“I don’t have to tell you how much I miss you! Nobody, nothing can replace your dear, beautiful self and your gentleness. Each evening the three of us: your photograph, Margit and I, huddle together and cry. This scrap of a child is crying and kissing the cold glass or insensitive paper of your photo. (…) ‘My sweet Jesus, bring back Daddy, let my Father come back to me, my Jesus, throw open the prison, let Daddy out!’ she says to me, weeping.”

On reading these lines, Ilona, the pretty and brave young woman in her simple check pattern dress, comes to life as she fills the lined booklet with her graceful letters, her concerned yet still hopeful words of love.
In the foreword to the diary, the editors note that the booklet is a document, description of history and confession all in one. Dr. Brusznyai Árpádné, Ilona Honti’s writing is primarily a chronicle for her husband, through which the diarist recorded that period she had to spend without her beloved husband, in the hope that all this would be merely an episode – shorter or longer – of a life lived together once again. Unhappily, it was not to be. Árpád Brusznyai was an average teacher who after the collapse of the revolution was arrested at Easter 1957. In a show trial, the man was sentenced to life imprisonment because he identified with the demands of the revolution and because he was the chairman of the Veszprém County National Revolutionary Council; at the same time, it is worth noting that Árpád strongly opposed the bloodshed and forthrightly condemned the arming of young university students. One year after the revolution, in 1958, János Pap (he was the enthusiastic comrade who was never called to account for his dastardly crimes, and who in 1994 ended his own life), MSZMP first secretary of Veszprém county, called for the ultimate punishment: the young teacher was sentenced to be hanged.
Ilona Honti was 23 when she married Árpád, and their little girl, Margit, was born a year later.

After her husband’s execution, the 28-year-old mother found a position as catering manager at the Institute of the Deaf-Mute in Vác, and she remained loyal to her husband until her death.

Reading her diary, it comes as no surprise that she did not allow anyone to take the place of Árpád. From the book we receive a portrait of a passionate woman deeply in love, who expresses in writing all her emotions in the hope that later on she can pass on the little girl’s everyday life to a father who may have loved only God and his homeland more than his family. It is hugely moving to read of Ilona’s desperate attempts to win over supporters and obtain money for her husband’s release while we, the readers, already know the sad fate that awaited him. Looking into the young woman’s thoughts, we can feel ourselves to be in a time machine that takes us back to a period heavy with pain, insecurity and grief. In the aggregation of words tinged with fear, young Margit is like a tiny ray of light as she plays with her pigtail and above all else yearns for the return of her beloved father.

The book, published by the Brusznyai Árpád Foundation with the support of the Committee of National Remembrance, is vital because it portrays the communist reign of terror from a hitherto little seen perspective.

Every martyr left behind a grieving widow, children, relatives, neighbours, colleagues, friends, in whose lives the tragedy left an indelible mark.

Besides being broken by the imprisonment or loss of their loved ones, they still had to stand among the ranks of the living, take care of those who remained and keep the family together when all had fallen apart around them. Ilona Honti is just as much a hero as anyone who, with straight back and brave intention, could stand their ground in this terrible period. There are a few photographs at the end of the barely 100-page diary. We can muse on the wedding photo of the happy couple, the laughter of Margitka, and in the meantime think that this is a story everyone should know.

Turning the pages of the book, it becomes clear that the commemoration of the 1956 Uprising is about far more than the mere laying of wreaths, speeches, lighting candles and the playing of Beethoven’s overture on TV. The role of the narrative is overwhelming, personal stories always bring people closer to events than history books because the emotional charge of narratives allows us to identify with those figures who actually lived through the events. Brusznyai Árpádné, Ilona Honti’s diary is brutal in incising in the reader’s heart the fact that everyone was awaited at home by someone.

In one paragraph of the book, little Margit questions the other children, asking “did the bad people also take your fathers away?”.

When I read this, it sent a shiver down my spine. As if I could see the starry-eyed kid in front of me as she asks my three-year-old daughter the same question, to be immediately told “no”. Our children don’t have to fear their parents being taken away because they were born in a far happier time than Margit. Because Árpád Brusznyai and the other heroes sacrificed themselves for a free world in which lovers are not torn asunder because of their convictions and in which children are not orphaned due to the world views of their parents.

“I’m thinking of you, my dear, sweet boy. Can you feel it? Every evening at half past nine, just as we agreed,” Ilona writes in her diary. I will be thinking of the Brusznyai family precisely at 8.30 pm tonight, and my heart will be filled with gratitude that, together with the other ‘56 heroes, they made their sacrifice for our freedom.

You were born in the Land of the Szeklers, in Remetea (Gyergyóremete), Romania, but you are also at home in the mother country and you have already performed in many places around the world. What does it mean to be a Hungarian from beyond the border?
“I reckon that there are two types of Hungarian from beyond the border. One is extremely rare: the person who, if they leave, do not get homesick. Luckily, there are more of us who represent the values of the land of our birth in the mother country and in the world, wherever we go. We consider it extremely important to show the people of Hungary, of the entire world, what values there are in, for example, Transylvania, among the Hungarians who live there, from where I come. So I’m satisfied with my life because I am also a representative of my homeland, in addition to being, as an artist, someone trying to convey the intellectual creations of the great composers. I am a figure who mediates, a person who is not seeking out the limelight but who really only wants to be and do something for the benefit of Hungarians.”

Berlin, Vienna, Bordeaux, Munich, London, Tokyo, Madrid… it is difficult even to list how many metropolises you have performed in. Is there anywhere you still long for?
“I’m not so keen on travelling abroad as I once was because over the past 15 years I’ve travelled around the globe several times.

“I feel at home in the Carpathian Basin, where I can get from anywhere to anywhere in a single day.

“Here, in this ancient spiritual cradle, I would like to undertake the search for talented individuals and the cause of my own art, opera. I am thinking of applying for the post of director of the Cluj-Napoca Magyar Opera because I have long been interested in running an opera house. I would like to link Budapest with the Land of the Szeklers because national borders cannot be a barrier to culture. We launched a Hungarian solo singing major at the Partium Christian University in Oradea; the course was oversubscribed and we enrolled hugely gifted students. In the past few years we have achieved great results and successes with similar initiatives, masterclasses, and we have even been able to take students abroad for performances. My dream is to link Szekler Land – Cluj-Napoca – Oradea – Budapest through vocal training and opportunities to appear on stage.”

While we are talking you are preparing for the dress rehearsal on stage. Soon you will be donning the costume of Bánk bán. The basis for the opera, the drama by József Katona, appeared in print 200 years ago, in autumn 1820. What is it like playing the title role in the Erkel opera?

“Spiritually, I reckon viceroy (bán) Bánk was a Szekler, just as I am.

“This is why Hungarians in the mother country think I make a good Bánk bán, because I have exactly the same emotional charge: I truly tremble for my country, the entire Hungarian community is really important to me. It is a huge burden to sing this, its emotional vibrations, because of the countless difficult decisions Bánk bán has to make the least bad decision so he is constantly vacillating, seeking answers, struggling… Attila Vidnyánszky's arrangement is brilliant.

“I have found that if a person frequently communicates the message of a treasured work such as, for example, Bánk bán, or frequently plays such great and noble opera heroes as I get the chance to, then after a time, and I say this without boasting, they begin to associate with the characters, or at least they take onboard their faith, strength, mission.”

How did you feel when you moved to Budapest at an early age?
“I was very forlorn because I didn’t know anybody. The artist and singing teacher Júlia Pászthy took me under her wing and looked after me. I remember that she gave classes free of charge because I couldn’t have paid for them anyway, and she selflessly, with all her heart and soul, helped out other Hungarians beyond the border as well. There are such good people about.

“I vowed to her that I would repay her kindness a hundred thousand times. Today, I also do what I can in this regard.”

It appears that your pathway to global fame was straight and free of obstacles. Even as a child you won folk singing competitions, you were taken on to the lyceum of arts in Miercurea Ciuc (Csíkszereda), then the solo singing faculty of Oradea Music Academy, followed at the age of 21 by the Hungarian State Opera, then famous opera houses abroad.
“It wasn’t as easy as it appears from the outside. You have to have strength of mind to take to the stage. Talent and a fine voice, these are just a couple of things, one needs the right mental frame, too, and this has to be strengthened in the same way in order to bear the stress. It may surprise you to know that I developed serious panic attacks due to the many sudden changes, the dozens of rapidly evolving events. One day I was flinging dung off the back of a cart and the next day I flew to New York. I went through a period when in just one week I sang four different parts in five different capitals. I felt so focused, I wanted to do so well that after a while I had a sharp pain here, a sharp pain there, or my head cramped up or my leg went numb. This also goes with the career, there is no way round it, you can’t tackle it with boxing gloves or a penknife, yet you still have to overcome it inside. Well, this takes up a person’s psyche and then it’s so easy to slip back. Luckily, I was able to get through this trying period without resorting to drugs, alcohol or other addictive substances.”

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Levente Molnár - Photo: 4K Media Studio Hungary / Bence Hegedűs

Do you have a formula on how to overcome symptoms caused by excess stress?
“I had a formula for it, which worked for a long time but then, from one minute to the next, it didn’t. This is a convoluted mind game which whispers, ‘slower, much slower!’

“The stage is my retreat, because there I have no problems.

“Recently, I have tried to pay attention only to what is important: what I do should be good, what I say on the stage, as I sing, should be excellent.”

Do you frequently return to the village of your birth?
“I love to go back to Remetea, where since 2017 I have been an honorary citizen – this is my greatest award! The Liszt Prize and all acknowledgements are also important to me. The Kriterion Wreath is particularly close to my heart, which I was given by Transylvanian Hungarians. I am constantly planning when I can go back home to Transylvania, the Land of the Szeklers, when I can be with my family there, to take excursions into the hills, when I can teach in Oradea… That Hungarian who frequently travels to Szekler Land for excursions, or visits relatives there, certainly won’t feel that Hungary is small, that we are few, because it takes a day to get there.”

Do you sense any disadvantages because you are a Hungarian from beyond the border?
“In general, it is not cool to be a Hungarian from beyond the border, many times we come up against mistrust because they fear Hungarians. Because the Hungarians dominated and dominate the Carpathian Basin up to today in terms of numbers, spiritually and talent-wise. The ancient Hungarian border does not need to be drawn because the Carpathians delineate it perfectly.” 

Everything you say radiates a love of the homeland, a devotion to the affairs of Hungarians…

“We, Hungarian-speaking people, are unbelievably diverse!

“How differently we view the world and how differently we think of God, survival and the nation! Within the 15 million, there are numerous dialects, all sorts of folk music, traditions… Being Hungarian is an incredible experience, despite at the same time the bitter pain.”

He spent 15 years in the embassy on Szabadság Square. Until recently, we knew little about this period. In 2019, Menedékben (Amerikai diplomaták Mindszenty bíborosról 1957–1970) (In Refuge – American diplomats on Cardinal Mindszenty 1957-1970) was published, the work of András Miklós Deák, Ádám Somorjai OSB and Tibor Zinner. The book uses foreign affairs sources hitherto unpublished in Hungarian and it reveals the everyday life of the cardinal from the viewpoint of American diplomats.

We learn about the life of the embassy from inside, the daily agenda of the cardinal, and his personal and political contacts, all of which serve to nuance the picture we have of Mindszenty, as well as Cold War American-Hungarian relations.

We spoke to two of the authors, Benedictine Father Ádám Somorjai and András Miklós Deák, about the lesser known details of the life of Cardinal Mindszenty.

How did you gain access to English-language sources?
Ádám Somorjai OSB: “The ‘Cardinal Mindszenty’ boxes had already been separated from the archive of the American embassy in Budapest. These files were later despatched to the American State Department. They are currently in the American national archive and were released for study after 30 years. I was there for the first time with my companions of the Benedictine Order in 2009 and we took photographs of the first 2000 pages. In snowy February of 2010, I took pictures of more than 7000 pages of documents together with Margit Balogh, two of her assistants and another fellow of the order. This is how we started.”

What did Cardinal Mindszenty do on 3 November, on the day preceding the Soviet invasion?
Ádám Somorjai OSB: “On the afternoon of Saturday 3 November, he gave an appeal to the nation live from Parliament and then withdrew to Buda, to the primate’s palace. He was woken at dawn: state minister Tildy sent a message that the Russians were on their way and that he should return to Parliament, partly for his own protection and partly for ease of access to updates. By the time he arrived, the ministers had already left. The prince primate wanted to return to Buda but his car had disappeared and Soviet tanks were pouring across Margaret Bridge. Thus he sat down on a bench on the first floor with his secretary. This is where he was seen by Captain Kálmán Tóth, who offered to escort him to the American embassy.”

How did Cardinal Mindszenty manage to get into the embassy? How did the idea of fleeing there from Parliament come about in the first place? Who helped him?
András Miklós Deák: “To this day, these are questions that have not been fully clarified. The mediator must have been a person with high status relations with the Americans, for example, it could have been the Tildy couple. We know for certain that the decision about the cardinal seeking refuge in the American embassy was reached in Parliament. There was no time to consider that the USA was not a Catholic country, furthermore, what the Vatican’s position would be about the refuge.

“We know a little bit more about the American agreement: the under secretary of state Herbert Hoover, Jr. called President Eisenhower, who consented to giving refuge on the recommendation of the State Department. The initiator of the process may have received notification of this decision in Parliament and in this knowledge, Cardinal Mindszenty could then have gone to Gate I closest to Szabadság Square. Ambassador Edward Wailes, head of mission, also received a telegram concerning this matter.

“At this very moment a spanner was thrown into the works because the car was not at the disposal of the cardinal. However, in the certain knowledge of being granted refuge, they decided to risk the walk across to the embassy, a move that was not without danger.

“At 07:58, Mindszenty knocked on the gate. Why is it that we don’t know a little more about this? Because in order to protect the persons concerned in this sensitive matter, the State Department had the telegram despatched to the embassy shredded!”

Why did he ‘only’ receive refuge status and not asylum?
Ádám Somorjai OSB: “The American legal system does not recognize asylum, but it does recognize refuge based on humanitarian considerations. It is granted to those exposed to clear and present danger, for example, by the local residents. Initially, American diplomats used the word ‘asylum’ in their reports but in fact the cardinal ‘only’ received refuge, which, even so, was effective to keep him safe and alive.”

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József Mindszenty in the courtyard of the primate’s palace, Buda Castle, after giving his radio address - Photo: Fortepan/ETH Zürich

József Mindszenty in the courtyard of the primate’s palace, Buda Castle, after giving his radio address - Photo: Fortepan/ETH Zürich

What were the most important rules regarding his refuge, that is, his stay at the embassy?
András Miklós Deák: “We found the most concise summary of the gradually established rules of refuge always referred to as ‘delicate and exceptional’ in the memorandum of state secretary Dean Rusk to President Kennedy. According to this, they considered it important that the refuge provided by the embassy remain purely humanitarian in nature, without any political weight. They were careful to see that the situation never brought the USA into an awkward position internationally.

“The cardinal could not use the embassy as a base for his political and clerical activities, he was not permitted to give interviews, and he was forbidden from having any correspondence with persons not part of the government of the USA.

“During the years he spent at the embassy, he regularly wrote letters to four presidents, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon and their state secretaries. Only unsealed written messages related to the refuge status of the cardinal or personal spiritual matters were allowed between the cardinal and the Vatican.”

How did he spend his everyday life in ‘refuge’?
Ádám Somorjai OSB: “He was given a two-room apartment with bathroom on the third floor of the embassy. The cardinal celebrated mass every day amidst modest circumstances at his desk. A server attended him on Sundays only. Masses were attended by representatives of the embassy and other interested embassies (Italian, French, Indian, Brazilian), primarily the wives of ambassadors. Occasionally he conducted baptisms if the embassy employee was Catholic. In this case, the military chaplain of the United States issued the birth certificate in Washington. The cardinal was permitted to visit the embassy library, he could read the Hungarian county and foreign language dailies subscribed for him. In addition, he worked on his memoirs.

“Occasionally, over the course of this long refuge, there were more colourful, amusing episodes as well. For example, once when the Hungarian regime organized a demonstration against the Vietnam war in front of the embassy, and protestors ‘spontaneously’ threw ball bearings at the closed shutters of the building, the cardinal, calmly sitting at his desk, stated to the American diplomats concerned about him: ‘I enjoy this symphony of peaceful coexistence’. There was also an occasion when Mindszenty wanted to play a trick on a diplomat visiting him at the electronic door protecting the cardinal, saying that he didn’t want to admit him.”

Who was allowed to visit him?
András Miklós Deák: “Father confessors (Ferenc Városi, later Gyula Tátrai) could pay visits as well as relatives: Mrs. János Pehm (his mother), Teréz Légrádi and Anna Fuksberger (his sisters), his nephews and their families.

“From the Vatican, at official request, Cardinal König paid the first visit and this was followed by many others, on average once a year but in 1967 there were four visits. Secondly, diplomat of the Holy See Agostino Casaroli, after assessing the state of health of the prince primate, only came for a short, one-day visit in 1965 and then never again. Official visitors from the State Department also paid a visit to the cardinal, meanwhile Western diplomats and journalists who also wanted to meet Mindszenty were refused permission.”

Was there anybody among the staff of the embassy who developed a close personal relationship with him?
András Miklós Deák: “The cardinal had close personal contact with several young diplomats assigned to him, in the jargon of the American embassy, ‘religious attachés’. I would mention primarily the Hungarian-speaking Ted Papendorp (1928–1998) who – exactly because of the close personal relationship – was stationed in Budapest for a second time. Close ties developed with those families who attended masses given by the cardinal, or who had him christen their children. An example of the latter is the family of Edward Alexander. Naturally, at the beginning of the refuge those diplomats got close to Mindszenty who could speak the language and translated his letters because they were of Hungarian origin. Géza Katona and Louis Toplosky were in this situation. After they were posted elsewhere, a few of the abovementioned diplomats enquired about the health of Cardinal Mindszenty in correspondence. He always received these letters with great pleasure.”

Who took care of him? Did he have a personal secretary?
Ádám Somorjai OSB: “His meals were supplied by the embassy cafeteria.

“The costs of his stay at the embassy were covered by regular donations from American Catholics. Expenses were carefully recorded at the embassy and when the donations ran out, then the Secretariat of the American Episcopal Conference transferred a further sum via the American State Department.

“Dr. Albert Egon Turchányi was his voluntary secretary throughout the days of 1956. He even accompanied him to the American embassy and then left the building on 9 November in the car of Leslie Balogh Bain, an American journalist of Irish-Hungarian descent, in order to bring serum from Vienna for the hospitals. On the way, members of the Workers Militia stopped and arrested him, he was sentenced in a show trial and only released in 1963. The cardinal did not have another secretary. If Dr. Turchányi had stayed there, it is possible that he could have been together with the cardinal, who was of the same age, right to the end.”

Did the refuge of Mindszenty have any influence on Soviet-American relations?
András Miklós Deák: “The cardinal attempted to give political advice in his letters to President Eisenhower, but it can be stated that he was not able to exercise any substantial influence on American foreign policy from his refuge. Neither on American-Soviet policy, nor even on American-Hungarian policy. In Washington, his refuge was considered a ‘problem’ to be resolved but he was not designated an orientation point in bilateral relations. In their view, the reason for the extremely poor relations was not the fact of the protracted refuge he had been granted.”

Was the cardinal in contact with Hungarians?
Ádám Somorjai OSB:

“It took a year before the Americans allowed him to receive a confessor.

“Ferenc Városi, who served in the Christ the King parish at Mikszáth Square, was able to visit the cardinal three times a year for the major holidays, but his entry and exit were not without difficulties as the Hungarian authorities guarding the embassy frisked the priest. When Városi fell ill, the Americans asked the Franciscans (at that time on Mártírok Road) to arrange confession. He tried to send letters in secret with one of the cleaners but the Americans soon caught on and the woman was given other duties – they were afraid that the cleaning lady would also be interrogated by the Hungarian authorities, or that they might start corresponding with the cardinal in somebody else’s name. He had weekly contact with Hungarian staffers and a secretary of the embassy, when he handed over one of his many letters for typing.”

What was the cardinal’s health like over these 15 years? Was he ever sick? Where was he examined? If he had fallen ill, could he have used the Hungarian health service?
Ádám Somorjai OSB: “The ‘duty’ doctor for employees of ‘East European’ American representations was Dr. James E. Lynsky, who was based in Belgrade and travelled wherever he was needed. The cardinal received regular medical care and saw an American dentist as well. In the summer of 1965, complications set in; the cardinal had a relapse of TB that he had contracted earlier in prison. The Americans brought a mobile X-ray machine and specialist from the Frankfurt military hospital, and it was established that he needed a minimum one year but ideally two years in a sanatorium.

“However, the cardinal persuaded both the Americans and the diplomat of the Holy See Casaroli, who travelled from the Vatican to Budapest for one day specifically because of this, that he would be able to recover in the embassy. And miraculously, he became symptom-free in three weeks.

“The Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs prepared to treat him in Hungary, and the Americans had a list of Hungarian doctors they could contact in the case of need and urgency, but in the end all these efforts were not necessary.”

Why can the departure of the cardinal in 1971 be considered a diplomatic coup?
Ádám Somorjai OSB: “He was accompanied out of the embassy by the ambassador, Alfred Puhan, American diplomats lined the steps of the embassy, with whom the cardinal did not shake hands individually, but when he saw them he blessed them from above. After a few minutes, the Mercedes of Viennese nuncio Rossi arrived; first, the cardinal sat in the front passenger seat before he noticed that his VIP place was in the rear, so he got out, blessed the capital, and then sat in the back next to Rossi. He was escorted in convoy on the old Highway No. 1 through Tatabánya and Győr, keeping to the previously agreed speed. One of the cars even had a doctor on hand. They drove via Hegyeshalom to the airport in Vienna, where the Vatican diplomat Casaroli awaited them, and then they boarded the scheduled Alitalia flight where they were seated in the curtained-off VIP section. In Rome, they were welcomed by Cardinal Secretary Villot at Fiumicino airport, from where they drove straight to the Vatican. Here, at the St. John Tower, which was a Vatican VIP hotel, Pope Paul VI awaited him. It is clear that he was afforded great respect and the status of the receiving partner was increased at each of the stations: Budapest–Vienna-Rome–Vatican: ambassador–nuncio–head of Vatican diplomacy–cardinal state secretary–pope.”

At what stage is the beatification of Cardinal Mindszenty?
Ádám Somorjai OSB: “In February 2019, Cardinal Primate Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, announced that Pope Francis had signed the decree on the heroic practice of virtues. The official procedure will be finalized with the documentation of at least one miracle that happened through the intercession of the person concerned, and which is examined at the appropriate forums. This may be followed by beatification, presumably in Budapest or Esztergom.”

Pastor and saver of lives

Gábor Sztehlo was born Gábor Szenczy in Budapest in 1909. The family changed their name to Sztehlo in 1938. His father was an attorney of the Lutheran faith, his mother was raised in the Reformed tradition, the boys in the Evangelical tradition. Gábor attended the Lutheran grammar school in Sopron and then he was a student of Evangelical theology in the same city. In 1932, he was made a pastor following a field study tour to Finland, which fulfilled his social sensitivity and charitable commitment. He was assistant pastor of the Újhatvan congregation and in the mid-1930s he was sent to Nagytarcsa. Here he organized a lyceum, named after Sámuel Tessedik, on the Finnish model. The Second World War was already in full swing when he moved to Pest, where a new, dangerous task awaited him after the German occupation. In the framework of the Protestant humanitarian organization Good Pastor Committee, in partnership with its Catholic co-institution,

on the orders of Bishop Sándor Raffay, he was tasked with protecting and hiding persecuted Jewish children.

In October 1944, he was given the opportunity to provide refuge for endangered Jewish children in the villa of a wealthy acquaintance on Bérc Street. In the tense months that followed and without thought to his own safety, he persuaded many acquaintances to take in to their homes, basements, attics the persecuted young children he had gathered together. He had helpers but was desperately short of finance; he managed to obtain some support from the Swiss Red Cross as well as Protected House certificates that represented a measure of protection. Deaconesses, clerics and lay people also helped. Thanks to them and others, 1600 children, among them the later Nobel Prize-winning chemist György Oláh, plus several hundred adults, found safe refuge and were provided for in 32 locations on Csaba Street and Magdolna Street, in Fasor Grammar School and private houses in a total of thirty-two locations, until the end of the siege of Budapest.

Rise and fall of Gaudiopolis

Once the battles and persecution had ceased, part of this army of children stayed together. Many were Jewish children who had lost their parents and as time passed, they were joined by non-Jewish children, war orphans, vagrants and the needy.

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Photo: Lutheran Central Collection

In the post-war years, Sztehlo – as a member and office holder in the Freemasons – sought support for them. He was given a large plot of land by the Manfréd Weiss family in Zugliget, on which there stood several buildings and a villa. He founded an orphanage and foster home from donations of private individuals as well as backing from the International Red Cross.

The Pax children’s care home, which functioned without official state and church funding and grew to have 800 residents, was an unorthodox orphanage, the realization of the dreams and vision of Sztehlo: it created a self-governing children’s society called Gaudiopolis, that is, ‘city of joy’.

On their site, the children themselves raised a chapel, built a sports ground, organized a library, formed a choir and studied trades. Gaudiopolis was like a regular state with a constitution, government and newspaper; the children administered their own small autonomous society. Sztehlo and his colleagues only assisted but did not control them in the traditional sense.

In the community, the children themselves decided what they would study, how much they would work with the others. Ideal liberty and solidarity of love prevailed.

Some of the children who moved on from here made it to university, for instance, the poet Ottó Orbán, the journalist György Szilágyi and the director Ádám Horváth. Residents later created myths about the place, their time spent here and Uncle Gábor, the idealized person they lifted to near saintly status. Between 1945-1950, albeit amidst modest circumstances, life in Gaudiopolis continued without interruption, but in the end nationalization also reached them: the children’s society was shut down in the name of socialist education. The authorities suggested to Sztehlo that he remain, but under such humiliating terms and conditions designed to destroy the world he had built that he could not accept. He returned to his pastoral work, serving congregations in Buda Castle, Kelenföld and Kőbánya, but in the meantime he did what he could to help the needy, the sick, the elderly, and tried to take care of persons persecuted and displaced by the communist government.
The next great dilemma of his life came in 1956. His wife wanted them to flee the country because of the hopeless situation but he simply could not bring himself to leave. Thus his wife and two children escaped to Switzerland but he remained and continued the work that his faith and patriotism encouraged him to do.

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Photo: Lutheran Central Collection

‘Uncle Gábor’ as remembered by posterity

In 1961, he was given a visitor’s passport to travel to Switzerland to see his family. On his arrival he suffered a heart attack and doctors recommended that he should not go back. In the meantime his travel authorization expired, meaning that he was classified as a dissident subject to imprisonment. This made it impossible for him to return to Hungary. Thus, with a heavy heart, he decided to stay, they settled in the small Alpine town of Interlaken, as a fluent German speaker he undertook a post as pastor, he became involved in the social work of the local Freemason’s society but he was always impatient for the time when he could return to his homeland. In order to avoid legal retaliation in Hungary he had to gain Swiss citizenship, but foreigners had to wait ten long years before they were eligible. However, God had other plans. Shortly before the deadline was up, in May 1974, Gábor Sztehlo died peacefully, seated on a bench, in Interlaken, in his sixty-fifth year.

His ashes only returned to his homeland and Farkasrét cemetery decades later, and his memory was only revived around the time of the change of regime.

Although he received the Righteous Among the Nations award for his self-sacrificing rescue of Jewish children as early as 1972, his determination during the war and work carried out in the interest of Gaudiopolis only came to the fore in his homeland in 1989, when Erika Szántó made a documentary about him. In recent decades, his church and homeland have done better: his name is remembered in a school and a public space, and commemorated on several memorial plaques. His diary and papers have been published in a book entitled Isten kezében (In God’s Hands), the foundation named after him has become an important part of the educational and charitable work of the Lutheran church, a memorial to him stands in downtown Deák Square, on the side of the Lutheran Church. In spring 2019, Lutheran pastor Gábor Sztehlo was posthumously awarded the Hungarian Heritage Prize for his work.

Most societies from ancient times sourced the flute directly from the gods due to its wondrous tone. However, as an amateur I presume that the flute is far from simply to play. What sort of technical challenges face someone who chooses this instrument?

Eszter Gedai: “The lips, which channel the air towards the barrel, are highly sensitive and they must be used both delicately and steadily. In addition, we try to perfect the breathing technique, exploiting the full capacity of the lungs. In fact, it calls for the coordinated functioning of the entire body so that while playing the flute we do not even see the parts of the body that are most important to generating the sound.”

Kinga Kovács: “Despite the fact that four flutes playing together harmonize extremely well, far fewer works have been written for this instrumental combination than, for example, the string quartet. One of the reasons for this is that alto and bass flutes, which we also use in our quartet, were only developed in the 20th century.”

What motivated you to establish the Flautett Flute Quartet?

Júlia Ernyey-Balogh: “Our story began in the Varga Tibor Institute of Music of the Széchenyi István University, Győr, where we all studied. In fact, the idea of playing music in a quartet came from our teacher and mentor, flautist Gergely Ittzés, because one of the most joyful parts of building up credits at the university is the compulsory chamber class. Kinga, Zsófi and Anna Szarvas joined me and together we formed a flute quartet. Our first major appearance was at my diploma concert.”

Kinga Kovács: “In the course of rehearsals, we realized we worked very well as a team and then the idea arose that it would be great to play music together in the future, thus out of the ‘compulsory’ came a fantastic opportunity.”

Eszter Gedai: “Next, I took over Anna’s place in 2015. The friendship and working relationship has continued, Anna remains a welcome guest to this day.”

Zsófia Réman: “Right from the beginning, Gergely Ittzés said how unusual it was that our flute sound should come together with such clarity in such a short time – this gave us a huge confidence boost. Since then it has been our goal to play music to a high standard and get our music out to as wide an audience as possible. We love collaborating with other musicians, composers and representatives of different branches of the arts.

“Our repertoire is becoming increasingly diverse: from Baroque music to contemporary works, we enjoy playing in all styles, not only works written for four flutes but arrangements as well.”

Did you dream of a career in music even as children?

Zsófia Réman: “It was natural for me to be surrounded by melodies because my parents and my sibling are musicians, we could make up a compact orchestra together with other music-playing members of our wider family. In effect I grew up in the orchestral embrace of the Cluj-Napoca Hungarian Opera, so I was most attracted to this world right from when I was very young. I remember we had a jazz CD of flute and piano pieces, I listened to it a thousand times and I was determined that one day I, too, would play the flute. My path started from the Cluj-Napoca conservatory, then after studying in Győr, Budapest and Düsseldorf I saw my dream come true: at the moment, as well as playing with Flautett, I am flautist with the Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok.”

Kinga Kovács: “I, too, come from a musical family, my father is a teacher of the flute. It was clear that I wanted to be a musician, I was captivated by everything that is music. I am a teacher of flute at the Budaörs Leopold Mozart School of Music, and as a teacher of the Alexander technique I am a member of the Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique in Budapest. These two things complement each other perfectly. My progress with the flute was not without its difficulties, I often felt that despite my best intentions, I wasn’t able to achieve what I wanted to on the instrument. My muscles were all tensed up but I didn't even realize this. That’s when I started practicing the Alexander technique, then learning and finally teaching it. The technique helps in attaining body awareness and a healthy posture, it eases cramps caused by stress and helps in developing a better mood. The girls also use it.”

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Flautett Flute Quartet - Photo: Ágnes Szűcs

Eszter Gedai: “My father is a solfege teacher, my brother is an organist. Even as a music school student, I was keenly interested in chamber music and for several years I played in a flute quartet made up of music school students. I entered competitions and attended master classes, in 2016 I studied with a scholarship at Leuven in Belgium, and I continued my harpsichord studies. I teach flute at the Rácz Aladár Elementary School of Art in Budapest’s XVI district.”

Júlia Ernyey-Balogh:

“I’m the odd one out because nobody in my family was a musician and I didn’t make up my mind to be a flautist as a child.

“I come from a family of five children, we all learned one instrument or another, my parents passed on their love of music, we sang a lot and played chamber music together. One of my sisters also decided to pursue a career in music and the whole family currently sings in a choir, grandchildren as well. Choral singing is especially important to me, the 12 years I spent attending the Kodály Zoltán Hungarian Choir School were not wasted. To be honest, being a flautist was not a childhood dream of mine, but music became increasingly engrained in my life. Alongside flute studies I also graduated from the conservatory harp department and I was already a flute teacher when I passed my exam in the development of musical abilities, more commonly known as the Kovács method, at ELTE university. At the moment I am at home with my two toddlers and I train guide dogs, too. We also have two ‘professional’ dogs, Szálka is a therapy dog and Perec is a learner disabled helper.”

Where do you rehearse?

Zsófia Réman: “To start with, the base was in Kispest, at Juli’s place, then Juli married and they moved close to the Southern Railway Station so Flautett ‘moved’ there, too.”

Kinga Kovács: “What’s more, the flat next to Juli became vacant so I moved in as a neighbour, then when I moved out of there Zsófi took my place. Since then the residents have been careful to ensure that no other flat becomes available for rent in the house (laughs), but actually we have been very lucky because this apartment block enjoys flute music.”

You’ve had appearances at very many festivals: Valley of Arts, Budapest Spring Festival, Tiberius International Chamber Music Festival, Ars Sacra Festival… You have played together with such outstanding soloists as Gergely Ittzés, István Matuz, Dávid Kanyó, Endre Hegedűs. But what was your most memorable concert?

Zsófia Réman: “Our seventh birthday concert left a deep impression on me, it was a fine summation of our career thus far.

“We performed in front of a full house, our family, friends and mentors were all there, we invited guest artists, there was a quiz, reception, a cake and screening of the most memorable moments from previous years.”

Kinga Kovács: “We’ve also had concerts that became memorable because of a scare. For example, when just before taking to the stage we realized that two entire parts were missing from each score. We had left a folder at the Ars Sacra Festival the previous day… I’ll never forget Juli and Zsófi’s faces when they noticed this and told us.”

Júlia Ernyey-Balogh: “I was proud of us because we were able to react to the situation rapidly, we rearranged the programme in just a few minutes, we performed very collectedly and the audience affirmed this in their applause. In my mind, this proved that we really are a well-functioning, cohesive team.”

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Flautett Flute Quartet - Photo: Ágnes Szűcs

Eszter Gedai: “I reckon we can also be proud of our concert in BMC, when we performed exclusively contemporary works. It was a bold undertaking due to the need to master a variety of unusual musical languages. Two works had been written specifically for our quartet and we had collaborated with the masters of most of the pieces, that is with Barnabás Dukay, Endre Olsvay, Bánk Sáry, Péter Tornyai, Ákos Nagy, Árpád Könczei, and Pál Rózsa. On top of this, nearly all these people were sitting there in the auditorium.”

Are you also bound by friendship?

Zsófia Réman: “Of course!

“We are friends first, and only after this a quartet.

“The life of an ensemble might be simpler if there is merely a professional relationship between the members, yet I still believe that an intensive bond of friendship can give far more in human terms. Whereas there is a leader, a principal personality, in the majority of ensembles, with us everyone is of equal rank.”

Eszter Gedai: “We resemble each other in so many ways, we can easily handle our differences, indeed, we often manage to work them to our advantage: we exploit them in the allocation of parts and in the organization of our programmes. It is important that we think alike on the fundamental questions of life. Our notions on tonality and musical formation are very similar because we studied in the same institution and from the same teachers.”

As well as the Alexander technique, is there anything else that helps you overcome the excitement and stress resulting from appearing in public?

Kinga Kovács: “Yes.

“It is very reassuring when, before taking to the stage, we hold each other’s hands and pray together.

“There are times when in the mad rush this lasts just a second or two, but this spiritual bonding is the source of great strength.”

Do you also listen to light music?

Zsófia Réman: “Yes, for example I really love jazz. I don’t listen to classical music for relaxation because despite myself I begin to attend to it with a professional ear.”

Eszter Gedai: “I love listening to world music and folk music.”

Júlia Ernyey-Balogh: “I believe that we are able to provide a full experience on the stage when we are open to different musical genres.”

The quartet celebrates their tenth anniversary on 21 November. How are you preparing for this occasion?

Eszter Gedai: On the one hand, we will be releasing a CD shortly, we are in post-production at the moment. On the other hand, we plan a lovely jubilee concert. The programme is still being worked out, we are preparing several versions, an online concert as well given the unpredictability sparked by the epidemic.”

Kinga Kovács: “According to plans – and if everything really does work out in line with the best-case scenario – we will also appear with our teacher and master, Anett Jóföldi, who is flautist at the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Anna Szarvas, former member of Flautett, and Gergely Bíró, first percussionist with the Hungarian National Philharmonic, who by the way is an international diploma trainer in the Alexander technique. All four of us have had Alexander classes with him. And, of course, we will also welcome our friend, singer Zsófia Staszny, a regular guest at our concerts.”

What advice would you give to people who have never attended a classical music concert? How would you convince them that it is worth taking the time to go to a flute quartet concert, for example?

Eszter Gedai: “First of all, by not assuming too much from the name [Translator’s note: in Hungarian, komolyzene, translated as ‘classical music’, literally means ‘serious music’] because this can be off-putting to many. This is precisely why I prefer to use the term classical music [klasszikus zene].

“The title of one of our earlier concerts was ‘Seriousness Taken Lightly’, thereby signalling that grace, mischief, humour are often apparent in classical music.”

Júlia Ernyey-Balogh: “We always try to put together our programmes so that everyone will discover in them what is closest to their heart and taste. In the wake of a hefty, three-movement work, for example, we love performing a lighter, more playful piece.”

Kinga Kovács: “And there are pieces in our repertoire designed to touch the depths of the listener’s soul. Each piece enriches everyone differently, depending on the personality and current state of mind of the recipient.”

Many consider music to be a tool of communication, while others are of the view that it is a balm resolving differences of opinion between people, then there are those who look on music as a kind of bridge between people of different religious and political outlooks. What does music mean to you?

Júlia Ernyey-Balogh: “Playing chamber music is the greatest ‘team building exercise’.”

Eszter Gedai: “Shared joy. An opening towards the other person, but into oneself as well.”

Kinga Kovács: “It is something we can use to express our emotions, thoughts, state of mind.”

Zsófia Réman: “It is like pearl fishing: we submerge ourselves in musical compositions, we seek within them the pearls, then we rise to the surface in order to reveal them to the audience.”

The youth of an aristocrat

The origins of the Apponyi family can be traced back to the Magyar clans of the Conquest. The first renowned ancestor, Tamás of the Péc clan, appears during the reign of the Anjou kings, although the family’s true rise to prominence can be linked to the time of King Sigismund. In 1392, they received by royal decree the castle and estate of Appony or Nagyappony in Nyitra county, hence the name of the family. The Apponyis made a name for themselves from around the midway point of the Ottoman occupation. The family received the rank of baron in 1606, in 1739 Charles III bestowed the title of count on them, and by the 19th century the family belonged to the elite of the domestic aristocracy.

Count Albert György Gyula Mária Apponyi was born into this family in Vienna in 1846, the son of Count György Apponyi and Countess Júlia Sztáray. The young count received a systematic education as was typical for aristocratic families in the 19th century. He was a student at the Jesuit residential college in Kalksburg until 1863, and he completed law studies at the universities of Pest and Vienna.

Alongside his studies, at an early age he acquired an in-depth knowledge of German, French, English and Italian, to a proficiency that put even native speakers of these tongues to shame.

He used these skills to great effect throughout his career as a politician and diplomat. At the same time, and contrary to many of his fellow aristocrats, his mother tongue was Hungarian because – from the Reform Age onwards – the counts Apponyi regarded themselves as Hungarian patriots and raised their children accordingly. Being Hungarian and European fitted neatly with the family tradition, in the spirit of which and after completing his studies, the young Count Albert spent two years travelling through Europe, touring Germany, France, England and Italy. He was admitted to conservative Catholic aristocratic circles, where he became acquainted with important intellectual thinkers such as the dominant personality of French conservatism, Count Montalambert. His first public role is associated with this period, when he accompanied Ferenc Deák to Italy as an interpreter.

In the Monarchy of the happy days of peace

A political career beckoned to the young Apponyi in 1872, who throughout his life espoused conservative, Catholic ideals and a commitment to the nation, when he was elected as a member of parliament in Szentendre under the programme of the Deák party. He retained his parliamentary mandate as a delegate of Jászberény from 1881 until the end of his life, with only a brief gap.

From the 1880s until the First World War, he carried out his work within the frameworks of several party and political formations, he was one of the leading figures sometimes on the government side or with the prevailing opposition. He forced a government resignation, the cabinet of Kálmán Tisza in 1890, he was the leading figure of the National or Liberal Party in the governments of Sándor Wekerle in the 1890s, and between 1906-1910, and again in 1917, he held the education portfolio. However, he moved in international diplomatic circles as well and his name is associated with key draft legislation in Hungary. He was a participant in the armed forces debate that ruffled many feathers, he was a supporter of the adoption of laws regulating the relationship between churches and the state, and his name and ministry is since associated with Lex Apponyi, the act from 1907 promoting the teaching of the Hungarian language in minority schools, which has been much debated ever since. As a sincere believer in peace and reconciliation, he undertook several international missions and he was particularly active in the work of the Interparliamentary Union from the early 20th century. In 1914, as a cautious opponent of participation in the war, he partially withdrew from public life, but in 1917 he once again accepted a ministerial post for a short period. In 1918, during the Károlyi era, he withdrew and throughout the commune he was in hiding.

Hero of Trianon

At the end of 1919, he returned to public life when he undertook to lead the Hungarian delegation at the Trianon peace talks. In early 1920 he arrived in Paris in the company of the eminent geographer Count Pál Teleki and Count István Bethlen, the future prime minister who would work to rebuild the reduced country in the 1920s. By then, the text of the peace treaty had already been decided and the victors were unwilling to even hear the Hungarian standpoint. It was to the personal credit of Apponyi that he finally managed to speak to the delegates of the peace conference.

He gave a great speech pleading for fairmindedness and justice for the country, a speech which was recognized even by his opponents, although it changed nothing. He assessed the situation thus: “For Hungary, choosing between accepting the peace treaty or refusing to sign it would be tantamount to having to ask itself if it should rather commit suicide so as not to die.” If we consider that after 100 years, our country still lives, still exists, albeit within the boundaries of Trianon, while history has passed judgement on Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, then we can only agree with the count when he said

“you now dig Hungary’s grave but it will be in attendance at the burial of all those who now sit at the funeral feast”.

Of course, this speech did nothing to alter the peace accord, only his signature is missing. Neither Apponyi, nor Teleki, nor Bethlen were prepared to sign, they resigned their mandates and thus the Treaty of Trianon was eventually signed by two insignificant Hungarian politicians, Ágoston Bénárd and Lázár Alfréd Drasche on 4 June 1920. Apponyi was profoundly embittered by the failure and the fact of the breakup and looting of our country, but it did not persuade him to withdraw from public life.

A true politician

Even in the 1920s he continued his parliamentary work, his name was raised as a potential prime minister, and in the political arena he held royalist, legitimist views. He remained particularly active as a diplomat. Thus he continued working in the Interparliamentary Union, representing Hungary at the forums of the League of Nations. This latter setting gave him the opportunity to advance the country’s departure from the political quarantine into which the country had been locked by the victorious powers and successor states through Trianon. He was particularly active in the so-called optant case, when Hungary sought legal redress in a dispute over property confiscated from Hungarian estate owners by the Romanian state without compensation.

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Photo: Fortepan/Gábor Zoltán Kiss

By that time, he was respected and esteemed both at home and abroad. During his lifetime he was elected a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, president of the St. Stephen’s Academy, and he was awarded honorary citizenship of the municipality. His trips abroad and speeches he gave there won him particular renown, especially in the USA, and were events in themselves; his eightieth and then his eighty-fifth birthday were cause for national celebration. From the turn of the century up until his death he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on five occasions, and he failed to win it most probably because of general anti-Hungarian sentiment. In the meantime, during a most productive life, the politician and diplomat Apponyi enjoyed a harmonic family life. He married late, in 1897, with his wife bearing him two daughters, Mária and Júlia, and a son, György. The two older children lived in Germany and Austria after the war and died there around 1970, while his daughter Júlia passed away in Budapest in 1986. The count, a striking figure of noble stature, lived to a good age, dying in his 87th year in Geneva in 1933, at the headquarters of the League of Nations. He lay in state in Budapest’s Basilica and was buried by Archbishop Serédi in Matthias Church. The entire country mourned his passing. Proof of his human magnitude and integrity is that the politicians of the great powers and successor states, victorious in the war, who unworthily triumphed over him and over our country, as one paid tribute to his memory, just as we remember Count Apponyi in a dignified manner in the centenary of Trianon.

Trianon Peace Treaty

If we had switched places...

It is chilly down in the underpass at Nyugati Square, the air is rank with the smell of sour cigarette smoke. A young woman (let’s call her Lulu) is standing at the bottom of the steps taking deep drags from a cigarette: once again she is underground in order to sell her body. When I speak to her, she replies politely, saying she has no problem with me questioning her about her work, in return for which she only asks for a pack of cigarettes.

She tells me that she came to Budapest from a village in Somogy county, her father is a violent alcoholic and ever since she managed to ‘escape’ from home she hasn’t visited her parents.

We chat for a long time but she doesn’t finish her last sentence as she is getting ready. I follow her gaze and look at the man I suspect is her next ‘client’. It is quite likely that, even if involuntarily, a look of disgust passes across my face. “It’s just sex,” she says shrugging her shoulders, and waves to me in farewell.

I conducted this fieldwork years ago but even now I spend a lot of time thinking about what could have happened to me and to Lulu if we had been accidentally switched at birth. Then Lulu would have attended piano classes, she would have been enrolled into a church school, she would have been asked questions in lessons, she would have had the grazes picked up in a bicycle accident kissed away and she would have raised a glass with my parents on learning of her successful entrance exam to university. Meanwhile, I would have been curled up on the packed earth floor somewhere in a dead-end village because I hadn’t been able to hide from my father in time. Lulu is a textbook case, the embodiment of the street girl stereotype, but there are others.

I met the Brazilian Ines in Lisbon. Her mother was a prostitute in a poor neighbourhood and she also sold her body several times when still young in order to keep herself and the child she gave birth to when a teenager. Did she actually have a choice? She feels that there was no choice. She told me she was driven by a desire to break free, she was confident that if she ‘worked’ enough she could, one day, break out of this cycle of misery and eventually give up this way of life by getting married. I also spoke to an escort who said she came from a good family but she didn’t want to give up her lifestyle and this was the only way of enjoying luxury.

People move into the sex industry from very many different walks of life but coercive factors are the common denominator in all of their fates, as a consequence of which they look on their own bodies as a commodity to be traded.

The institution of prostitution is built on an asymmetric relationship because a prostitute does not have sex because he/she desires it but because he/she needs the money. “The way to be able to bear unwelcome intimacy and visceral reactions of disgust is if someone learns to separate their own emotions from their behaviour. So-called dissociation means that a person does not really experience what is happening to them, but instead they are present in the situation like some kind of observer. This is how children survive sexual abuse, their psyches protect themselves from completely collapsing mentally. Even though in fact this mechanism helps in surviving, anyone who has to resort to this means must pay a high price. It may take many years of extensive therapy for somebody to work through these experiences. It can result in mood swings, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, insomnia. It is enough to mention just one set of data as an example: in several studies, roughly 70% of prostitutes displayed signs of depression whereas compared to the general population this proportion is just 5-10%! Anybody able to finally quit prostitution later on has a major task of incorporating their past into their current self-image, or restoring their self-limits, that is, being able to judge realistically and represent what is acceptable behaviour from another person and what is the point when they have to say no,” explains Orsolya Kovács, head of BeBalanced Psychology Point.

Never a genuine choice

The psychologist believes that there are still enormous misconceptions in society as regards prostitution, one of the most common being that prostitutes enjoy sex. Psychologists, social workers and healthcare specialists engaged with sex workers paint a completely different picture: “It is a mistake to believe that being a prostitute is the result of free choice; the truth is, external and internal coercive forces lead the individual in this direction, even if they are unable to formulate this for themselves.

“For example, a casual heterosexual male prostitute told me that he went with men and with women sometimes for food, sometimes for drugs.

“He grew up in state care amidst a constant lack of love and serious abuse. Can one really call that a genuine choice? I don’t think so at all! A whole raft of unprocessed trauma led to this point, which, unfortunately, will be compounded by further trauma,” notes Orsolya Kovács.

In Hungary, those who live in children’s homes are particularly endangered since they have undergone many traumas and display more psychological deficiencies. Pimps are fully aware of this as well, which is why they go to great lengths to get in contact with them. They entice young people with kind words and hold out hope for a better life, then suddenly these kids find themselves in a coercive situation from which there is no escape. According to the psychologist who regularly works with children who have spent time in state care, this is when they fall into a trap physically and emotionally.

They have no experience of what it is like to be really important to someone, they don’t know what it is like when someone takes care of them and they are not clear about body boundaries.

They don’t see themselves as being of value so their sense of reality is seriously damaged: many don’t even realize they are being exploited, they don’t know what it is like to live without authority or danger.

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Kép: Peakpx

The impact of the pandemic

Whereas taxpayers in Western Europe complain that the pandemic has slashed demand and they petition for state aid, flagging interest is only temporary while mass unemployment, economic bleakness and the death of relatives will force more people into prostitution. Catherine Wornshop, professor at Maryland University, examined the impacts of the Ebola epidemic on people trafficking and she came to the conclusion that more than 16,000 children had lost one (or both) parents to the virus in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the sexual exploitation of children had skyrocketed, while from research conducted by Save The Children it transpires that in Sierra Leone alone, adolescent pregnancies increased by 65%.

According to experts, in Hungary too the unfolding crisis, unemployment and the isolation of families increase the vulnerability of children to those criminals who want to force them into prostitution, pornography or other forms of child sexual exploitation.

Recently, Szülői Hang (Parental Voice) drew attention on its Facebook page to the fact that even now there are signs from Brazil that increasing numbers of children from the poorer regions are being forced into prostitution, often by their own parents. Furthermore, the latest EUROPOL report concludes that since the outbreak of the pandemic the number of online recordings of sexual abuse committed on children has increased by a multiple.

The attitude of governments to ‘the oldest profession’ varies according to country, with some supporting it, some tolerating it and some banning it, but in every single country this industry is booming. Draconian measures lead to the establishment and running of secret brothels, an over-tolerant approach can mean that even more women are channelled into this industry, so for the time being it would appear that the world still does not know how to tackle the institution of prostitution. While there remains demand, there will always be those who ensure a supply, if not voluntarily then through force.

The single thing we can do is try to create a world around us in which as few people as possible look on their bodies as a commodity.

Experts in the field reckon that in order to be able to make major inroads into kerbing prostitution, it is necessary to implement structural transformations and a turnaround in social attitudes. “Instead of judging, it would be worth placing the emphasis on offering the right kind of help and education. We could teach our own children from the earliest age about protecting their own physical and mental boundaries. We must spend a lot of time talking to them about what it is when in a relationship, both sides mutually look after the other’s needs. If you see abused children in the neighbourhood, then report this fact, don’t stick your head in the sand! If we know someone who falls into a category that can be classified as vulnerable, talk to them about how they can take care of themselves, the different ways that young people's good faith and lack of love can be taken advantage of,” says Orsolya Kovács.

The psychologist is of the belief that it would be worth intensively debating at social level how to maintain control of prostitution, how to ensure the adequate provision of healthcare protection for prostitutes and how to rescue them from their situation, furthermore, utilizing the lessons of several successful foreign programmes, it is also necessary to implement social policy decisions in order to discourage prostitution.

I asked his granddaughter to tell me about the heroic ship’s doctor and the Hungarian connection to the Titanic. Márta Völgyi has done much to teach others about her grandfather. She was just 16 when she discovered the whole story. A journalist from Esti Hírlap took up an investigation and approached her mother, asking her to speak about her father. That is when she pulled out a large bag from the depths of the cupboard, the existence of which Márta had no idea. In it were personal items of her grandfather including some that were actually used by Dr. Árpád Lengyel during the rescue. After the death of her mother, the inheritance passed to Márta and she decided that the fate of these treasures lay in her hands. The teacher of French and Hungarian has held countless presentations about her grandfather at schools. A small display comprising objects once owned by Árpád Lengyel opened within the Titanic exhibition at Millenáris in the capital. She has also written a book about his life titled In the Shadow of the Titanic, subtitle: The life of a Hungarian doctor. The hope is to have this work published in English at some time in the future. We learned more about the career of Dr. Árpád Lengyel from his grandchild.

“Unfortunately, I only know him from what my mother told me as well as from a few letters written to him by patients or those he rescued. I came across his articles on various medical interventions in the Library of the Medical History Museum. I also heard a few things from neighbours who remembered him. My grandfather was a first generation intellectual, born into a family of traders in Pilismarót in 1886. While still a medical student he applied to the Budapest Volunteer Ambulance Unit (BÖME). In 1911 he was awarded a medical degree and in November he was appointed as an officer serving on board the Carpathia, a passenger and commercial steamship. It plied the route between Rijeka (Fiume) and New York.

“It was while on this route that they came across the Titanic, or more precisely they did not see the ship because by the time they arrived at the scene it had sunk.

“It was half past midnight on the 15 April 1912 when the SOS distress signal was sent out saying that the Titanic was sinking. The captain of the Carpathia didn’t think twice about what danger this could represent to his ship. He immediately ordered the ship to be turned around and they set off at full steam towards the Titanic. It took enormous spirit and courage to do this. Amidst the great tragedy they were still able to take onboard 705 people from lifeboats. It took three and a half days to sail to New York and everyone who had been picked up lived. The other great piece of luck is that notes written by my grandfather about the whole story survived. For instance, there is a letter he wrote to his brother in Hungary, and this has survived in its entirety.”

There is a saying that ‘whoever saves one life saves the world entire’. What do we know about the circumstances at the time? How did this catastrophe impact your grandfather and how did he continue his career?

“There were three ship’s doctors serving on the Carpathia, an Irishman, an Italian and my grandfather. Of the three of them, only he had practical paramedic experience. The captain ordered him to stand in the between decks doorway and it was his job to decide in seconds who would receive what kind of care. As such, he had to decide on the fate of 705 people. The survivors were in an extremely exhausted state from the cold. Fractures were also diagnosed in 42 cases. Cabins were hastily turned into surgeries. Sheets were ripped up to make bandages. Perhaps the worst situation that had to be dealt with was the fact that all 705 people were in deep shock.

“The majority of survivors were women since the only men permitted to enter the lifeboats were sailors engaged in rowing. Of eight couples on their honeymoon only the wives escaped.

“When they arrived in New York, they were met with a huge ovation. The next day, the New York Times published a full-page interview with my grandfather and they were celebrated as heroes. The Titanic catastrophe had a massive, lifelong impact on my grandfather. He handed in his resignation and never again boarded a ship. He returned to his original occupation and worked as a specialist physician in a clinic. Later on he was a school doctor, he taught, he was a teacher of health sciences and held courses at the Hungarian Red Cross. On the outbreak of war, he enlisted as an army surgeon.”

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Dr. Árpád Lengyel

What essential changes in shipping did the Titanic disaster bring about?

“My grandfather wrote several specialist articles on the subject of lifesaving at sea. As a consequence of his papers, two important findings were introduced into marine regulations. One was that every passenger ship was required to carry as many lifeboats as would be needed to hold the entire crew and all passengers in the event of an accident. Unfortunately, in the interest of ensuring maximum luxury there were fewer lifeboats than needed on the Titanic. The other was that every ship had to have two telegraph officers. This was very important because there were two ships that could have helped as they were closer to the Titanic than the Carpathia. One of the ships did not notice the Titanic’s mayday because the telegraph operator had finished his shift and was asleep. The crew of the other ship, observing the flashing lights on the Titanic, thought that fireworks were being set off for the pleasure of first class passengers. Today we know that they were in fact distress flares. That more people were not saved was due to these shortcomings and misjudgements.”

The life of Árpád Lengyel was overshadowed by two major tragedies. The Titanic disaster and that he was unable to save his own young son.

“His son was just seven years old when he fell victim to the then lethal contagious disease diphtheria.

“Unfortunately, for very many years my mother had no idea she had had a brother. Later on my grandfather never spoke about what he had experienced on the Carpathia, and the death of the young boy was another thing that the couple tried to bury deep within themselves. He threw himself into work, I reckon because this was his way of not pondering on these two great tragedies. He was employed as works doctor at Beszkárt, predecessor of BKV public transport company, in the clinic on what was then Mária Square. He also had a private practice and in the last three years of his life he was senior physician of laryngology at the Kapás Street Clinic. He lived to the age of just 54, dying in his sleep from a heart attack.”

His life story is far from an everyday one. How was your grandfather recognized?

“He received several prestigious awards. Sadly, his military decorations have been lost. He was presented with the silver medal of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society and the certificate of gratitude issued in his name is displayed on the wall of the sitting room to this day. We still have the gold medal awarded to the officers of the Carpathia in gratitude by survivors of the disaster. Two years ago, the Hungarian Ambulance and Emergency Services Association established the Lengyel Árpád Prize. It was due to be presented this April in its third year but the ceremony was cancelled due to the pandemic.
“Plaques have been placed on the walls of his final home, at Rákóczi Road, and at his surgery in the main square of Pilismarót. A third plaque would have been installed on the wall of the Kapás Street clinic but unfortunately this ceremony was cancelled, again because of the pandemic. Not one single street or square in Hungary bears the name of the heroic ship’s doctor. It is my hope that one day I will be able to enter into my GPS: destination – Dr. Lengyel Árpád Street.

Many will have dreamt in childhood about what it will be like when one day the love of your life pulls out a ring and asks to begin a lifelong journey together. “Open face, open heart, open word, hand in hand and eye to eye, that is how we see our love,” as Melinda beautifully (and in a very enlightened way!) puts it in Bánk Bán by József Katona.

The point is, two equal parties who choose each other of their own free will. That is an unimaginable luxury in some parts of the world, and a false hope for millions of little girls.

Forcing (young) girls under the age of 18 into marriage, not only interrupts their childhood, but an early pregnancy often exposes them to serious health risks and isolates them from the rest of society and, not least, their peers. At the same time, their dreams of learning and acquiring a profession are almost always dissipated.

Such young girls often become victims of domestic violence and have no means to represent their own interests or to defend themselves. In addition, child brides often live under the same roof as the husband’s extended family, which can be another source of violent abuse.

The younger the better

Majeda Begum is a thirteen-year-old Bangladeshi girl who was forced by her parents to marry a twenty-five-year-old man. “I grew up in my uncle’s house because my parents were too poor to raise me. When he died, they forced me to get married. I dropped out of school in the second form”, said the young girl, who also gave birth to a little boy at the age of thirteen, telling a reporter her tragic story. The doctor did not understand how she could get pregnant as her body was very underdeveloped. The gynaecologist suggested a caesarean section, but Majeda’s husband did not allow the operation, the baby had to struggle through the child’s body to be born. “I feel like a servant at home, my husband also beat me when I was pregnant. Even though I hate being with him, when he wants to have sex, I just have to obey. He often grabs and attacks me in my dreams ”, the little girl said, holding back her tears.

The documentary shows that Majeda's case is far from unique, as most girls in Bengal villages have been married this way for generations (the reporter's grandmother was only ten years old when she was forced to marry).

Men also choose a child bride for themselves because they are innocent, obedient, and much easier to force than adult women.

Child marriage became illegal in Bangladesh in the 1980s, in Asia, most such marriages are still concluded there. That is possible because, in that country, many girls’ birth certificates are forged, making it impossible to prove their real ages.

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A Lebanese woman educates two Syrian refugee girls about violence against women and the dangers of child marriage - Picture: Wikipedia

A Lebanese woman educates two Syrian refugee girls about violence against women and the dangers of child marriage - Picture: Wikipedia

Underlying causes of child marriage

As in our previous article on the genital mutilation of young girls, we are now interested in the maternal instinct in the issue of child marriage. In order to answer that question properly, first the cultural differences must be taken into account. While in Europe, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in December 1989, is the most widely accepted international human rights legal instrument to date, defining thinking about children's rights and the formal end of childhood (18 years), adulthood is understood differently in other parts of the world.

In Afghanistan, a 12-year-old boy may already be a family-supporting man. In Japan, the age of sexual consent is 13 years. In some African countries, the girl is an adult from her first menstruation.

The underlying social causes found in different parts of the world most often stem from the social situation of the family and the norms of the given culture. Most of the little girls offered for marriage live in deep poverty where, in the absence of social safety nets for a safer life, parents often interpret forced marriage as a more secure future. Marriage, however, is also a manifestation of a patriarchal will to govern the lives and futures of women and little girls, stemming in part from the same roots as genital mutilation. The number of child marriages is further increased by war and conflict, when parents may also decide to marry their minority age daughter for security and economic reasons. War is known to increase the number of acts of violence against women, which is why, in some conflict zones, forced marriage is seen as a security measure to protect underage girls.

Of course, the reality is much darker; according to the Swedish NGO Kvinna till kvinna (‘Woman to Woman’), married girls under the age of 15 are 50 percent more likely to be victims of violence and sexual violence. “If a girl doesn’t get married early, the community will gossip about her,” say village elders who believe that child marriage really does serve the girls’ safety. The reference to safety can also be seen in refugee camps, for example. The number of child marriages in the Jordanian refugee camp, home to hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees, has skyrocketed in recent years. According to UNICEF data, the number of marriages in which the bride was a minor, increased from 11 percent to 25 percent between 2011 and 2013. In addition to safety, many also argue that a minor daughter-in-law can mean a ticket to the West for a man’s family if the girl manages (apparently with the help of human traffickers) to apply for asylum in a European country.

Early and frequent pregnancies disproportionately affect unprepared child bodies, so it is no coincidence that complications and infections related to pregnancy and childbirth pose the greatest, fatal, risks to girls between the ages of 15 and 19 (World Health Organization survey 2017).

That is compounded by the fact that the children of mothers under the age of 20 have a 50 percent higher risk of premature infant death.

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Photo: Pxhere

European outlook

Child marriage can be seen as one of the negative consequences of illegal immigration in Europe. It is important to emphasize that this has not just appeared on our continent in recent years, but has been a challenge that has been with us for decades, imported through migration.  

One of the countries concerned is Sweden, host to a large Muslim community, where the current legislation, although prohibiting marriages in the country where one party is a minor, recognizes marriages abroad despite the minority of one of the parties. In 2016 alone, 132 minor asylum seekers arrived in Sweden who declared that they were married, though that number is presumably much higher. Most of those arrived from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands face similar challenges, although, due to the growing number of asylum seekers since 2015, the Dutch have managed to tighten up at least the relevant legal framework in such a way that a minor wife cannot live with her husband at the reception centre.

What can we do?

If you notice such problems in your direct or indirect environment, you should notify the social authorities immediately. You may wish to visit the ’Girls not Brides’ website for useful information on fighting child marriage.

Finally, and this cannot be stressed enough, we should be grateful for our privileged position, where we, like Melinda, who was able to marry Bánk as an equal partner, out of love and free will, may choose of our own will, and according to the dictates of our heart, the person with whom we wish to live our lives.

You were born in Miercurea Ciuc (Csíkszereda) in 1989 and you grew up in Sânsimion (Csíkszentsimon). How did you and your family perceive your minority Hungarian existence?
“I don’t think there is such a thing as minority existence, just minority feeling. Minority existence is in the head. A nation exists as long as it speaks the language, there are no borders to its culture. We, expatriate Hungarians, are part of a nation. In itself, the linguistic difference is not the cause of conflict between people, Romanians, Hungarians, Szász (Saxons) and Gypsies have lived together in Transylvania for centuries and they have good relations with each other. If, however, the situation is tense due to politics, then this dialogue can offer a solution. The discovery of a common voice, just like in music. It is a special thing to grow up in Transylvania.

“My childhood was extremely varied: I was surrounded by the kind of cultural and natural environment that provides me with a resource for a lifetime.

“Every Sunday we would go hiking in the forests, I learnt folk songs from my mother and I came into contact with acting and folk dance in my home village.”

Today, you live a ‘double life’ since you are soloist of the Hungarian Opera, Cluj-Napoca and you sing in the Hungarian State Opera. What were your impressions when you first came to Hungary?
“As far as I am concerned, Transylvania is one of the most beautiful parts of the world and I wouldn’t go abroad if I didn’t want to study and develop. But as the joke goes: you’ll only make a Romanian out of a Szekler if he goes to Budapest. Well, I’ve seen both sides, good and bad alike, in Bucharest just as much as in Budapest. Still, the most important thing is, as János Arany writes: “The greatest goal here in this earthly existence / Is to be human always, in all circumstances.” In the Bucharest opera house they asked me, a person who was born in Transylvania and holds dual citizenship, how I felt. I replied: ‘perhaps a little this, a little that, but mainly Szekler’.

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Csaba Sándor at St. Anna lake – Picture: Csaba Sándor’s Facebook page

“Since from my childhood onwards we were always coming to Budapest, I felt it completely natural when we travelled there. I always had that sense that it is irrelevant that a border separates us, we are Hungarians and we belong together. It was a very special and emotional moment when I first sang on the stage of the Hungarian State Opera. Now I am commuting, spending three weeks here and then five weeks there.

“Music is always the universal language and link whereby we find the way to each other.”

Did you come across difficulties when you started to spend more time in Hungary?
“The feeling was like leaving home to go home. I only came up against linguistic and administrative difficulties because although we speak one language, we don’t always use the same words, while the bureaucracy works in a different way to Transylvania. Here, they don’t understand me when I ask for ‘wine water’ (borvíz) in a shop instead of sparkling mineral water, or I ask my girlfriend, who is from Budapest, for a rolling pin or pastry board (laskasiritő or lapító) in the kitchen.”

You attended primary school in Sânsimion and a teacher there launched you on your career in music. Who was the first person to encourage you to sing?
“My mother was the first to teach me to sing. She explained when and how to take breaths, how to properly articulate words. One could say she infected me with a love of music, it was totally natural for us to sing and dance at home. In this regard I profess what Zoltán Kodály said: “Music is intellectual nourishment that cannot be replaced by anything else. Whoever lives without it lives and dies in spiritual anaemia.” I can count myself lucky in that I was surrounded by the sort of teachers and mentors – and they continue to stand by me to this day – who encouraged and helped in everything. I am grateful to very many people, a single article would not be sufficient to list them all. I urge everyone to sing and to get to know their own culture because when one sings, one sings out one’s joy and one’s sorrows.”

Was it given that you would be where you are today, an opera singer? Weren’t you interested in other genres?
“It is the task of parents, especially the mother, to nurture an interest in music. They provided me with a broad background in this respect, I learnt folk songs from them while Targu Mures radio played Hungarian melodies and operetta excerpts, and in the meantime we listened to cassettes and records of pop stars and bands. Thus it is nothing short of a miracle that I chose opera because until the age of 18 I had never heard or seen a single work. I watched a guest performance of Rigoletto (which, by the way, I played in five years later) by Hungarian Opera, Cluj-Napoca in Miercurea Ciuc in my final year as a student.

“Later on, when I listened online to the finale of Don Giovanni, I was certain this was the path I wanted to follow because it sent shivers down my spine, I was totally captivated by this magic.

“Opera is a synthesis of the arts that frequently depicts profound and eternally valid human emotions. Passion, disappointment, anger, love and friendship will always exist as long as humanity is on this earth. Take, for example, the quartet in the third act of La Bohème: four people are singing at the same time, each speaking of their own pain and story, everyone has different lines, yet the end result is wonderful and spine-tingling, beautiful music – but I could also mention the Rigoletto quartet here as well.”

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Csaba Sándor in Don Giovanni - Picture: Csaba Sándor Facebook page

What was your first, highly memorable role?
“There were several. Marriage of Figaro directed by Péter Novák in the Hungarian Opera, Cluj-Napoca was a major milestone for me. After all, in Cluj-Napoca it is necessary to climb the ladder from beginning to end and when I sang for the lead role I was still a member of the choir. There were also key moments when I first sang on stage in Budapest, Iași and Bucharest.

“Hungarian Opera, Cluj-Napoca brings together Hungarians from Transylvania, they also play musicals, operas and operettas. They boast a broad repertoire with many talented people.

“It is always a great pleasure to stand on stage and perform, presenting the message and the beauty of the given work. This is another reason I find this pandemic quarantine so hard to bear.”

Is there any difference performing for Transylvanian, mother country Hungarian and foreign audiences?
“I put exactly the same intensity into a role for all audiences. There’s no difference. Wherever I am, I strive to touch the audience with the music I sing, to convey those emotions that are welling up in me. I make every effort to prepare myself so that I can give the very best of myself. I am grateful that I am able to do what I love doing. When I am on stage my goal is to impress not only with my singing and the music, but I want the silence to have power, too.”