girl”.

50 years passed and the retired geographer started a quest after the girl. He planned to find the heroic girl and give her three copies of the Danish Billed Bladet which he set aside in 1956.

He first started looking for information on internet forums but he barely found anything. So he travelled to Hungary and looked up the Hungarian National Museum’s Historic Picture Gallery to ask for help. He talked enthusiastically about the girl who he and his friends once admired so much.

“We all came to love her and thought that she was very strong, brave and pretty” said Schultz. But his trip wasn’t successful. He contacted several Hungarian magazines to publish the photo so that someone might recognize Erika. Finally, Magyar Nemzet did so, but it didn’t bring a breakthrough.

[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/song-commemorating-60th-anniversary-1956-revolution-released-video/” type=”big” newwindow=”yes”] Official song commemorating the 60th anniversary of the 1956 revolution[/button]

So Schultz gifted the newspapers to the Hungarian National Museum in 2008. He also settled for the museum to receive the signed copies of photographer Vagn Hansen’s twelve ’56 photos, which were exhibited later.

However, the quest wasn’t completely unsuccessful. Schultz found a Danish article from 1981, in which a ’56 refugee, József Árki told that he went to the same cookery school the 15-year-old girl went to.

Hírszerző dealt with the story of the famous photo and eventually one of the journalists of the portal, Adél Tossenberger, found out Erika’s surname based on Henning Schultz’ and Tamás Földes’s recollection. She then found the grave of the girl, who died a hero’s death at the age of 15, in the Kerepesi cemetery.

“My dear little girl, my Erika, never to be forgotten, 1941. I. 6. – 1956. XI. 7.” as her epitaph says.

Photos: www.szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu

Copy editor: bm

October 17, 2016

Four parties sign declaration in honour of 1956 commemorations

Budapest, October 17 (MTI) – A statement signed by four of the five official parliamentary parties on the 60th anniversary of Hungary’s anti-Soviet 1956 revolution calls for joint commemorations on the October 23 holiday.

Speaker of Parliament László Kövér initiated the joint statement, “asking every Hungarian to bow in honour to the victims and heroes of the revolution together, wherever in the world they might be”, a statement from parliament’s press office said on Monday.

The document was signed by ruling Fidesz and the allied Christian Democrats, the opposition Jobbik and the opposition green LMP parties.

The Socialists refrained from signing, saying the declaration could be signed under normal circumstances but “the reality today” was different.

The declaration states that the 1956 revolution and freedom fight is one of the most important and elevated moments of the history of the Hungarian nation.

“Sixty years ago the nation united to shake off the shackles of an oppressing power and pay testimony to a free and democratic Hungary,” the document said.

October 17, 2016

Series of events to commemorate 1956 anniversary in Berlin

Berlin, October 17 (MTI) – The 60th anniversary of Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet revolution will be commemorated in a series of events in Berlin this week.

Commemorations will formally start in the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin (CHB) cultural centre on Monday evening with the presentation of video interviews that Hungarian documentary filmmaker Reka Pigniczky made with Hungarian freedom fighters and witnesses who emigrated to Germany after 1956.

The videos provide an overview of the unfolding of events in 1956, the retaliations and the future of some 200,000 Hungarians who made a home in their new country.

Starting on Tuesday, CHB will host a two-day international conference on changes that took place in the post-Stalinist era in central and eastern Europe and the fallout of 1956. Speakers include Elmar Brok, head of the EP’s foreign affairs committee representing the German CDU party, CDU lawmaker Hartmut Koschyk and Lothar de Maiziere, the last prime minister of former East Germany, among others.

On Tuesday evening, a commemoration will be held in the Berlin Concert Hall, to be addressed by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble and Hungarian Human Resources Minister Zoltán Balog. Afterwards the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra will give a concert.

Between October 24 and 28, videos will depict the events of 1956 at ten venues in the German capital.

October 17, 2016

President Áder commemorates student heroes of 1956 in Szeged

Budapest (MTI) – President János Áder attended a ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of Hungary’s higher education student federation MEFESZ in Szeged, in southern Hungary, on Sunday.

Referring to the failed anti-Soviet revolution of 1956 in his address, the president said that “Szeged students had not been born to be revolutionaries, still, they became heroes”.

Áder said that the young participants in the uprising had originally sought to address issues around their courses and demanded such changes as fewer classes of communist ideology or no Russian language. Soon, however, “it became clear that the whole system needed to be changed,” he said.

“They sought withdrawal of Russian troops ‘temporarily stationed’ in Hungary; they wanted free and democratic elections. They longed for [national] independence because they saw what subordination was doing to a nation,” Áder said.

Áder spoke highly of MEFESZ, noting it was the first organisation to have been set up by the students themselves rather than central power. Members of the new organisation set out from Szeged to other cities and “wherever they spoke to the people, the audience responded with a thunderous reaction: it is enough!”, Áder said.

The president also paid tribute to the teachers who supported the revolution “risking their careers, the achievements of their whole lives” and those that were imprisoned after the uprising was stifled. “The truth then spoken restored the dignity and self-esteem of the whole nation,” Áder said.

Photo: MTI

October 17, 2016

Hungarian defence minister was attending a 1956 conference in Washington D.C.

Washington (MTI) – The ageless message of 1956 is one of courage and a love of the homeland, said Defence Minister István Simicskó, after attending a conference dedicated to Hungary’s anti-Soviet uprising, in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, local time.

Opening the conference held at the National Defense University (NDU), Simicskó said the Hungarian nation had launched a process in 1956, and although the fight was thwarted and retaliation followed, in 1989-90 freedom and independence were finally achieved.

Simicskó noted that “in 1956 the heart and the soul moved in people” when they fought as David against Goliath to find cures for the ailments they had discovered in their country.

“Those brave Hungarians who were forced to flee their homeland were real refugees and were not migrating to other countries for economic reasons as can be seen these days,” the minister said.

Simicskó visited the Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia on Tuesday and will meet Robert Work, the United States Deputy Secretary of Defense, on Wednesday afternoon, local time, in the Pentagon, where he is opening an exhibition on 1956 after his talks.

October 13, 2016

Crimes of Communism Foundation, KAS organise conference on 1956

Budapest (MTI) – Hungary’s Crimes of Communism Foundation and Germany’s Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) organised in Budapest on Tuesday a conference on the aftermath of communist totalitarianism.

In his opening address, Frank Spengler, the head of the Hungarian office of the KAS, said that it was important to address the aftereffects of communist rule, not least because it helps show young people today the extent to which the dictatorship invaded people’s lives and destroyed families and the overall burden it placed on public life.

But over time, the people living under communist rule developed survival instincts that allowed them to “outsmart the state”, he said. As a result of this, post-communist societies tend to have a deep distrust of the state and state institutions and are generally deeply skeptical of party-based democracy, Spengler added.

He said that if the revolutionaries who took part in the uprisings of 1953 in East Germany, 1956 in Hungary, 1968 in Czechoslovakia and 1980 in Poland had not been as brave as they were and had not made as many sacrifices as they did, the reunification of Germany and the integration of Europe would not have come as quickly as they did.

In a letter addressed to the conference, human resources ministry state secretary Bence Rétvári said the heroes of Hungary’s revolution had aimed to achieve national independence, end the constant presence of terror and establish a Christian and democratic Hungary. Coming to terms with the past is not an easy thing to do and Hungary can learn a lot from Germany in this respect, the letter said.

“The message of the revolution and freedom fight of 1956 is that we can only count on ourselves if there is trouble. No one else will defend our country for us,” the state secretary wrote.

October 12, 2016

CoE opens Polish-Hungarian exhibition on 1956

Budapest, October 10 (MTI) – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe opened a Polish-Hungarian exhibition on Monday dedicated to the memory of the heroes of Hungary’s anti-Soviet 1956 revolution.

After attending the opening in Strasbourg, head of the Hungarian Parliament’s foreign affairs committee Zsolt Németh told MTI by phone that the sacrifices made in blood by the victims of revolutions and communist systems had not been in vain, given the victory of the democratic transition in 1989.

Titled “Executed cities. Poznan – Budapest 1956”, the exhibition was opened on the first day of the Assembly’s week-long session. Nemeth said at the event’s opening that Europe had “a totalitarian past which it must face up to.”

October 10, 2016

Orbán, Polish president to address 1956 national holiday

Budapest, October 7 (MTI) – Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Polish President Andrzej Duda will address the October 23 national holiday commemorations in Budapest, Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog said on Friday.

The organisers aim to soft-pedal state protocol during the events, and the spotlight will fall on invitees who stood up for the Hungarian cause during the 1956 anti-Soviet revolution.

Out of 13.5 billion forints (EUR 44m) budgeted for the 60th anniversary year celebrations, 7.7 billion forints were allocated for tenders, of which 4.3 billion forints have been spent, he noted.

The government has also earmarked funding for the publication of 155 books about 1956, 280 commemorative events and 52 movie scripts. So far a total of 355 municipalities have received funding for their various events, he added.

The minister said the events would also aim to present the message that Hungarians are a free people and were the first to express their desire for freedom during the era of Soviet rule.

Balog stressed that the upcoming anniversary would likely be the last round-number anniversary on which survivors of the revolution will be able to share their stories.

He revealed that Stanislaw Tillich, minister-president of Saxony, and Marek Kuchcinski, Poland’s parliamentary speaker, are scheduled to take part in a festive session of parliament on October 25.

The revolution will also be commemorated in capitals throughout the world with conferences and exhibitions.

Mária Schmidt, head of the House of Terror Museum and government commissioner in charge of the 1956 memorial year, said the anniversary would showcase the heroic accomplishments of those who “had not prepared to become heroes … but were faced with a choice … and made a decision to fight for freedom and independence”.

Government spokesman Zoltán Kovács said it was a “dirty” move to try to conflate the mass migration waves of the current decade with the plight of Hungarian refugees in 1956. He said drawing parallels between the two situations demonstrated a lack of knowledge of history.

October 7, 2016

Hungarian embassy in Washington DC launches film festival on 1956 revolution

Washington, DC, October 5 (MTI) – The packed out screening of a documentary dubbed Journey Home marked the launch of a film festival at the Hungarian embassy in Washington, DC, in honour of the 1956 Hungarian revolution, late on Tuesday local time.

Journey Home is a documentary by two sisters, Réka and Eszter Pigniczky, about their father László Pigniczky, who was a freedom fighter in Budapest in 1956. The film follows the sisters over a two-year period, as they take their father’s ashes from Pennsylvania to Hungary and research their father’s story in 1956.

Tuesday’s screening was also attended by Eszter’s mother, Katalin Vörös.

The film was made ten years ago and fetched an award at the Hungarian film festival. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian revolution, it will be screened for Hungarian communities around the US in the weeks ahead, including in San Francisco and Cleveland next week.

Other films to be screened at the embassy in Washington DC during the festival will include Freedom Dance, Ticket to Freedom, Freedom’s Fury and Torn from the Flag.

[button link=”https://vimeo.com/rekapigniczky” type=”big” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] Watch more videos from Réka Pignicky[/button]

October 5, 2016

From Budapest to Chicago with one suitcase – The story of a Hungarian refugee of 1956

Judy Kepecz-Hays, who has been one of the most successful real estate agents in Florida for the past 30 years, is one of those Hungarians who had to flee their country in 1956, 24.hu writes.

Sarasota, Siesta Key, Lido Beach – the most beautiful beaches of the US. Owning a home here is a privilege, and being one of the most successful real estate agents comes with serious prestige. Judy Kepecz-Hays has been part of the elite for a long time.

“To be a successful realtor means being a lawyer, a designer, a home decorator, a businesswoman, a teacher, an advisor, a broker, and psychologist all at once,” says Judy in the parlour of the Ritz Carlton residence in Sarasota, Florida.

The residence, which represents the same quality of luxury as the hotel chain, offers 2-3 room apartments starting at half a million dollars. Judy has sold several dozen of these, so it is not a surprise that she also lives here. She would most likely be spending her retirement in Budapest now if the Revolution of 1956 hadn’t turned the family’s life upside down.

Judy’s father, Lajos Büky was a professor of linguistics in Budapest, and he spoke 9 languages. His wife was from a well-to-do family; this is where Judy inherited her trading skills. By 1956, the family had lost the majority of their country estates. A few weeks after the revolution broke out, the family left their comfortable home under the cover of darkness. One suitcase, three children – thus the family fled in search for freedom. From Austria, they reached Chicago in a couple weeks, where their relatives waited for them.

“I reminisce rather much about our hikes with my father and his students in the Pilis mountains or on the banks of the Danube than our trip from Budapest to America,” says Judy. Her family found getting used to life in the US quite a struggle.

Her father didn’t speak English, and first he could only find a job in a factory. It took him years to get back to teaching. Judy’s mother suffered moving the most. The 10 years she spent in America before she died were characterised by depression, homesickness, and disappointment. At 16, after her mother’s death, Judy had to take on the great responsibility of caring not only for herself but for her siblings as well.

“I consider myself Hungarian even after 60 years. The family values, the love, the caring mean a foundation I wouldn’t change for the world,” says Judy,

In 1969, she visited Hungary for the first time since they had left. Although the presence of the military was strange and frightening she returned many times in the coming years; the grandparents, relatives, the language, the culture called her back. The system seemed “more and more harmless and bearable” closer to the 80s, she recalls.

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She studied trade and business at the university in Chicago. In her first year she met Tibor, who arrived from Transylvania a year before. Two years later, they got married. They were both very fond of Chicago, but the climate and Tibor’s love for sailing soon drew them to California. They made the move in 1974.

They ran various shops on the coast, Judy was a full-time mother, but soon she wished to leave. When they sold their 35 thousand dollar house for 100 thousand she got a taste of the world of real estate business.

“The psychology and logical structure of this process inspired me to try it out for myself,” says Judy, who moved to Sarasota with her husband in 1978, the city where they had spent their honeymoon.

Soon after the move, she earned her real estate licence. At her first job, she worked with a part-time fire-fighter and the bored wife of a Tunisian ambassador.

“It wasn’t a serious challenge for a determined Hungarian girl,” says Judy, who didn’t understand her colleagues’ complaints. She could make a deal with just about anyone. In a month, she was selling houses, stores, lands. She left the company, and by 1986, she was working for the biggest agency in the region.

“I treat my client’s needs as if they were my own. My goal is not to get rid of a property, but to get the buyer to trust me. In the long run, good work is done through a valuable and trustworthy connection,” says Judy, who has been working with her own team for more than 20 years.

The team, which has become a family enterprise, is one of the most successful companies in the region. 1.8 billion dollars worth of sales and 3,500 clients can recommend them.

Copy editor: bm

October 1, 2016

Szijjártó holds lecture at US National Press Club on 1956 uprising

Washington, DC, September 28 (MTI) – Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó gave a talk about Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet uprising at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on Tuesday evening local time.

“Hungary is the home of freedom and freedom fighters,” he said, arguing that 1956 was a milestone in Hungarian history because it demonstrated that dictatorship had failed to take root in Hungary. And it presaged that Hungarians would rise against anyone who put their freedom at stake, he said to a packed room in one of the club’s restaurants, which served Hungarian wines with its dinner.

Szijjártó’s talk marked the start of a series of events in Washington, DC, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the uprising.

Szijjártó said he was speaking on behalf of a proud nation that is proud of its culture, more than thousand-year history and Christianity.

He noted that Hungary had been promised help by foreign powers in 1956 but it never arrived.

“The freedom fight was crushed and revenge was brutal, but the example of the heroes served as encouragement even until 1990,” he said.

Szijjártó said the greatest lesson learned from 1956 was that “we always have to fight for our sovereignty and freedom for ourselves”.

Only the Hungarians can decide about their own future, he added.

“We love our country the way it is, just like the Americans love their country the way it is. And we will never allow anyone to change our home country,” he said.

He added that it is not in Hungary’s habit to criticise others; it respects others but expects respect from them, too.

Szijjártó expressed thanks to the US for giving a home to many Hungarians who were forced to flee in 1956. In addition to Hungary, the US, too can be proud of 1956 Hungarians who became faithful and active citizens of their new home, he said.

Photo: MTI

September 28, 2016

1956 Memorial Park for ‘Pesti srácok’ opens in Budapest

Budapest (MTI) – A memorial park opened on Friday to honour the young freedom-fighters of Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet revolution, known as “the boys of Pest”.

Opening the park at Budapest’s Mihály Horvath square, in the eighth district, Mária Schmidt, co-chair of the memorial committee for the 1956 anniversary, said the goal of the commemorations this year was to “remember and help those remember who had never lived in a dictatorship”.

“The freedom-fighters were everyday people who had become heroes,” Schmidt said, adding she would like people to learn the names of the heroes. She added that the commemorations on the 60th anniversary of the revolution should be about freedom and national cohesion.

Photo: MTI

September 24, 2016

Anniversary of 1956 anti-Soviet uprising marked in Washington Congress

New York (MTI) – The anniversary of Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet uprising was marked in the United State House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., on Thursday local time.

According to house rules, commemorative speeches are rarely allowed in Congress and Thursday’s event was one such occasion.

Dennis A. Ross, a Republican member of the House of Representatives from Florida and Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat member from Ohio, co-chairs of the Congressional Hungarian-American Caucus, gave speeches.

Both politicians stated that the spirit of 1956 still lives on and since 1990 US-Hungarian relations have been based on the shared values that were brought into effect for a few days in 1956, such as freedom, democracy, the rule of law and respect for universal human rights.

Hungarian Ambassador Réka Szemerkényi, who was a guest at the session, told MTI that it was “an event of outstanding importance, with an outstanding message”.

It was symbolic that Hungary’s revolution was remembered even amidst the presidential election campaign, on the last week when Congress met before the elections.

“The gesture was also symbolic because politicians of the two parties gave speeches one after the other, conveying the message that Hungary-US relations enjoy support from both parties,” she added.

September 23, 2016

Hungarian cultural season to mark 1956, diplomatic ties in Ukraine

Kiev (MTI) – Several Hungarian cultural programmes will be organised in Ukraine over the next months to mark two major anniversaries, the Hungarian ambassador said in Kiev on Friday.

The 60th anniversary of Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet revolution will be marked with three events next month, Ernő Keskeny told a press conference.

The embassy will host a roundtable discussion with historians including former Hungarian foreign minister Géza Jeszenszky about the revolution, he said.

Further events marking the anniversary will include an exhibition presenting documents and photos from Ukrainian archives at the embassy and a film festival, Keskeny said.

Yehven Nyshchuk, Ukraine’s cultural minister, has accepted to be the patron of these events, he said.

The 25th anniversary of Ukrainian-Hungarian diplomatic relations will also be commemorated with several events, the ambassador said, noting that Hungary was one of the first to recognise Ukraine’s independence on December 3, 1991 and the first one to open an embassy there.

Events in September include the Ukrainian premiere of György Ligeti’s violin concerto in Kiev next Thursday and a film festival commemorating the WWII Babi Yar massacre at the end of the month. At the festival Hungary’s 2016 Oscar-winning Holocaust drama Son of Saul by László Nemes Jeles will be screened.

On Oct. 22, a concert will be hosted by the National Philharmonic of Kiev to mark the 205th birth anniversary of Ferenc Liszt.

September 17, 2016