“The Communist dictatorship is a common European heritage and it must be shown that that it’s not just Eastern European history” – said Minister of Human Resources Zoltán Balog at the press conference held marking the 25th anniversary of the Austrian-Hungarian border opening this Wednesday.
The Minister emphasized that the happenings of the era of political change should be transmitted to children and grandchildren authentically; to make them understand how precious freedom is. As he added, the anniversary events of this year could help in this sense. Zoltán Balog stated that the culture of remembrance is important; this is indicated by the fact that most historical anniversaries are accompanied by disputes.
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Zoltán Balog said that 1989 is a memorable period and Germans are necessary in remembrance as well, as Germany had not only lived through two dictatorships, but also liberation from those oppressive systems. He sees that Germans could help in mediating the transition process and opening of borders as not a Central Europe-specific memory, because they know the importance of events.
The Minister emphasized that “in Hungary, we often feel that we’re not understood” and this lack of understanding is the consequence of those 40 years which “we spent behind the Iron Curtain”.
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Monika Balatoni, the Minister of State for Public Diplomacy and Relations of the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice stressed that for the healthy development of society the events of the anniversary are much needed in order to make this Memorial Year “discoverable” for young people.
The Minister of State considers the Memorial Year a tremendous opportunity, so after the opening of country borders “the opening of spiritual borders” could happen and families should speak freely about the times before the transition. Thus, she said, from the world full of lies you can get where you can talk openly about the past.
Mária Schmidt, General Director of the House of Terror Museum spoke about the fact that 1989 is a real pride of the Hungarian nation and a shared success of the region. It is a huge thing that the countries have defeated communism and regained national self-determination. So far, according to her opinion, this has not been emphasized well enough, although “we could be rightly proud of it”. As she said, when developing programs of the Memorial Year, primary focus was on those young people who have not lived during the events of that time.
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Father Imre Kozma, the President of the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service recalled at the press conference that in 1994, the German ambassador in Budapest said Hungary has the biggest heart, because the country helped the bigger, greater, richer one while did not expect anything in return.
The 1989 anniversary series of events are under the patronage of János Áder, President of the Republic of Hungary.
The series of events began in last December with the opening of the exhibition ‘First tear in the Iron Curtain’ in Berlin. In January the ‘Common success’ online campaign was launched, which processes the happenings in Hungarian and English language via a blog and a Facebook page. Under the name ‘89 After’ a genre-free song contest will be held, the winning song will accompany the events throughout the year. Opening in late April, a caricature exhibition will be shown on the transition, later on a documentary film will be presented and a poster campaign will be launched. From June a website in Hungarian and German language will provide information on the series of events.
Several events are commemorating 16 June 1989. On the Heroes’ Square a festive concert and memorial service will be held and artists coming from the Visegrád Countries will perform at the Academy of Music.
On August 19, the anniversary of the Pan-European Picnic, concerts and theatrical performances will be organized in Sopron. A bicycle route will open to the public at the Austrian-Hungarian border.
In July the VOLT Festival and in August the Sziget Festival will commemorate the anniversary with concerts and thematic programs.
In September, the Hungarian Institute for International Affairs will hold a conference on the opening of borders and the Hungarian Embassy in Berlin will set up a copy of the statue of the Iron Curtain in front of the House of Terror Museum during the fall.
The year-long series of events will culminate in a gala at the opera house in Timisoara.
(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)
