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“Nomen est omen, we are standing here now like a flock without its shepherd, with our heads bowed down and with heavy hearts, Serbs and Hungarians, Hungarians in the motherland and Hungarians beyond the border,” Mr Orbán said at the ceremony held in the Baja út cemetery in Szabadka, stressing that he bids farewell to the Vojvodina Hungarian politician together with Serbian head of state Aleksandar Vucic.
“We are standing here with President Vucic, representing the Serbian and Hungarian people, broken-hearted and confused, over the coffin of a Hungarian man who united us and made peace between our nations, for which we can’t be grateful enough to him,” he said.
We feel the weight of the political legacy left to us, we are Central Europeans, and therefore we know only too well how easily a friend can turn into an enemy, and how rare it is in this part of the world for former enemies to turn into friends, he stated. He recalled that ten or so years ago it would have been unimaginable for the two countries, the two nations to be able to count on one another in everything; today, however, it would be unimaginable “for us not to share each other’s joy and pain.”
István Pásztor “was the first who did not only hope and did not only believe that this could be so, but also made efforts for it; he showed us the path that Serbs and Hungarians can follow together as the shared fate of two peoples would reasonably dictate,” Mr Orbán pointed out.
The Prime Minister described Mr Pásztor as a brave man and a strong leader, but above all as an outstanding soldier who “lived as a soldier, fought as a soldier and also passed as a soldier,” and to whom they were now bidding farewell with the respect that a comrade-in-arms deserved.
We are bidding farewell “to a fighter who didn’t only know how to live, but also how to die with his head held high,” Mr Orbán said, stressing that at the end of his life, Mr Pásztor endured pain, his serious illness without complaint. He never encumbered his colleagues and friends with his own problems, he just did what he had to do all the way until the moment when he received “the heavenly SAS call-up paper” and left.
He highlighted that Mr Pásztor had been not only an excellent comrade-in-arms, but also a true friend that he had known “forever.” He recalled it was not a coincidence that in May 2010, he was his first official visitor after he took his oath as prime minister. “I’m not even sure now whether he supported us or we supported him at the time, but I clearly remember the depressing weight of our shared responsibility,” he observed.
He took the view that Mr Pásztor had borne this responsibility not only for his own people, the Hungarians of Vojvodina, but for the entire Hungarian nation, and this was a mission that today the sons of few nations understood.
He also recalled that prior to Mr Pásztor’s presidency and also during his first years in office, Hungarian nation policy had been falling apart and at an all-time low “due to the betrayal and undermining work of the governments in Pest,” “it had to be brought back almost from the grave,” but Mr Pásztor even succeeded in that feat.
He also stressed that he was grateful to Mr Pásztor for having had the opportunity to learn from him how to endure problems, whilst retaining a positive outlook on life. “He was a wise man, he knew that those who spoke in complicated ways were not smart; they were merely pretending to be smart. He knew that wisdom lay in simplicity, in being able to make even the most complex political problem understandable for others,” he said, describing the Vovjodina Hungarian politician, highlighting that it was awe-inspiring to see the compelling force with which Mr Pásztor was able to encourage a fragmented community divided by a variety of interests to take action together.
He said “we doff our hats” before the achievement that as the longest-serving president of the provincial parliament, Mr Pásztor was able to create an understanding between Serbs and Hungarians.
He highlighted that it would be difficult to count on how many causes they had combined forces in the past 13 years, but they could rest assured that Mr Pásztor would keep his word. “His handshake was a stronger bond that any written contract. He never made promises; he agreed to do things, and whatever he agreed to do he would fully deliver on. People in Belgrade knew this just as people in Budapest knew, and just as people here in Szabadka did,” he said, praising Mr Pásztor.
He also said he thought they would have another 10 to 12 years to work and to fight together, and once they had completed that time, they would be able to say: they have done the bulk of the job, “let the young wolves come now.”
“However, the Lord has decided otherwise. And here, there is no appeal, nor acquittal,” he added. He stressed that “we are staying here for a while, and are looking for the answer;” what will happen now that “the strongest support beam has been pulled out of the structure built together by Hungarians and Serbs,” what should they do now that “the Vojvodina support beam of Hungary’s nation policy” has fallen?
The Prime Minister cited the Hungarian writer from Szabadka Dezső Kosztolányi: “Yes, to be, to be. To be a man and to be humane primarily. To be a good European and to be a good Hungarian. As a westerner and an easterner fencing two ways, as a creative will stretching far and as a humble worker, we must pass on to our successors the spirit and the language that were handed down to us for a short while, polished with a new spirit, unscathed. This is our mission, may fortune’s hand bless or beat you, this is our mission.” He added that this had been and would remain Mr Pásztor’s and our joint mission.
“The Lord above us all, Hungary before everything. Farewell, István! May the Lord be with you, may the Lord be with us, Friends,” Mr Orbán said, concluding his speech.
