On Friday, Katalin Schmittné Makray received the Award for Citizen Hungary for her promotion of a healthy lifestyle, her outstanding achievements as an athlete, her charitable activities, and her service to the preservation of national thought and traditions.
At the ceremony of the Civic Foundation for Hungary (PMA), praising the Olympic silver medalist gymnast and the wife of former head of state Pál Schmitt, Speaker of the House László Kövér, curator of the PMA, said: "we can say thank you for a particularly valuable service", for the effort with which Katalin Schmittné Makray made the country, the nation and contributed to the life of the civil society. "We thank you for strengthening the strongholds of the Hungarian soul for a lifetime," he added.
Listing the main milestones in the awardee's life, she recalled: Katalin Schmittné Makray was born in historic times, her father was taken prisoner by the Russians during the Second World War, her grandfather was deported to Hortobágy, on October 23, 1956, she "ran home" to the shared apartment in Bródy Sándor Street, when the radio became a tragedy events".
László Kövér emphasized: his talent in sports stood out early and it also showed early that he was a champion type. Katalin Schmittné Makray is an eight-time Hungarian champion, Universiade winner as an individual and as a team, and became a country's hero with the silver medal won at the Tokyo Olympics in 1964; everyone remembers him and his three children from the TV tournament - listed László Kövér, who also praised the award-winning coach's work and his efforts to introduce aerobics in Hungary.
The Speaker of the House also mentioned that Katalin Schmittné Makray supported her husband's work as President of the Republic and MOB and "made friends for Hungary".
László Kövér put it this way: "Mrs. Katalin was never an American-style first lady, she was and remains a Hungarian lady, the embodiment of the most beautiful female virtues, who found the key to self-realization in sacrifice, selflessness, love and understanding." In addition to the mandatory representation, he stood by good causes with commitment and great work ethic, said the politician, describing in detail the wide-ranging charitable activities of the awardee.
Katalin Schmittné Makray thanked for the award and emphasized, among other things, the importance of passing on the civic values and upbringing that appear in the trinity of God, home, and family to the next generations. "When home calls you, you have to go and do it," he said, adding: "we all feel that we are living in very difficult times, in which case civil solidarity is even more necessary." In his speech, he also remembered the first awardee of the Civil Hungary Award, Mádl Dalma, who died on October 22.
At the ceremony, the events of the next three to four months from the point of view of civil Hungary were analyzed by Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister's Office and a member of the board of trustees of the Civic Foundation for Hungary, which awarded the award.
Between two heathens for one country - he described the situation, saying that the European Union applies a harsh double standard in a way that has not been experienced before, and the opposition does not just want to replace the government, but "everything that has been established in Hungary within the framework of the constitution in the last 30 years".
Gergely Gulyás emphasized: as a result of the past 12 years, the nation and the country are in a better condition than at any time since the system change, "the necessary foundations for the construction of bourgeois Hungary are in place, perhaps the walls are already in place, and we can be sure that if this struggle is successful, then the next four years will be enough to complete the house".
"We have a difficult three or four months ahead of us, but I am quite sure" that "we have never had such good prospects" for "continuing" Hungary's past decade, which was the best in Hungary's past century, and that bourgeois Hungary will continue get stronger - added the minister in charge of the Prime Minister's Office.
Ádám Kavecsánszki, chairman of the board of trustees of the Foundation for Civil Hungary, spoke about the fact that they were able to occupy their headquarters in 2020, which has since become their home, an important meeting place for the civil society.
He added that, despite the epidemic, work could also begin in person at their representative office in Brussels, several events were also held in Hungary, they also organized a program tour in the countryside, and their education and scholarship programs continued. He also recalled: the meeting in Kötcs was organized for the twentieth time, the main speaker and patron of which was Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
MTI
Photo: MTI/Zoltán Balogh
