RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE  11 October 1999

SOCIALIST CANDIDATE WINS IN HUNGARIAN BY-ELECTIONS. Hungary's
major opposition Socialist Party (MSZP) won a parliamentary
seat at the 10 October by-elections in the town of Siofok.
MSZP candidate Jozsef Hazas received 49 percent of the vote,
2.5 percent more than his major opponent, Mayor Arpad Balazs,
the joint candidate of FIDESZ, the Independent Smallholders,
the Democratic Forum, and the Christian Democratic
Federation. MSZP chairman Laszlo Kovacs said his party's
victory against the entire spectrum of the right wing
indicates that the Socialists are pursuing the correct
policy. The by-election in Szekesfehervar was declared
invalid because turnout was less than 25 percent. MSZ


SHADOWS OF STATUES

by Michael Shafir

 	During a visit to Bucharest in late July, Hungarian
Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi agreed with his Romanian
counterpart, Andrei Plesu, on a symbolic gesture: a
"historical reconciliation park" would be set up in the
Transylvanian town of Arad, and its foundation stone would be
jointly laid by the two countries' premiers.
	Moreover, the park would include both a monument
commemorating 13 Hungarian generals executed in Arad by the
Austrians in 1849 and statues of Romanian historical figures
in Transylvania. Martonyi had raised the issue of the
monument with Plesu, emphasizing its considerable historical
significance to Hungarians. Plesu, one of the more
enlightened members of the government, readily obliged. The
agreement was reconfirmed at a meeting in Timisoara of the
two countries' justice ministers, Valeriu Stoica and Ibolya
David, who announced that the foundation stone would be laid
on 6 October, the 150th anniversary of the generals'
execution.
	Bucharest and Budapest apparently overlooked two "small
details": the part of the continent in which the neighboring
states are located and the timing. As Timothy Garton Ash
recently remarked in an interview on German television, when
Americans say "that is history," they mean that things have
lost their relevance. When it comes to Eastern Europe, Ash
remarked, "that is history" means that trouble is around the
corner.
	Indeed, the manipulation of history has a long tradition
in Eastern Europe. When an election is looming, as is the
case in Romania, such manipulation is bound to be an almost
irresistible temptation.
	The monument to the generals is also history. Known as
"Hungarian Liberty," it is composed of a group of statues of
the 13 generals, whom Hungarians consider to be the "martyrs"
of their nation. The monument is the work of sculptor Gyorgy
Zala and was unveiled in Arad in 1890.
	The trouble is that one nation's "martyrs" are the
other's "villains." The Transylvanian Romanians fought on the
side of the Austrians for most of the 1848-1849 Hungarian
"liberation war." After World War 1, when the region became
part of Romania, the National Liberal Party government of
Ionel I. C. Bratianu decided in 1924 to dismantle the
monument, on the grounds that the generals had massacred some
40,000 ethnic Romanians, which the Hungarians vehemently
deny.
	Since then, the monument has been stored in a military
fort and has deteriorated considerably. Its restoration may
take as long as three years.
	For some time, both the ruling coalition parties--with
the inevitable exception of the Hungarian Democratic
Federation of Romania--and the nationalist opposition have
been courting the ethnic Romanian electorate in Transylvania
ahead of the 2000 elections. The opposition could not
possibly miss an opportunity to outbid the coalition.
	Ever ready to contribute to the minimization of the
Holocaust, Greater Romania Party (PRM) leader Corneliu Vadim
Tudor said that the intention to open the park and reinstate
the monument is comparable to "demanding that the Jews erect
a statue of Hitler at the Auschwitz concentration camp." The
Party of Romanian National Unity "firmly condemned" the
agreement, saying it is "humiliating...for the Romanians'
national dignity.'" The Alliance for Romania commented that
it was "surprised by the tactless decision," which
"undermines the [Romanian-Hungarian] reconciliation spirit,
since it may create inter-ethnic tensions." And the Romanian
National Party announced that it opposes reinstating "the
Greater Hungary monument" in Arad "or anywhere else in
Romania."
	The main opposition Party of Social Democracy in Romania
(PDSR), as usual jumping on the nationalist band wagon when
it serves its purposes, said the monument has a "profound
anti-national and anti-Romanian character." PDSR First Deputy
Chairman Adrian Nastase accused the ruling coalition of being
"an accomplice in serving the interests of Hungarian
revisionism." PDSR leader and former President Ion Iliescu,
for his part, warned Vasile to stay away from the ceremony,
claiming that the Hungarians are "setting a trap" to make
claims on Transylvania.
	The main blow, however, came from the Democratic Party,
a member of the ruling coalition. The Democrats said that
reinstating the monument would "bring back the tragic memory
of a Transylvania where the national rights of Romanians were
not recognized." More important, Democrats on the Arad town
council joined the opposition in passing a resolution
expressing opposition to making available the land earmarked
for the park.
	In face of this opposition, Vasile backed down. Citing
health reasons, he designated Stoica to represent him at the
stone-laying ceremony. Orban, who on 5 October arrived in
Arad and attended an evening function organized by the UDMR,
left the same night, delegating David as a "fittingly
appropriate" representation. Stoica responded the next
morning by announcing that he would not be taking part in the
ceremony and by designating the local prefect to represent
the government.
	In the end, the ceremony of laying the foundation stone
did not take place. What did take place, however, was a
demonstration by PRM sympathizers, who heckled David and
members of the Hungarian delegation as they left a church
where they had attended Mass and as they laid wreaths at an
obelisk dedicated to the generals' memory.
	Chanting nationalist slogans, the demonstrators were
unlikely to have been impressed by the reaction of Plesu's
ministry. Deeming "the manipulation of national sentiment for
the purpose of building political capital" to be
"irresponsible," spokeswoman Simona Miculescu said the two
countries' relations must not be influenced by "fears of
historical shadows or the shadows [cast by] statues." Perhaps
they shouldn't, but they nonetheless are.

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