Menu
Mr Orbán shared a video on his Facebook page in which, together with Member of the European Parliament for Fidesz Tamás Deutsch and Minister for National Cultural Heritage in the first Orbán Government Zoltán Rockenbauer, he recalls his speech delivered on 16 June 1989, the reburial of Imre Nagy and fellow martyrs.
The Prime Minister wrote as a caption for the video, “then and now. In 1989, we had to send the Russians home so that we may be free. At the time, this took a lot of courage. Today, too, it takes courage for us to stay free. Empires come and go, we won’t run away.”
Recalling the origins of his speech, Mr Orbán said the idea emerged that someone other than him should speak at the reburial as he delivered the 15 March speech as well, and the strength of a political organisation cannot depend on a single person. An argument against this idea was that on 16 June at Heroes’ Square, there will be 200,000 to 300,000 people, and it is not evident that the speech will go well; someone who had already done something like this should do it again, he said.
Mr Orbán also recalled that many people thought that they were too young for politics. In response, he said as democracy was only just beginning, everyone was the same age. “Antall knows precisely as much about democracy as we do.”
Mr Deutsch and Mr Rockenbauer said together they achieved that Mr Orbán should be allowed to deliver the speech, in which István Csurka, a politician of the MDF [the party Hungarian Democratic Forum] of the day supported them. “Csurka gave me a public profile,” the Prime Minister said.
Regarding the circumstances of the coming into being of the speech, they believed that here was an opportunity to say important things that they seriously meant before the whole country for an audience. They did not consider whether the speech should be radical or not because they took the view that this was a once-in-a-lifetime moment; a speech like this can only be delivered once, they may never have another chance to speak up, he stated.
Mr Orbán also spoke about the fact that the text had been reviewed by János Gyurgyák – together with whom they edited the periodical Századvég – and it was Mr Gyurgyák who suggested that at the end of the speech they should make a gesture of respect, and should bow their heads before the martyrs.
The President of Fidesz said the speech he eventually delivered was not the original one. The original speech was a longer one that incumbent Speaker of the House László Kövér wrote. György Litván wanted to have a look at the speech before it was delivered, but Mr Orbán did not comply with his request. At the same time, he did tell the historian that he was going to urge the withdrawal of Russian troops. The Prime Minister revealed that Mr Litván had not been happy about this idea, and had asked whether this was the right time to make such a demand. At the same time, he also had problems with the length of the speech, claiming that seven minutes was too long, the video reveals. Mr Kövér did not agree with the shortening of the speech, and hung up the phone, saying “I’m done giving you extra lessons,” Mr Orbán recalled, eventually deciding to write a completely new speech.
He also spoke about the fact that Imre Nagy and his associates were communists, and so they had to explain what Fidesz was doing at the reburial. Hence the sentence in his speech that they learnt from their fate that democracy and communism were incompatible.
Mr Orbán further mentioned that after the reburial ceremony, he organised a discussion with philosopher-one of the founders of the Alliance of Free Democrats [SZDSZ] János Kis who believed that the part urging the withdrawal of the Russians from the country was a mistake. Mr Kis eventually came to the conclusion that Fidesz might be right, and it was not premature to demand this, but only if in the autumn the governments of Czechoslovakia and East Germany would fall.
The Prime Minister said “there was a huge commie campaign” against us because the speech was regarded as irreverent. He said they knew that the regime was over when those in power admitted that they had killed the martyrs of 1956. It was on this day that the communist regime fell in Hungary, he concluded. He added that it was evident that Imre Nagy was a victim, and so the person who had had him hanged – János Kádár – was more a killer.
In the video, Mr Orbán took the view that this was not just a simple event of the change of regime, the fall of communism, but the moment when the regime morally fell.
More news
