Csaba Sógor at Piatra Niergeș
On the occasion of the commemoration of the revolution and freedom fight of 1848-1849, Csaba Sógor held speeches and laid wreaths at the festivities organised in Piatra Niergeș and Miercurea Ciuc. The RMDSZ MEP’s speech from Piatra Niergeș:
Dear inhabitants of the Ciuc area, Szeklers, Hungarians and guests!
When we look around us and recall how 165 years ago a few hundred men stopped an army of several tens of thousands of soldiers, we must think about what these people felt and thought, what made them capable of such an immense feat. How could this country, after it had been split up for several centuries, become in such a short time a single nation, a single country? The answer, which we must hold in our minds and hearts is: the love for their country.
These people loved their homeland. To love one’s homeland today is to love the place where one was born, one’s family, one’s endeavours, one’s neighbours, forests, lands that were entrusted to us – not by our ancestors, but by our grandchildren. To love one’s country is not to forget where one comes from, one’s duties towards his or her country and its people. These people loved their country to their last drop of blood. So must we love this land, this region, its houses, its gates – everything we inherited.
Still, two hundred people facing several tens of thousands? A nation against the biggest two armies of Europe? The hearts, the arms and the muscles were not enough. These people also possessed knowledge. Besides writing books on military themes Sándor Gál also taught mathematics and warfare history. These were well prepared people. This is why we can say that to love one’s country means to continuously prepare for the moment when one will be able to serve it through his or her knowledge and abilities.
On 15 March we must also talk about the spring of Europe. Spring is a new start. Sometimes, in order to start again, we must save what can be saved and even do the impossible; the way Klapka did, and the way the defenders of the Komárom fortress did. Let us recall also that the son of Lajos Kossuth, Ferenc Kossuth, swore to the emperor, which did not let his father return to his country, which jailed and sentenced to death the heroes of the revolution. 18 years after the suppression of the revolution and of the Hungarian fight for freedom our nation had the capacity to make an understanding with – in today’s terms to form government with – those who suppressed the revolution.
We are talking about a European spring. Our poet, Petőfi proclaimed that the Hungarian nation fought not only for the freedom of Europe, but for the freedom of the world. We know very well that in that army there were also Serbs and Poles, that there were men like Bem or Dembiński. Some of them didn’t even speak Hungarian, but fought for the freedom of Hungarians. An entire Europe lifted its eyes to the Hungarian’s revolution – just try to imagine what a big responsibility this meant.
More than five thousand soldiers fought in various corners of the world. There was general Bem, who later became a Muslim, Károly Zágoni, the hero of the battle from Springfield or the anonymous people who founded the military academy from Argentina. Only by thinking about them will we truly understand that the revolution from 1848 was not only that of the Hungarians but of the entire world.
Our task is to be worthy of those who gave their lives for this country, to love our homeland, and to be prepared to fight for it every day through knowledge and intelligence. We must be proud that, be it in Brussels or in Bucharest, every one of us knows where our place is and what our task is. Long live the Hungarian freedom, long live our homeland!
When we look around us and recall how 165 years ago a few hundred men stopped an army of several tens of thousands of soldiers, we must think about what these people felt and thought, what made them capable of such an immense feat. How could this country, after it had been split up for several centuries, become in such a short time a single nation, a single country? The answer, which we must hold in our minds and hearts is: the love for their country.
These people loved their homeland. To love one’s homeland today is to love the place where one was born, one’s family, one’s endeavours, one’s neighbours, forests, lands that were entrusted to us – not by our ancestors, but by our grandchildren. To love one’s country is not to forget where one comes from, one’s duties towards his or her country and its people. These people loved their country to their last drop of blood. So must we love this land, this region, its houses, its gates – everything we inherited.
Still, two hundred people facing several tens of thousands? A nation against the biggest two armies of Europe? The hearts, the arms and the muscles were not enough. These people also possessed knowledge. Besides writing books on military themes Sándor Gál also taught mathematics and warfare history. These were well prepared people. This is why we can say that to love one’s country means to continuously prepare for the moment when one will be able to serve it through his or her knowledge and abilities.
On 15 March we must also talk about the spring of Europe. Spring is a new start. Sometimes, in order to start again, we must save what can be saved and even do the impossible; the way Klapka did, and the way the defenders of the Komárom fortress did. Let us recall also that the son of Lajos Kossuth, Ferenc Kossuth, swore to the emperor, which did not let his father return to his country, which jailed and sentenced to death the heroes of the revolution. 18 years after the suppression of the revolution and of the Hungarian fight for freedom our nation had the capacity to make an understanding with – in today’s terms to form government with – those who suppressed the revolution.
We are talking about a European spring. Our poet, Petőfi proclaimed that the Hungarian nation fought not only for the freedom of Europe, but for the freedom of the world. We know very well that in that army there were also Serbs and Poles, that there were men like Bem or Dembiński. Some of them didn’t even speak Hungarian, but fought for the freedom of Hungarians. An entire Europe lifted its eyes to the Hungarian’s revolution – just try to imagine what a big responsibility this meant.
More than five thousand soldiers fought in various corners of the world. There was general Bem, who later became a Muslim, Károly Zágoni, the hero of the battle from Springfield or the anonymous people who founded the military academy from Argentina. Only by thinking about them will we truly understand that the revolution from 1848 was not only that of the Hungarians but of the entire world.
Our task is to be worthy of those who gave their lives for this country, to love our homeland, and to be prepared to fight for it every day through knowledge and intelligence. We must be proud that, be it in Brussels or in Bucharest, every one of us knows where our place is and what our task is. Long live the Hungarian freedom, long live our homeland!
