Washington, DC – The “Hungarian Review”, the English-language affiliate of the bi-monthly journal Magyar Szemle, edited by Gyula Kodolányi and John O’Sullivan, has published its sixth issue for 2019.
On the cover: The mansion complex under restoration from the massive damage caused by the retreating Wehrmacht in 1945 due to Bánffy’s anti-Nazi stance. Bonchida (Bonțida, Romania), 2010s. Photo by Géza Entz
Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the fall of Communism and Hungary’s important role during that historic era is the topic of several important essays in this issue. In his editorial note entitled “Celebrating Hungary: 1956 and 1989”, John O’Sullivan emphasizes, that the first crack in the Soviet empire was the revolutionary resistance of 1956 continued by the civil resistance of the later Kádár years and completed by the decisions of a post-Kádár government cooperating with civil anti-Communist movements to restore the democracy snuffled out in 1948.
According to John O’ Sullivan, by 1956 everyone knew Goliath and his real nature. He writes: “Hungary’s young revolutionaries had changed how the world saw Goliath. Yes, but more importantly they had changed how the world saw Hungary and Hungarians, not as bitter-sweet ironists, witty pessimists with a death-wish, compromised realists, but as ordinary people who were also gallants, gambling against great odds and turning their losses into heroic reputation. That heroism had always been there, but now the West rediscovered it.”
In his article entitled “Reflections on the Fall of the Berlin Wall”, Edwin J. Fuelner writes: “The Wall symbolized what we already knew: that Communism was a system built on a fragile foundation. One that would not last. Communism everywhere and all the time must rely on coercion. That means that its leaders can never ease up on repression. The moment they do, the people tear down the barriers that keep them down.”
The ‘Current’ section contains further articles by Gyula Kodolányi (“The Two Europes: Then and Now – Miracle or Necessity: Synergies That Made 1989 Possible”); Gábor Turi (“A Day That Changed the Course of History – The Pan-European Picnic and Its Perception Today”); Levente Magyar (“Recalling Cardinal Mindszenty’s Fifteen Years at The United States Embassy in Budapest”); Boris Kálnoky (“A Nazi Murder and The Fallout”); Andreas Unterberger (“Austrian Head-Scratchers”); Tony Abbott (“No End Of A Lesson To Europe – On Border Protection at The Danube Institute In Buda”); and Mark Higgie (“Christianity, Migration And Multiculturalism”).
The periodical then continues with a ‘History’ section with contributions by Gábor Bethlenfalvy (“In Search of an America – Part II”); Gergely Krisztián Horváth (“Communist Agricultural Policy and The First Wave of Collectivisation in Hungary”); David A. J. Reynolds (“That Sons and Daughters Will Understand: A Review Essay On Steep Path”); and Miklós Bánffy (“The Phoenix Land – Part III”).
Finally, the ‘Arts’ section features an article by Dorottya Gulyás (“”The Whole World Fits into His Left Hand…” – The Last Artistic Period of Béni Ferenczy”).
Currently, 53 issues of the Hungarian Review from 2010 through 2019 can be ordered from amazon.com; or directly from the publisher; or by calling the Coalition office in Washington.