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| Intolerance in Slovakia: The Opressive "Language Law" | |||||||
November 30, 2009
Dear Mr. Vice President: The American Hungarian Federation (the “Federation”), founded in 1906, represents a broad cross section of Americans who trace their heritage to Central Europe. We applaud you for focusing on Central and Eastern Europe, as most recently demonstrated by your well-received and successful trip to the region. And while we support close and mutually beneficial relations between the United States and Hungary, including official bilateral visits at the highest levels, we were concerned that an invitation by President Obama to Prime Minister Bajnai would have been premature, as mentioned in our previous letter. Our concern was based on the fact that such an invitation a few months before Hungary’s parliamentary elections would have been widely interpreted as a show of America’s support for Mr. Bajnai’s political party. This, in turn, would have resulted in cynicism among the large number of Hungarians who have been pro-American even before the fall of the Berlin Wall and who support an even-handed policy by the United States toward all democratic parties. We appreciate that there are important bilateral issues relating to Afghanistan, NATO and energy security that will be on the agenda during your meeting with PM Bajnai this week. Another issue we urge be placed on the agenda and addressed relates to Slovakia’s ill-advised language law that criminalizes the use of Hungarian and other minority languages in the public sphere. This law not only constitutes a human rights violation, degrading democracy in Slovakia and causing considerable anxiety within the Hungarian community in that country, it has caused tensions between two NATO allies at a time when there is a great need for unity within the alliance to enable NATO to effectively carry out its critical mission and prevail in the war in Afghanistan. As you will recall, during a trip to Prague in March 1997, you went to the heart of the matter by reminding NATO aspirants that the United States wanted assurances that prospective NATO members would maintain democratic institutions and respect minority rights. That consideration is as important today as it was then. We, therefore, respectfully suggest that the Slovak language law be discussed with PM Bajnai, with a resolution that Slovakia be urged to repeal this discriminatory law, as both the United States and Hungarian interests would be served by such an enlightened step. Thank you for considering these views. Sincerely, Frank Koszorus, Jr. Akos Nagy |
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Related Articles By Any Other Name: Hungary, Apartheid,
and the Benes Decrees These decrees sent millions of people, who had lived in the region for many centuries, off in sealed wagons, away from their homes, their families - not to mention the odd ones who died on the trip. WHAT THE BENES DECREES SAY One may be forgiven for suspecting, by the casual way the Benes Decrees are often disparaged by commentators, that many of those who write about the Decrees have never taken the trouble to [read them]. Living as I have for over 20 years in South Africa, I know this language well. It is the language of Apartheid. There is no moral difference, to my mind, in withdrawing civil rights, confiscating private property and deporting people, whether they be Black South Africans sent to some "Homeland/Bantustan," or Armenians, or deported Chechens, or Germans and Hungarians. The Hungarians who lived in what is now Slovakia and Trans-Carpathian Ukraine (which was given to Stalin by a grateful Benes in 1945) were more than one million strong in 1910. By 1930, thanks to the above-mentioned "administrative" cleansing, their numbers had been reduced to 585,434. After Hungary reclaimed its lands in 1939, people began moving back to their homes. In 1941-45, there were about 761,000 in what is today Slovakia alone. [read more] Allied Omertá: The "Benes Decrees" began in the mind of Czech statesman Edvard Benes sometime in 1940. He made some quite clear statements about his plans by 1941. The plans? To kill and/or expel all people of German or Hungarian ethnicity/language from a reunited Czechoslovakia, which had fallen apart at the start of the war. This is the sort of thing you would expect from a Himmler or a Beria, not a guy who is lionised in Western history books, and generally books about Central Europe, as the only true "democrat" in the region. But Czechoslovakia was never a complete democracy. Just as interwar Hungary, or Poland, or Yugoslavia, were not. Not quite. In Czechoslovakia, designed as a "national homeland" for Slavs, the Slavic Rusyns had to have two votes to equal one Czech vote! Democracy? [read more] THE PRESIDENTIAL DECREES
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Case Study on Trianon
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and the stand taken by patriotic forces in Western Hungary, a plebiscite
was obtained in Sopron and its environs. At the plebiscite of December
4, 1921, 65 percent of the population opted for Hungary. Join online!
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1/9/10 -- AHF calls upon Vice President Biden to discuss Slovakia's language law with Hungarian Prime Minister Bajnai during the latter's trip to Washington, "with a resolution that Slovakia be urged to repeal this discriminatory law. The full letter is below. You may also [
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