If these strongholds are lost, then the block and the interior of the nation will follow. This is also why we need to pay attention to scattered communities.

Scattered means fortresses that protect the entire nation - stated the State Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office responsible for national policy at the ceremony organized on the occasion of the Day of the Hungarian Scattered in Budapest on Sunday.

János Árpád Potápi drew attention to the fact that if these final castles are lost, then the block and the interior of the nation will follow. That is why we need to pay attention to scattered communities, he said.

Everything must be done to ensure that the dispersion remains, and that there are strong supports and strongholds of Hungarianness in the next century as well, he added.

The secretary of state responsible for national policy pointed out that scattered communities in the Carpathian basin account for nearly half of Hungarians outside Hungary. In the twentieth century, they decreased drastically, but the past decade has proven that there is no irreversible process, if we unite for Hungarianness, results can be achieved, he added.

If an NGO leader, mayor, pastor, priest or teacher stands at the head of a community, they can formulate goals, and the Hungarian government can help them with them - emphasized János Árpád Potápi.

He mentioned three settlements, Maradék in Serbia, Magyarlaka in Croatia, and Nagyida in Slovakia, as positive examples of reversing decline and assimilation.

He also touched on the fact that kindergartens, nurseries, schools were built, scattered colleges or integrated educational institutions were established in order to enroll Hungarian children in Hungarian institutions by their parents, thus helping to preserve their identity.

In his greeting, János Árpád Potápi also remembered the Transylvanian prince Gábor Bethlen, whose birth and death day, November 15, was declared by the Parliament to be the day of the Hungarian diaspora. He quoted the prince's words written in Cluj-Napoca in 1613, less than a month after his election: "...with a Christian spirit we seek - for our own survival - the path of peace."

The state secretary responsible for national policy called the two-day event of this year's ten-year-old House of Hungarians exemplary, at which the performers all represent scattered communities.

MTI

Cover image: The performance of the Péter Ilosvai Selymes Folk Dance Ensemble at the ceremony organized on the occasion of the Day of the Hungarian Diaspora at the National Dance Theater on November 14, 2021. MTI/Noémi Bruzák