Yesterday — October 23, 2018 — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gave a speech on the occasion of the 62nd anniversary of the 1956 uprising against Soviet occupation.
CrossWare, who translated the video for subtitles, sends this explanation for the choice of venue for the speech:
The location for Mr. Orbán’s speech was the “House of Terror”: Andrassy Street 60 was the headquarters of the Gestapo, and later that of the Communist Secret Police as well. The shift between the two socialist regimes was very smooth. They even had a changing room where the Nazis changed clothes into the uniform of the new regime. They also reused the torture and execution chambers.
Wikis for some of the names and historical events for reference:
Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Video transcript:
00:54 | Esteemed celebrants, | |
00:58 | Ladies and gentlemen. | |
01:02 | One of the theses of mathematics is that the product of the multiplication of two | |
01:06 | negative numbers is always a positive number. | |
01:10 | This is the sort of truth that can be hard to understand. | |
01:14 | If we translate this strange truth into the | |
01:18 | language of history, there suddenly emerges | |
01:22 | before us the baseline of Hungarian | |
01:26 | history. Almost every one of our revolutions | |
01:30 | and battles for freedom ended with a negative result: | |
01:34 | with defeat, sacrifice and retaliation. | |
01:38 | But somehow from these, in the end, | |
01:42 | positive results came: persistence, | |
01:46 | homeland and freedom. | |
01:50 | This is the real mystery, which is evoked by every national holiday. | |
01:54 | Esteemed ladies and gentlemen, | |
01:58 | in 1955 | |
02:02 | the Soviet troops withdrew from Austria. | |
02:06 | By then we already lived under Soviet oppression. | |
02:10 | In Hungary the intimidation, | |
02:14 | tyranny and deportations, | |
02:18 | the logic of the Soviet world, determined | |
02:22 | the order of our lives. Everybody | |
02:26 | felt that if this were to continue, | |
02:30 | under the pressure of Communist barbarism, it would crack, | |
02:34 | would fell apart and break into its atoms: | |
02:38 | that culture, that Christian Hungarian culture, | |
02:42 | which was created in a thousand years by the | |
02:46 | generations, each one following the previous. The strife | |
02:50 | seemed catastrophic. In half a century, | |
02:54 | we lost twice: first, two-thirds of Hungarian | |
02:58 | territory, with the millions of Hungarians who lived there, | |
03:02 | and then the danger of cultural destruction | |
03:06 | threatened the remnant of Hungary, | |
03:10 | the heartland of historical Hungary as well. | |
03:14 | The Hungarian does not have a gambler’s nature. | |
03:18 | He never gambles with his homeland. | |
03:22 | He does not like to enter into adventures | |
03:26 | That have questionable outcomes. If necessary, | |
03:30 | he can fight without hope, but he likes it better | |
03:34 | when heroism and common sense | |
03:38 | both stand on his side. | |
03:42 | The ’56 freedom fighters made a reasonable | |
03:46 | decision. The Soviets had withdrawn from Austria, | |
03:50 | the Hungarian Communists were knifing each other, | |
03:54 | and the free Western world was | |
03:58 | encouraging us, and promised help. | |
04:02 | On one side the hopelessness of | |
04:06 | certain decay, on the other, | |
04:10 | the never-returning final opportunity. | |
04:14 | We had to attempt it! And they attempted it | |
04:18 | in such a way as only we | |
04:22 | Hungarians can: with death-defying bravery, | |
04:26 | putting our bitter arguments behind us, | |
04:30 | fully united and with clear hearts. | |
04:34 | In such a unity we | |
04:38 | claimed our homeland. With such death-defying bravery, | |
04:42 | like in Nándorfehérvár. [Battle of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) 1456] | |
04:46 | With such a clear heart, like in | |
04:50 | March of 1848. GLORY TO THE HEROES! | |
05:06 | Ladies and gentlemen. Every year, as we move further away | |
05:10 | from 1956, fewer and fewer are the numbers of | |
05:14 | those who were part of or witnessed | |
05:18 | those days. To many veterans, | |
05:22 | whom we were able to commemorate last year, | |
05:26 | we have since had to say our final goodbyes. | |
05:30 | From the Pesti tykes they became grandfathers, | |
05:34 | and the saplings of the Üllői Street strengthened into | |
05:38 | waist-thick trees; their leaves | |
05:42 | breathed in the gunpowder smoke of the Corvin interval. | |
05:46 | But since then we have come together every year, | |
05:50 | rain or shine, and this will continue every year on October 23, | |
05:54 | for as long as Hungarians live in the world! | |
06:10 | Kisfaludy said it well: | |
06:14 | 1956 for us | |
06:18 | is neither memory nor history, but | |
06:22 | our heart and our backbone. | |
06:26 | In Hungary after 1956 for another | |
06:30 | 34 years there was a Communist | |
06:34 | dictatorship. One must live. | |
06:38 | We lived as we could. It was not that long ago; | |
06:42 | we can still remember. A boarded-up sky, | |
06:46 | bad bargains, dissimulation, | |
06:50 | hiding, flat side-glances, | |
06:54 | closed-up hearts, and distrust. | |
06:58 | The rigid everyday life of dictatorships | |
07:02 | usually prunes back human dignities, | |
07:06 | and even after their downfall, emptiness, | |
07:10 | a reduced life-force and pettiness | |
07:14 | follow them. This is what we Hungarians escaped from. | |
07:18 | This is what we were rescued from by our | |
07:22 | freedom fighters of ’56. We are grateful to them | |
07:26 | that we did not receive a memory of | |
07:30 | a half-century-long, depressing twilight as an allotment; | |
07:34 | we have not inherited the human weakness and dissension, | |
07:38 | but the example of bravery, the heroism and greatness | |
07:42 | as provisions for the journey. Only in this way was it possible | |
07:46 | that we Hungarians, even under Communist oppression, | |
07:50 | could be proud of our homeland. | |
07:54 | Ladies and gentlemen… | |
08:02 | …We Hungarians | |
08:06 | are the best at moaning. We Hungarians can complain | |
08:10 | most beautifully. And we Hungarians can most | |
08:14 | honestly mourn ourselves. | |
08:18 | We are the greatest masters at the singing | |
08:22 | of our complete despair and hopelessness. | |
08:26 | Even our Hymn says: | |
08:30 | “Ach, freedom does not flourish from the blood of dead.” | |
08:34 | In the meantime, we are standing here, 1,100 years after claiming | |
08:38 | our homeland, 1,000 years after establishing the Christian Hungarian state, | |
08:42 | as one of the oldest nations of Europe. | |
08:46 | Surviving occupations and invaders, here we are. | |
08:50 | The emperors of the vast German-Roman empire… | |
08:58 | …The Khans of the huge Mongolian | |
09:02 | empire, the Sultans of the | |
09:06 | even bigger Ottoman empire, then the most humongous, | |
09:10 | the Soviet party secretaries, all desired | |
09:14 | that we should not even exist. | |
09:18 | In the center of the endless German and Slavic sea, | |
09:22 | somehow we still remain. | |
09:26 | What is this, if not an original success story?! | |
09:30 | Ladies and gentlemen, this is the math of | |
09:34 | Hungarian history, where lots of minuses somehow produce | |
09:38 | a plus! | |
09:54 | Esteemed celebrants, | |
09:58 | the mystery of Hungarian persistence | |
10:02 | is indecipherable. The source of miracles usually remains hidden | |
10:06 | from curious human minds. | |
10:10 | But the heart, the heart can divine | |
10:14 | the secrets. Of the reasons for the persistence | |
10:18 | of the Hungarians must be | |
10:22 | the eternal Hungarian heroism. | |
10:26 | Dobó hoisted up the black coffin to the walls of | |
10:30 | the fort at Eger. Szondi with a bullet in his leg | |
10:34 | chopped the enemy till his last moment. | |
10:38 | In his best clothes, [Miklós] Zrinyi rushed out | |
10:42 | from Szigetvár. “Long live the homeland!” | |
10:46 | Shouted the first Hungarian Prime Minister | |
10:50 | in front of the firing squad. And here they are. | |
10:54 | They were born in the 1930’s, in their teens, | |
10:58 | at most in their early twenties, tykes from Pest, | |
11:02 | who got only war from life, darkened | |
11:06 | windows, dread, crying at night, | |
11:10 | dead horses [people were starving; they ate dead horses at the end of the war], air-raid shelters | |
11:14 | and the siege of Budapest [WW2] as their allotment. | |
11:18 | After that, the invading Soviets, the shot-to-pieces, | |
11:22 | bombed remains of the city [Budapest]. A country, | |
11:26 | their homeland, which never gave anything for them. | |
11:30 | A nation that could only offer | |
11:34 | that they might share its suffering. | |
11:38 | But when the first light [of hope] appeared | |
11:42 | that their country might become free, the first chance | |
11:46 | that the nation could rip out itself of its straitjacket, | |
11:50 | the first budding hope that Hungary | |
11:54 | could again become Hungary, they knew | |
11:58 | what they must do! And they went without hesitation. | |
12:02 | The Pesti tykes, who | |
12:06 | got nothing from their country, but they gave | |
12:10 | everything for it. Certainly they have their place in the | |
12:14 | pantheon of eternal Hungarian heroism. | |
12:30 | Esteemed ladies and gentlemen, | |
12:34 | when after almost half a century of Soviet | |
12:38 | occupation and colonial suppression we finally | |
12:42 | regained our freedom, and we could exhale from our lungs | |
12:46 | the fuggy air of the “comrade world”, | |
12:50 | we thought: we are finally home. | |
12:54 | Hungary for the last thousand years has been part of Christian Europe. | |
12:58 | We are Europe! Because we | |
13:02 | remained Europeans when we were sold at Yalta, | |
13:06 | and in 1956, when we were | |
13:10 | also betrayed. After the Soviets left… | |
13:22 | …After the Soviets left, we felt we could finally calm down, | |
13:26 | because our culture was in unison, as were our history and our political situation in the world. | |
13:30 | We could take our place again in Europe, | |
13:34 | in the family of free nations, | |
13:38 | which stands on the fundamentals of Christian culture: | |
13:42 | national consciousness and human dignity. | |
13:46 | Everything looked so well-arranged. | |
13:50 | We could not even have imagined in our dreams | |
13:54 | that 29 years after the release of the captive nations, | |
13:58 | after the fall of the Berlin Wall, after | |
14:02 | the unification of the sundered European continent, | |
14:06 | that European nations and with them we Hungarians, | |
14:10 | would face a lengthy test of strength. We could not imagine | |
14:14 | in our worst nightmare that Europe would spin into danger, | |
14:18 | not from an external military threat, not from American | |
14:22 | or Russian aspirations, but from itself. | |
14:26 | Who would have thought | |
14:30 | that the most successful continent on the planet, | |
14:34 | the most flourishing cultures, the most modern technologies, | |
14:38 | the world’s best schools, | |
14:42 | which reached the highest-ever standard of living in the history of mankind, | |
14:46 | would in just a few years go downhill, | |
14:50 | drifting to the edge of the precipice? | |
14:54 | Esteemed ladies and gentlemen, the European people | |
14:58 | are born as sons of nations. When a European human | |
15:02 | is born, he will be German, French, Italian, | |
15:06 | Polish or Hungarian. | |
15:10 | That is the order of history and nature. | |
15:14 | When little child first speaks, his first words are in Polish, | |
15:18 | in Croatian, in Swedish, in English, or even in Hungarian. | |
15:22 | That is why Europe | |
15:26 | is different from the other continents. Europe is the | |
15:30 | home of nations and not a melting pot! | |
15:34 | Who would have thought after this… | |
15:46 | …Who would have thought after this that once again there would return | |
15:50 | the empire-building ideas, which had already ruined Europe | |
15:54 | multiple times. Who would have thought | |
15:58 | that other people would want to tell us | |
16:02 | who should live together with us in our own homeland. | |
16:06 | Who would have thought that based on fabrications they would attack Hungary | |
16:10 | or Poland and threaten Romania and | |
16:14 | Slovakia, and moreover threaten Italy, too?! | |
16:18 | Ladies and gentlemen, the greatness, strength and glory | |
16:22 | of Europe was provided at the same time | |
16:26 | by competing and cooperating nations. | |
16:30 | The nations respected each other’s rights, defended | |
16:34 | their citizens’ interests. They cooperated well with each other, | |
16:38 | and they benefited together from the blessings of | |
16:42 | peace, growth and safety. The passion living | |
16:46 | in the hearts of patriots brought self-sacrifice and altruism | |
16:50 | led to scientific breakthroughs, and | |
16:54 | inspired the creation of great works of art. | |
16:58 | We Hungarians — about one and a half decades ago — joined that Europe. | |
17:02 | We joined the Europe of nations. | |
17:06 | We accepted the invitations of Helmut Kohl and Jacques Chirac, | |
17:10 | and not the conquest of Bonaparte Napoleon or the Third Reich. | |
17:14 | We Hungarians have suffered enough from empires. | |
17:22 | … every one of them, | |
17:26 | every one of them [empires], | |
17:30 | wanted to carve us into good little subjects. | |
17:34 | They did not understand: we have a homeland, and a homeland does not have | |
17:38 | subjects, but sons. Since then they perhaps learned | |
17:42 | that Hungarians can sniff out imperial intentions, | |
17:46 | and sooner or later they chase away the governors. | |
17:50 | In the best case. | |
17:54 | Ladies and gentlemen… | |
17:58 | …Europe was never carried to aberrations by | |
18:02 | self-conscious nations, but by desires for | |
18:06 | empire-building. The empire-building experiments | |
18:10 | and experimenters are responsible for the horrific wars | |
18:14 | of the 20th century, for the sea of suffering, | |
18:18 | and the multiple harrowing of a flourishing Europe. | |
18:22 | National and international Socialism, | |
18:26 | Fascism and Communism all engaged in | |
18:30 | imperial wishful thinking. Ideologies above | |
18:34 | nations, new types of human beings | |
18:38 | created in melting pots, never previously seen | |
18:42 | business profits; and to guarantee all this, a globalist | |
18:46 | or imperial government. That was, | |
18:50 | and it seems that it remains, the great temptation | |
18:54 | that again and again inserts itself into the souls of | |
18:58 | the European elite. Today | |
19:02 | in Brussels they are again playing imperial marches. | |
19:06 | It’s true that this is a different melody from before. | |
19:10 | Now they do not invade with weapons; we know full well | |
19:14 | that Brussels is not Istanbul, not Moscow, not Imperial Berlin, | |
19:18 | not even Vienna. From Brussels | |
19:22 | there is never conquest; from Brussels are only guided colonies. | |
19:26 | But we have never been a colony, | |
19:30 | nor a colonial country… | |
19:34 | …We never took anybody’s homeland; that is why | |
19:38 | we will never give our country to someone else. | |
19:58 | Esteemed celebrants, ladies and gentlemen. | |
20:02 | Brussels today is ruled by those who, instead of the alliance of free nations, | |
20:06 | want a European empire. | |
20:10 | The sort of European empire that is not | |
20:14 | directed by leaders of elected nations, but by the bureaucrats | |
20:18 | of Brussels. Today we see that in numerous | |
20:22 | European countries the devotees of the European | |
20:26 | empire also govern. That is how we know what that “beautiful new world” | |
20:30 | will look like, if they get their way. | |
20:34 | People show up there, in ever-increasing numbers, | |
20:38 | from different continents, from different cultures, | |
20:42 | mostly military-age men, and even within our lifetime | |
20:46 | they will remake into their own image the large European cities, | |
20:50 | slowly but surely pushing the native | |
20:54 | population into minority status. Terror | |
20:58 | Becomes part of big city life. | |
21:02 | Political manipulation, which always refers to the rule of law, becomes | |
21:06 | an everyday practice. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press expand | |
21:10 | only so far as to echo them. | |
21:14 | Esteemed ladies and gentlemen, those who want to knead | |
21:18 | from the European Union a European Empire, | |
21:22 | without exception, all support immigration. | |
21:26 | They made the admission of migrants into a measurement of European value, | |
21:30 | and they expect that every country and nation | |
21:34 | will forthwith convert itself into a multicultural society. | |
21:38 | Now we can see that they intentionally did not | |
21:42 | use their huge police and military forces, | |
21:46 | deliberately did not defend Europe from | |
21:50 | masses of migrants. If we were able to | |
21:54 | do so, they could have done it, too. | |
21:58 | The capability was not lacking, but the will. | |
22:10 | The Brussels vanguard and the rest of | |
22:14 | the anti-national leaders still think of migration as | |
22:18 | a chance and an opportunity. A chance | |
22:22 | to create a multicultural, mixed-race, | |
22:26 | homogeneously ironed-out empire to replace | |
22:30 | the union of nation states in Europe. | |
22:34 | A Europe without nation states, | |
22:38 | an elite, separated from their roots, | |
22:42 | an alliance with a multinational power groups, | |
22:46 | a coalition with financial speculators that would be a paradise for George Soros. | |
22:50 | Esteemed ladies and gentlemen… | |
22:54 | …now we write October, | |
22:58 | now we write October, but in Europe | |
23:02 | everybody is thinking about May. The European | |
23:06 | Parliamentary election in May, where the chariot of Europe | |
23:10 | will turn. And the European nations must choose | |
23:14 | a future. We Hungarians could not stay silent either. | |
23:18 | If the clarions were uncertain, | |
23:22 | we could not line up for the most important, | |
23:26 | truest of causes. We must step into the breach and | |
23:30 | call upon those who believe | |
23:34 | in the nations of Europe. We must wave | |
23:38 | the flag of a free and strong Europe. | |
23:42 | We shall choose the independence and the cooperation | |
23:46 | of nations against global governance and control. | |
23:50 | We shall refuse the ideology of globalism, | |
23:54 | and instead support the culture of patriotism. | |
23:58 | The world would be richer and humankind be better off | |
24:02 | if the colorful world of nations were to populate the planet. | |
24:18 | We believe that all nations are special. | |
24:22 | Each unique in its own way, and | |
24:26 | each can shine brightly on the slice of the world that is entrusted to it. | |
24:30 | This is what we thought; that is why we rebelled, | |
24:34 | even in 1956. | |
24:38 | We adore our culture, which maintains and | |
24:42 | protect our freedom. We believe in strong families. | |
24:46 | We think our history and traditions are exceptional. | |
24:50 | We celebrate our heroes, and above all else, | |
24:54 | we love our country. We do not want to, and we will not | |
24:58 | give it up, for the sake of any kind of empire | |
25:02 | or global governance. | |
25:06 | …Our national feeling… | |
25:10 | We do not want wipe out our national feeling, | |
25:14 | but to encourage it, moreover, to let it go free, | |
25:18 | to emancipate the | |
25:22 | the abilities and talents hidden in the Hungarian people. | |
25:26 | History teaches us that in sovereign countries | |
25:30 | freedom resides, democracy has a long life, | |
25:34 | and peace rules there. Esteemed celebrants, | |
25:38 | let’s think of the ’56 freedom fighters, let’s | |
25:42 | evoke the Pesti tykes, let’s choose the future of | |
25:46 | patriotism and national pride. Hajrá Hungary, Hajrá Magyarok! |
Next May (2019) will be the last chance for any European country to change direction and try to resist the invasion and globalist takeover. After that, the next election will be about the new islamic parties gaining power.
Europeans take freedom for granted. They don’t understand that many died for freedom. Freedom is most important component for a normal life, freedom is that idea you can fight for. I don’t think a miracle will happen in May 2019. People of Europe are still busy with other fake priorities dictated by the propaganda machine. I hope I am wrong.
globalism aka communism
A magnificent, and thoroughly honest, speech.
Orban’s description of the psychological life of Hungarians under Soviet domination is truly moving. I was aware of the horrendous plunder and rape of Budapest when the Soviets invaded Hungary in 1945, but the mass oppression of the population afterwards has been little illuminated upon.
I’d never before made the timing connection between the long-delayed withdrawal of the Soviets from their Occupation Zone of Austria (the terms imposed on Austria: x% of their oil production for w years, y% of their whatever production for z years; were extremely onerous) in 1955 and the Hungarian Uprising of 1956.
Orban makes it clear that it is this tragic history (and the loss of two thirds of its territory in the 1919 Treaty of St Germain – only 50 miles over the Carpathian range from Bucharest there were wide swathes of land where in the cities, towns and villages spoke only Hungarian or German, but they were bizarrely placed under Rumanian rule), as well as a lengthy spell of Ottoman-Muslim rule that informs Hungary’s trenchant nationalism and unflinching determination to be free of foreign rule, including that of the EU.
Perhaps it might have been better for France’s decision making over the last four or five decades if Charles Martel had not defeated the Moors at Poitiers (Tours?) and France had experienced a nasty spell of Muslim domination. One has to pity the new Macron-loyalist French Interior Minister, Monsieur “Poisoned Chalice”, after his hapless Macron-loyalist predecessor, Collomb, resigned over the lack of government will to do anything to address the effective take-over of significant parts of urban France by Muslim invaders. Collomb stated that these parts are ruled by drug dealers and imams. See the desperate pleadings of the mayor of Marseilles, and more recently that of the alpine city of Grenoble, to send in the French army to regain control of the ‘lost territories of the Republic. Macron just ignores it all.
What, then, is Spain’s excuse for allowing itself to be overrun by invader/immigrants from the Mahgreb after spending about a century driving the Moors out of Spain around 1400?
I want to correct a little error you made:
Read the history of Transylvania as an independent province during history.
Read about the ethnic composition of Transylvania during history.
Read about the administration of Austro-Hungarian Empire over Transylvania.
Read about the unifying of all Romanian provinces under one ruler, one border, a few times during its history and attempts of the West and Ottomans to destroy it.
You will understand then why Transylvania was incorporated in Romania.
If you don’t know…the actual Republic of Moldova is also Romanian territory, stolen by the Soviets under an agreement with Hitler. We still have to hope that Rep. of Moldova will return rightfully to motherland.
Stefan you driving under the influence of propaganda teachings!
Spain’s takeover is because EU.
As for France’s urban areas being overrun, that’s the ancient Islam pattern. Look at Egypt – Copts are safer in rural areas, though none are completely safe.