According to Zsolt Semjén, where heroes are not forgotten, there will always be new ones. The Deputy Prime Minister of Hungary delivered a ceremonial speech at the commemoration of the Arad Martyrs on Thursday evening at the Statue of Liberty in Arad.
He believed that an irrevocable and indelible event took place in Arad 173 years ago, which delayed the obviously necessary compromise between the Habsburg dynasty and Hungary by about twenty years.
"Hungarian aspirations were still hindered by the European powers"
- he stated, referring to the Austrian-Russian treaty, on the basis of which the Russian army also marched against the Hungarian war of independence.
It took more than thirty years for the great power policy to change, until those certain aspirations could be put back on the agenda with Austria's defeat in Königgrätz in 1866, stated Zsolt Semjén in his speech.
In his speech, the Deputy Prime Minister flashed the moments of how, despite the initial ban, commemoration of the revolution and the martyrs made its way after the revolution and freedom struggle of 1848-49 was defeated.
He emphasized: Arad has a prominent place in remembrance.
"Nothing illustrates this better than today, 173 years after the tragic events, we gathered from all over the Carpathian basin and think with grateful hearts of our martyrs, the heroes of the Hungarian independence and freedom struggle. Where heroes are not forgotten, there will always be new ones," concluded Zsolt Semjén.
Kelemen Hunor, the deputy prime minister of the Romanian government, also addressed the issues of memory policy in his speech, delivered in both Hungarian and Romanian. He called October 6 the most complicated day of national memory, which is both a day of mourning, when we remember the martyrs of the revolution, but also a holiday, when we recall the revolution that triumphed after several decades of delay, and in Arad, the liberation of the Statue of Liberty, which had been hidden for decades, must also be remembered.
The president of the RMDSZ also touched on the fact that the war taking place near us showed that peace, like freedom, is not a state of rest. You have to do it for them.
"If we have work to do today, if we have something to do, it is precisely this: to preserve peace, to preserve freedom. The two together. And then a life worthy of man will be possible!" the politician stated.
Calin Bibart, the mayor of Arad, emphasized in his speech: the memory of the generals lives on, while every year thousands come to the city to remember their sacrifice.
The series of commemorations in Arad began in the afternoon at the site of the loss with a mourning ceremony and wreath-laying. The funeral mass held in the Minorite church was celebrated by Pécs County Bishop László Felföldi.
Source: Vasarnap.hu
Featured image: MTI
