A Girl Guide Jamboree was held in July 22, 1939 in Godollo, Hungary. A
set of special commemorative stamps were issued and  a special post
office was available to dispatch regular and registered mail.

Does anyone know of a description (with reference] of the Jamboree (size
of gathering, opening and closing day, VIPs in attendence, foriegn
participation, etc.]?.

Or perhaps some reader may have even attended the event and offer a few
memories!

I have a registered envelope dated July 22, 1938 franked with the special
girl guide stamps and postmark. It is mailed to Recita, Romania.

Best Regards,

Jim Taylor
-
  JAMES TAYLOR  

S.Stowe wrote:

>It's not your English, it's your childish attitude. And this is no joke.
>The idea of prosecuting men in their 70s and 80s for war crimes makes many
>people uncomfortable because prison is no place for an old man. They're
>just as uncomfortable, however, with letting them go. Sentencing elderly
>war criminals to work with international relief organizations is the
>equivalent of what we call "community service" here in the United States.
>Courts do it all the time. In the case of elderly war criminals, I think
>it would meet the needs of justice and force these men to do something
>positive in their final years to atone for their crimes as younger men. We
>wouldn't have been brought to this moral impass if the Allies had done
>their homework right after the war, caught these guys and either stuck
>them in prison for a long time or strung them up by the neck.
>Sam Stowe

If it was not joke than I congratulate. You set a new record, this was your
biggest 'marhasag' (~ BS in English)  up to date. Why do I think so?

>How about sentencing them to serve in godawful places like Rwanda and
>Kurdistan with international relief agencies if they're found guilty? It
>might do much to remind them of the cost of inhumanity and actually induce
>a sense of guilt and shame in them for what they did as younger men.
>Sam Stowe

First, you might think those people in Rwanda and Kurdistan are uncivilized,
unable to run their country, but still that is their land, home. You have
no right to throw your 'garbage' there. I.e those developing countries are
not the junk-yard of the 'western civilization'. Don't you think they have
enough problem without your monsters?
Second why do you think that those war-criminals would be reminded 'the cost
of inhumanity' and a 'sense of guilt' would be induced. Some of them saw more
horror than you can imagine (they was who caused them). Most probable they
would end up as advisors for the local warlords. That would be great service
to the humanity.

J.Zs

P.S:
>P.S. -- How's that big, fat chip on your shoulder doing?

I have never made such personal attack against you. Don't you think you
should moderate yourself?

A Girl Guide Jamboree was held in July 22, 1939 in Godollo, Hungary. A
set of special commemorative stamps were issued and  a special post
office was available to dispatch regular and registered mail.

Does anyone know of a description (with reference] of the Jamboree (size
of gathering, opening and closing day, VIPs in attendence, foriegn
participation, etc.]?.

Or perhaps some reader may have even attended the event and offer a few
memories!

I have a registered envelope dated July 22, 1939 franked with the special
girl guide stamps and postmark. It is mailed to Recita, Romania.

Best Regards,

Jim Taylor
-
  JAMES TAYLOR  

Two days ago you were presented with a picture of Klara Feher as one of
the most ugly representative of the communist regime who in her last dying
days turned into a vicious demagogue against the wonderful progress Hungary
is making toward democracy and market economy.

I was hoping that someone better qualified to comment on the many factual
mistakes in this picture will correct it. Unfortunately nobody did so I must
try it. I only read three of KF's books, and her last article the "Requiem",
from which you were presented with the first paragraph. I wish you could
read the whole article. It is a beautiful but sad article, of a 73 year old
sick person in her last days.

The first book I read from KF was written in 1976. It is an excellent
travelogue of Hungary, "Vakacio Magyarorszagon" (Vacation in Hungary). I
recommend it to everyone, it is informative and entertaining. It is
illustrated with the excellent photographs of Karoly Gink, a talented
photographer. It shows that she knew her country well and loved it. I still
have the book and often refer to it before I travel to Hungary.

The second book I read was "Nem vagyunk ordogok" (We are not devils). This
is a collection of humorous short stories written in 1968. I don't remember
it well. All I remember, that it was entertaining and was a parody of the
bureaucratic bunglings. A mild criticism of the time.

The third book I read from her and still have is called "Hova alljanak a
Belgak?" (And where should the Belgians stand?). This is a novel written in
1988. It is written in the first person singular, so I read it as largely
biographical. It is about a Jewish family who survived the Holocaust
because somebody cared and hid them. The family, like many families in
Hungary is torn apart by the political events. One sister ends up in New
York, a cousin in Australia, etc. They are searching for their roots,
trying to understand the forces which shaped their lives. The title refers
to the phoney categorization of people according to their ethnic origin,
like Flamand-Belgian and Vallon-Belgian. A very good book.

Based on these writings, I believe Klara Feher deserved all the literary
awards she got. Especially if compared with some recent award winners like
Estrerhazy and Petri. I don't know what she did in the Rakosi era, but I
am not surprised that she joined the communists, many people oppressed and
persecuted during the Horthy era did with the belief that they are working
for a better society (Illyes, Meray, Dery, .. ). Her activities in those
days are very likely reprehensible, so she probably does not deserve your
attention. I only tried to balance the picture you were shown before.

Barna Bozoki

At 06:03 PM 11/8/96 -0500, Eva Balogh wrote:

<snip>
>        They want the law changed because they think that the law as it is
>written now stinks. What nonsense that diplomats who happen to be outside of
>the country at the time of the election cannot vote. Or students who are
>simply studying abroad for a year or two. Or six months, doesn't matter. A
>law which makes no provision for cases like that is a stupid law.

I agree.

>        But then comes the case of those who are Hungarian citizens who have
>been living abroad for a number of years. One could argue that they have
>forfeited their right to vote. But then, let's not stand on the platform
>that anyone who was born in Hungary or anyone who was born to a Hungarian
>parent even if abroad is a Hungarian citizen. Let's abolish this. Let's say.
>You took out another citizenship, you lose the Hungarian one. Then, no one
>would argue about the question of the right of voting or not voting. But as
>long as I am considered to be a Hungarian citizen, I should be entitled to
>vote. The current consitution denies that right but I wonder how one can
>defend such a decision, simply on grounds of common sense. The right of the
>ballot is part and parcel of citizenship.

Only those who are permanent residents of Hungary should be allowed to vote
in Hungarian elections.  Citizenship should mean more than just a piece of
paper that says you were born in Hungary or born to Hungarian parents.  Only
those who live and vote in Hungary should enjoy the success or failure of
their ballot.  Those of us who now live abroad should be content to just
observe.

Joe Szalai

At 10:28 AM 11/9/96 -0500, you wrote:

>Only those who are permanent residents of Hungary should be allowed to vote
>in Hungarian elections.  Citizenship should mean more than just a piece of
>paper that says you were born in Hungary or born to Hungarian parents.  Only
>those who live and vote in Hungary should enjoy the success or failure of
>their ballot.  Those of us who now live abroad should be content to just
>observe.
>
>Joe Szalai
>
>

Unfortunately, as matter stand right now, this is exactly the situation now.
Hungarian citizenship -- as far as Hungarian law and as far as the Hungarian
Government is concerned -- is nothing more than a piece of paper that says
you were born in Hungary or born to Hungarian parents.  Those of us who live
abroad are observing.

Too bad...

Other countries, while recognizing the subtle and not so subtle differences
between their domestic residents and foreign diaspora, go out of their way
to make their brethren feel welcome.  They understand the benefits of
carefully tended relationships, the dividends of goodwill.  As the subject
line shows, the Romanians do allow their citizens to vote.  The Poles are
masters of it -- and their lobbying efforts in the US show the results.

Why do we Hungarians wield the razor sharp sword of legal logic only to
deepen the alienation between Hungarians and Hungarians?   Sometimes I feel
it's a national curse...  We are proudly standing by on the bridge of our
slowly sinking ship of laws, while our nation is slowly dwindling in the
surrounding sea full of more opportunistic, more enthusiastic nations who
place a higher value on their common identity.  Isn't it time to discover
what we all have in common rather than dig for our differences?

Inviting Hungarians abroad to participate in the elections would be a great
symbolic gesture along these directions.

I am well aware of some of the practical objections (taxes, etc.).  I'd be
quite satisfied (maybe others would be, too) if Hungarians living abroad
would have a set of  elected "observers" rather than representatives in
Parliament.  In the US, Puerto Rico, Washington DC and Guam come to mind as
territories which do not have full state status but send representatives to
Congress.  They can participate in the debates, their views are sought out
in topics that impact them, but they do not vote in budgetary matters.
Where there is a will, there is a way.



Regards


Charlie Vamossy

At 10:16 PM 11/7/96 -0500, Joe Szalai wrote:
>At 01:46 PM 11/7/96 -0500, Eva Balogh wrote:
>
><snip>
>>        Quite right, Joe. "Hungarians have no choice but to put their hopes
>>into yet another venture." If it doesn't pan out it is not because it is
>>unworkable but because the joint effort of left and right will torpedo it.
>
>So, what would you like to see?  A national coalition government?  That
>would probably work but it's a non starter.

        Oh, my God, no. A "national coalition government"? God saves us.
Plus it is an impossibility given the hatred between the different political
groups. What you don't seem to realize is that the Hungarian right (most of
it) doesn't espouse conservativism as opposed to liberalism. Most of the
parties on the right opted for the espousal of "national, Christian values,"
which basically means that if you don't happen to agree with these guys,
then you are not a good patriot. Worse, you are a traitor to the Fatherland.
Now, in my humble opinion this is a dreadful position to hold--if one can
talk about non-starters, this is certainly a non-starter. But that is how it
is. This right--whom I call the radical right (they don't like the label
though, for some strange reason)--hates most not the left-wing socialists
but the liberals. The socialists, the post-communists, are building a market
economy because there is no other choice. But they are doing it reluctantly
and often without the expertise. They talk about democracy but they move
awkwardly in this new democracy. So, they have quite a bit in common with
the right radicals. Both groups are against foreign ownership; both groups
are are against privatization of certain industries; and both groups dislike
the liberals. This combination of the nationalistic right and the old
communist leadership is quite a common phenomenon in some countries east of
Hungary. I think that this the worst possible combination because both
groups would like to sabotage the introduction of democracy and market economy.

        What would I like to see? Of course, a right of center and a left of
center political groupings both standing on the platform of democracy and
market economy but one with conservative and the other with liberal
ideology. Of course, there always will be a right and a left further away
from the center but I would like to see them as not being very important on
the political scene. As it stands, until very recently the smallholders,
under the leadership of Jozsef Torgyan (talking about demagogs!!) was the
largest opposition party. The Christian Socialists are not much better than
the smallholders. The Fidesz which is supposed to be right of center is
becoming more and more nationalistic and lately Viktor Orban, its party
chief, said some very, very nasty things about the liberals. Very nasty.
Meanwhile, the SZDSZ which was supposed to be left of center is losing its
own identity in the coalition with the MSZP. Thus, there is a huge gap in
the middle. The extremes are winning and their verbiage can hardly be
distinguished from each other.

        Eva Balogh

At 09:45 PM 11/7/96 -0500, Barna Bozoki wrote, quoting Karoly Csipkay:

>> And in this respect the difference between poor Hungarians and poor Slovaks
>> or Rumanians was about the same as between the 'white trash' and the
>> 'niggers' here a hundred years (or less) ago.
>
>I agree. The only difference I would point out, that the Slovak or Romanian
>peasants got some moral support and a promise of a better life in a free
>Slovakia or Romania from their priests, while the Hungarian surfs got a
>lecture to bear their cross and respect their masters.

        I can only sigh when I read things like the above. It shows so
little knowledge of Hungary's past that I can only shudder. Why would the
Slovak or Romanian peasant get "moral support and a promise of a better life
in a free Slovakia or Romania from their priests." You think these priests
were clarvoyant and they knew that one day there will be "a free Slovakia,"
or that, in the case of the Romanians, the will be able to to join "free
Romania." And when it comes to Romania, for Pete's sake, what kind of "free
Romania" are you talking about? Free in what sense? Meaning that the ruling
class was Romanian as opposed to Hungarian? I hate to tell you but Regat
(that is the old Kingdom of Romania) was a less attractive place
economically or socially than Hungary.

        Surely, you must have learned in school that "serfs" disappeared
with the revolution of 1848.

>I personally heard Albert Wass blaming his family and his class, for not
>treating the people such that they could love their country. As most
>people know, he is a count from Transylvania and now lives in the US.

        Such utterances of individuals are pretty meaningless when we are
trying to study history.

>Gyula Illyes in his book "Ebed a kastelyban" describes a discussion with
>his former landowner shortly after the 1945 landreform in his book "Ebed a
>kastelyban" (Dinner in the Castle). The count's attempt to find excuses
>for Illyes's accusations comes out very hollow.
>
>Lajos Kassak in his autobiography "Egy ember elete" (Life of a Man)
>about the life of a tradesman in Budapest supports my father's story. A
>clerk in a office with grade eight education was a gentlemen. A tradesmen
>in a factory was nobody, and this is after the World War I.

        Again, you are using literary figures in support of your analysis of
history. But these writers had a certain political outlook and they saw the
world through certain ideological glasses. One cannot rely on them to
explain to us the past in an objective manner.

>But this is history now, the only reason to think about it, is not to
>repeat it. Antall reminded people of this world, and this is why his party
>lost.

        My, my, until now I thought that you were a right-winger but now you
seem to be sounding more and more than a left-winger. I am confused.

        Eva Balogh

>The 70% majority of the MSNP SZDSZ in the Parliament is a fact that
>points just to that : HUNGARY HAS A POPULATION OF LEFTIST ORIENTATION
>DESCENDANT FROM THE PROLETARIAN AND AGRO SERVANTS.

I appreciate Albert Albu's data on the lower classes of the Horthy era
(55.5%), but the conclusion he drew from it is a mistake. Descendent of the
lower classes are not automatically leftist. The free elections in Hungary
in 1947 showed clearly that left had no mass support.

Thanks to the many contributions in the last few days I collected about
200 kbyte of data on the subject of poverty in Hungary, but unfortunately
I still do not have any idea of how to measure poverty or what to do about
it. I can not accept the notion that all lower classes are poor, or all
unemployed are poor, or all people living below certain income level are
poor.

We all know that in every society a segment is victimized and unhappy, an
other segment is benefiting, and the majority is struggling along more or
less happy depending on their disposition. What I like to now who the
victims are and how many are there. I also like to see a comparison of how
these ratios changed over the time something like this:

                         Winners    Losers   Also ran
Horthy era:                 10         30        60
Rakosi & early Kadar era:    5         70        25
Late Kadar era:             15         40        45
Hornia:                      5         50        45

The numbers are percentages picked out of thin air for illustration only.

Barna Bozoki

In article >,  says...
>
>In article >, "Eva S.
>Balogh" > writes:
>
>>Yesterday I saw Elmer Gantry again on Bravo - our commercial-free movie
>>TV.
>>
>>Yesterday, after 36 years, I realized the story is timeless.  The Elmer
>>Gantrys are still with us.  And the reason I am posting this here is that
>>they were intruding this list too - I am just sharing my feelings with
>>you guys and girls.
>>
>>Agnes
>
>You really ought to read Sinclair Lewis's book "Elmer Gantry," Agnes. (The
>movie is based on it.) He didn't win the Nobel Prize for Literature for
>nothing.
>Sam Stowe
>

Yes, indeed. Although the movie is good and a work of art
in its own right, the "real" story, that found in the novel,
goes a lot further. For one thing, the Sharon Falconer story
is a relatively small part of the whole. For antoher, the
movie makes Elmer Gantry himself a lot more decent than he
is in the book. In other words, the book is much more true
along the lines suggested by Eva Balogh. Anyone interested
in the corruption and the uses and abuses of religion ought to
read the novel itself. It's still in print and readily
available in paperback . . .

Steven C. Scheer

At 06:12 PM 11/8/96 -0500, Janos Zsargo wrote:

>Joe try to reread your writtings and generalize. With a possible nazi living
>in Canada (forget about Csizsik-Csatary) and a possible former AVOs living
>in Hungary. So:
>
>>I know many people who think that Canada should stop hunting for Nazi war
>>criminals.  They say that most of the suspects are very old and frail and
>>that most have lived a quiet, private life in Canada. They say that society
>>has nothing to gain by these trials and deportations.
>>I disagree.  I think that there should be no law of limitation on war
>>criminals.
>
>and also:
>
>>>Agnes and J.Zs. are write. But they are too far. There was a war in 1956
>>>in Hungary too. And they are /and they children/ too in our hierarchy.
>>>Let's talk about this around okt 23.
>>
>>Do you not want the vicious cycle of revenge and retribution in Hungary to
>>end?  I do.
>>
>>Joe Szalai
>
>so you might have some idea what my problem is and why I was talking about
>double-standard. Althought I have the feeling that you simple don't want to
>understand it.
>
>J.Zs

I understand it alright and I also have a pretty good idea what your problem
is.  You seem to think that just because I favour good social programmes I
must be in favour of totalitarianism.  Wrong!  Nothing could be further from
the truth.  As for the AVOs who were killed during the '56 Revolution all I
can say is that they had it comming.  No apology is necessary.  As for the
AVOs activities at other times, all I can say is, it was wrong.  But then
again, I wouldn't compare them to the Nazi's or the Holocaust.  That would
be wrong.  As repugnant as the AVO was, their crime was not genocide.  Now,
if you're saying that all supporters of all totalitarian states should be
punnished, that's a different kettle of fish.

Joe Szalai

At 03:53 PM 11/8/96 -0800, Gabor D. Farkas wrote:

<snip>
>Joe, I'll surprise you. I don't blame the poor for their poverty. And I
>don't have a solution. When I was much younger and brainwashed by the
>scientific socialism and political economy teachers in high school, I did
>believe that socialism is a good remedy. By now I know much better.

There are as many versions of "socialism" as there are versions of any
"-ism".  To dismiss them all is to show prejudice.

>Being an engineer,

An engineer!  Well, I always figured you had a problem but I never knew what
it was.  Now I know.  Thanks for sharing. ;-)

>I hope that computers will eventually solve it, at the
>point when all manufacturing will be done by machines (on their own) and the
>humans will spend all their time with arts, literature, poetry, sex,
>Internet newsgroups and other pleasant things.

Yeah, I wish!  You know, in the '50s, in school, we were told the same
thing.  It still hasn't happened.  I'm just curious why you can put your
"faith" in technology and not into "socialism".  You must be a beneficiary.

Joe Szalai

"One has to look out for engineers - they begin with sewing machines and end
up with the atomic bomb."
          Marcel Pagnol

At 07:59 AM 11/9/96 -0500, Bozoki wrote:

>Two days ago you were presented with a picture of Klara Feher as one of
>the most ugly representative of the communist regime who in her last dying
>days turned into a vicious demagogue against the wonderful progress Hungary
>is making toward democracy and market economy.
>
>I was hoping that someone better qualified to comment on the many factual
>mistakes in this picture will correct it.

        But people did--on the Forum. Very responsible, conservative people,
not horrible liberals like myself.;)) One remembered that he as a child
spent a few weeks in Belgium with the help of the Catholic Relief
Organization. Klara Feher as a journalist came to interview them and
afterward wrote an article about how horrible this Catholic organization was
sending children of such family abroad. Or, another woman recalled that
Klara Feher, posing as an aristocrat, interviewed some nuns about the
nationalization of schools, who were quite open with her in this capacity.
You can imagine what kind of article appeared in the Szabad Nep (the
Hungarian Pravda) the next day. Klara Feher was on the staff of Szabad Nep
at that point. Another person, in private letter to me, and later in
public--and again we are talking about a person with political view of right
of center--that Klara Feher "very much compromised herself (kompromitalta
magat) in the Rakosi regime." He added that she was the representative of
populism, "in the bad sense" of the word. A fourth person wrote in saying
that she was too young to remember the 1950 and she, like Barna Bozoki
(except Barna Bozoki should remember the 1950s), also had fond memories of
her as a result of Klara Feher's books she read as a teenager. Then last
spring she happened to be in Budapest during Book Week and wondered into a
bookstore where Klara Feher was signing her new book. She got an autographed
copy. When she got home, her parents enlightened her who really Klara Feher was
.

        Obviously, Barna doesn't think that I am "qualified" to pass
judgment on Klara Feher. Now, I am not quite sure what kind of
"qualifications" I could offer but at least I am capable of conducting some
research. Admittedly, I would be better off if I happened to be in Hungary
at the moment. I could go into the national library and get all the books
Klara Feher ever wrote and then move on to the newspaper reading room and
get out all those nice old issues of Szabad Nep, Magyar Nemzet,
Nepszabadsag, etc. and by the end I would have a pretty full picture of
Klara Feher's literary and political career. Unfortunately, I am unable to
do that because "my research facilities" are very much limited. But I have a
couple of reference books which might become handy.

        I happen to have a Hungarian Who's Who from 1995 and happen to have
a literary encyclopedia from the 1960s. From the Who's Who I find out that
our poor Klara Feher, who included herself among those poor, lonely, widowed
pensioners was actually married to another writer, Laszlo Nemes. So, even
the premise of the article is based on falsehood. This is, by the way, very
typical of demagogs. They talk about a group and they place themselves into
that group, when in fact, they have little in common with them. Perhaps
their age, in this case. Once I read an article in a small-town paper about
the decision of not to include dentistry into the medical services covered
by the medical insurance. The newspaperman first of all wrote about himself
as a prime example: someone who will have no money to go to the dentist and
have his teeth filled. As a result, he said, he will lose this particular
tooth which aches already. It will have to be pulled because pulling teeth
is free. But, said he, this will be really a terrible calamity because that
particular tooth shows. Because, you see, all his molars are gone already
but at least they don't show. The obvious question is: how is it that he
lost all his molars at the time when dentistry was completely free. First,
it is highly unlikely that a journalist would be unable to go to a dentist
and pay a couple of thousands of forint to have his tooth filled. Second, if
he didn't go to the dentist to have his teeth filled at the time when it was
free, what is he squaking about? This is a typical stance of a demagog.

        But to return to Klara Feher. She seemed to have been involved with
MSZOSZ (Magyar Szakszervezetek Orszagos Szovetsege), the national
association of Hungarian trade unions and was an elected official--for a few
months after which she resigned--of the pension fund (Nyugdijbiztositas
Onkormanyzat) under the association's supervision. So, her views cannot be
called entirely independent. But the most interesting thing in my limited
research was the comparison of the list of works between the Who's Who,
published recently, and the literary encyclopedia published in the 1960s.
The odd thing about the list in the Who's Who that Klara Feher received the
Attila Jozsef Prize in 1950 without writing a line, because her very first
work--according to the Who's Who--was published in 1951 (*Az erem masik
oldala* and *Nyitott konyv*). Well, it seems that Klara Feher tried to
forget about the many others: Az Elore-ors palyat valaszt (1949), Becsulet
(drama, 1949), Az elso het tortenete (1950), Bekenk orei (Magyar irok a
munka es beke hoseirol, szerk. Feher Klara, 1950), Orsegen (1952), Ez a mi
orszagunk (riportok, 1952). I bet reading these would be a real joy!!

        My main problem with Klara Feher is not that she was a subservient
writer of the Rakosi regime. I could certainly forgive that. What I cannot
stomach is demagoguery, especially when this right-wing demagoguery comes
from someone like Klara Feher. Hungary is going through a very difficult
economic transition and yes there are some loosers of this change, the
pensioners being one obvious group, but demagogic utterances like Klara
Feher's are not helpful. In fact, demagogic articles like these are harmful.
I would be surprised if Klara Feher's "chicken skin" which the pensioners
must eat had nothing to do whatsoever with the neo-nazis' throwing chicken
feet on the stairs of some building. Well, some people in the Forum said:
but, look, the situation of certain older people is very, very bad. This is
not really demagoguery but the cry of an old, most likely sick, woman who
may not been in the best financial circumstances. Can't she tell how she
feels? Oh, yes, she certainly can complain but as a journalist she is not
supposed to use the tools of demagoguery. If I had been the editor of
Nepszava I would have given this piece of writing back to Klara Feher and
would have told her that I was sorry but I couldn't publish this as it was
presented to me. And please, don't come back with the retort: what about the
freedom of the press. Freedom of the press doesn't mean that every demagogic
piece of rubbish must be published.

        And one more thing, Klara Feher and her husband traveled widely all
over the world in the 1960s. At the time when people were practically locked
up within the country. And they went to exciting places like Japan, Turkey
and the Middle East, and the United States. Somehow I don't think that they
would be so poor today that they had to eat chicken skin and fallen peaches.

>Based on these writings, I believe Klara Feher deserved all the literary
>awards she got.

        Sorry, I was wrong. She wasn't good enough for a Kossuth Prize. She
received only the aforementioned Attila Jozsef Prize (1950), the Bo:lo:ni
Gyo:rgy Prize (1986; by the way, another rat), and the MSZOSZ Prize in 1992.

>Especially if compared with some recent award winners like
>Estrerhazy and Petri.

        Well, first of all, let's at least spell a great contemporary
writer's historical name right: Pe'ter Esterha'zy. I assume almost everybody
knows his family name. One hears the name and one immediately thinks of
Hayden! Yes, Peter Esterhazy belongs to that family but the Hungarian right
doesn't appreciate the ring of his name. They hate him. But he is a great
Hungarian writer and I am hoping that someone (Gabor Fencsik?) will give us
a good portrait of him. I must admit that I don't know Gyorgy Petri's poetry
and therefore I have no way of passing judgment on his award.

       Eva Balogh