Erzsébet Gergely Istvánné Tőkés, the founder of the Házsongárd Foundation, which is working to save the Hungarian graves in the Házsongárd cemetery, was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit in Cluj on Thursday.
The award was presented by Consul Csaba Grezsa as part of a surprise event organized by the Házsongárd Foundation without Gergely Erzsébet's initiation on the occasion of the founder's eightieth birthday.
As the local historian György Gaal, praising the celebrated person, said: Erzsébet Gergely is one of the most respected and authentic personalities of Cluj. Already as a teacher, he encouraged his students to take care of the pantheon of Hungarians in Transylvania, but the real work began for him after his retirement in 1999. From then on, he devoted all his energy to the preservation of the Hungarian graves in the cemetery. The Házsongárd Foundation, which he established, prepared the monument data sheet of almost 400 graves and fought for the protection of these graves, and following his work, another 600 graves will be designated as monuments. In addition, he restored 163 tombstones and 11 crypts.
He carried out his activities at a time when it became commonplace to bury Hungarian personalities on their graves and to remove important Hungarian memories from the cemetery.
Erzsébet Gergely was greeted by Anikó Lévai, the wife of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who believed that the eightieth birthday is a warning that "we too must be guards from whom the treasure will not be stolen, because sooner or later we will have to take over the baton".
In his greeting, Réka Brendus, head of the Department of the State Secretariat for National Policy of the Prime Minister's Office, stated: the person being celebrated is fighting for the result, not for success. He attributed this to the fact that Erzsébet Gergely avoids the public and "lives from the background of her profession and dedication".
For the event, the foundation published an album summarizing the 22 years of work carried out in the protection of the Házsongárd cemetery. Dávid Sipos, who presented the album, quoted Gergely Erzsébet an earlier statement, according to which tourists visiting the Házsongárd cemetery would do better if they left behind uprooted weeds instead of red-white-green ribbons.
In her speech of thanks to Erzsébet Gergely, she noted: the cemetery became her habitat, and this required many sacrifices on the part of her family and colleagues. He thanked all those with whom he worked in a team.
MTI
Photo: reformatus.hu
