Nowadays, Slovakia also applies harsh discrimination against Hungarians, people of Hungarian origin, or those who draw attention to the falsity of Slovak historiography. However, not everyone leaves the chauvinistic steps at that. Zsuzsanna Falath, a Slovak museologist of Hungarian origin, stood up for her rights, and the house of cards of Slovakian hatred, standing on weak legs, seems to be collapsing.
In the winter of 2018, a museologist in her twenties named Zuzana Falathova (Zsuzsanna Falath) gave a highly publicized interview to Magyar Hírlap, in which she explained that although she had been under the influence of the Slovak view of history for a long time, like all Slovaks, she gradually realized the lies of it, as she was confronted by the with post-World War II resettlement involving Hungarians, and the silence of this in the Slovak public consciousness. Then he gradually became aware of his own Hungarian roots, began to learn Hungarian, and began to loudly represent the truth. After the interview, he received death threats for the first time - for example: "you should be shot in the head and your body thrown into the Danube, you Hungarian agent!" –, his colleagues turned away from him, he became a pariah from a well-respected curator, finally after some humiliating tug-of-war they managed to get him to leave, he was put under severe pressure, which ended with him being fired from his job.
However, Falath went to court with his lawyer, Dávid Nagy, and at the hearings, the museum's representatives argued that the museologist's position would have been eliminated due to a mere reorganization, that there is nothing to see here - and it seems that this was the result: they won the first instance one of two lawsuits, so the court ruled that Zsuzsanna's dismissal was unlawful.
This is not Malina Hedvig's time anymore
If the verdict becomes final, it could be a precedent, and perhaps more people will dare to turn to the court for legal redress, as this will send a message to the Hungarians in Slovakia that "this is no longer the Slovakia of the Malina Hedvig case," says Dávid Nagy in response to our inquiry.
As he tells about the trial, this was one of the labor lawsuits, in connection with which he said many times that if he manages to win this one, there is a chance to win the other one - formally also a labor lawsuit, but actually a discrimination lawsuit. In this proceeding, the court considered whether or not Falath's dismissal was lawful - and found it not. The real reason, i.e. the position of the deep official against the Slovak view of history and the director's attitude to freedom of expression, will be discussed in another procedure.
"Today, the court ruled that the dismissal of Zuzana Falathová was illegal, and this would be the case even without the audio recordings we submitted," explains the lawyer. Nagy emphasizes: it is illegal, therefore invalid, which means that his client's employment has not officially ended, in fact, it continues to this day, but what this entails in practice will be interesting after the second instance decision.
The justification is all the clearer: during the procedure, the museum was unable to prove that there really had been a real structural transformation, with which it subsequently justified the dismissal of the museologist, in fact: the exact opposite happened, since it was later said in court that this was why the young lady's position was terminated , that instead of the person who worked as a curator, a restorer would be hired, which did not happen, but later only three restorers worked in the museum instead of the previous four.
The judge also pointed out that all of this was supported by the audio materials submitted by Falathék, where it was specifically stated that they wanted to force him to resign in connection with his previous interview with Magyar Hírlap.
"I never doubted my truth"
Falath, he explained to the Mandiner, was of course happy to have won the case and had no doubts about its truth for a moment. "I started the trial with mixed feelings, because here in Felvidék, unfortunately, it is not always typical for the courts to vote for the truth. But the fact is the fact, it became clear legally that I was fired from the Bratislava City Museum because of my stand for the truth and not because of the organizational changes".
He added: "This victory is not only a victory for me and my lawyer, but for the entire Hungarian people, who hopefully can draw strength to continue their fight, especially in the separated parts (...) we must never give up any of our rights. This victory is not final, as another trial will take place in the future, in which we want to prove that there was clear, national discrimination - discrimination against me - against Hungarians," said the museologist.
On the other hand, Nagy emphasizes that: although he does not see what the other party could do in such a clear situation from a professional point of view, theoretically the representatives of the museum also have the right to appeal, and then it will be continued at the second instance in the district court - otherwise, the outcome of this lawsuit will definitely affect the to another, where the subject is the discriminatory attitude of the director and the institution.
Source: szentkoronaradio.com
Photo: Zsuzsanna Falath's Facebook page
