One of László Kövér’s favorite pastimes is to visit Hungarian areas of the neighboring countries. This August he was especially busy. On August 4, he was in Slovakia unveiling a memorial created to mark the 76th anniversary of the so-called Beneš decrees, where he referred to Slovakia as the Highlands. Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok wasn’t at all pleased. Five days later, he was in Ukraine’s Transcarpathian region to unveil a bust of Saint Stephen.
His most recent trip was to Marosvásárhely / Târgu Mureș, as the patron of the cultural festival Vásárhely Bustle, an annual tourist attraction. He gave a speech following an ecumenical church service at the Fortress Church (Vártemplom), built in the middle of the fourteenth century and remodeled in the eighteenth century. Judging from the photos taken at the occasion, it is a very impressive building.
Less impressive was Kövér’s speech, which consisted of the usual mad harangue the president of the Hungarian Parliament is known for. Practically all Hungarian media outlets published a summary of the speech, as it was related by the reporter for MTI.
Although Kövér covered several topics, the main message he wanted to drive home was the threat the autochthon European population faces as a result of “illegal migration and resettlement, in a devious way, disguised as a refugee issue.” Perfect timing while we are watching with horror what’s going on at the Kabul Airport.
What is this mysterious autochthon European population? That is, who were the original or indigenous inhabitants? Well, if we want to go all the way back, we might have to say that the first settler in Europe was Homo erectus from Africa or perhaps Homo sapiens, who settled in Europe by 40,000 BCE. But, more seriously, according to a study on the patterns of historical population movements in Europe, over 4,200 years 891 distinct ethnic units were identified. Moreover, most likely to the sorrow of László Kövér, population movements in modern times have been more frequent than earlier.
As far as the Hungarians are concerned, they were relative latecomers, arriving in the early Middle Ages, considerably later than, for example, the West Slavic ethnic groups. Given the waves of population movement over thousands of years in Europe, talking about an autochthon population is utter nonsense. What Orbán and his Fidesz paragons are really talking about is a Europe populated exclusively by Christians (and, reluctantly admitted to the fold, Jews) who are white, without a trace of black or any shade of brown. Middle Easterners and Blacks, Christians or not, have no place in Europe as far as Fidesz is concerned.
Kövér’s warning about the perils of immigration is slightly different from the thousands of similar speeches Hungarians can hear practically daily. Until now, I have not heard others, for example Viktor Orbán, claim that large numbers of immigrants will actually take over nation states so that the originally majority population will become a minority in its own country, which, by definition, will no longer be its own. The numbers, of course, don’t justify this prediction. Moreover, if being Hungarian isn’t defined by skin color or religion (admittedly, a huge leap for Fidesz) but by cultural criteria (speaking the language, becoming part of the national community, etc.), the track record of immigrants in every country belies this doomsday scenario.
Kövér didn’t exactly draw a large audience.
Kövér’s other claim is that “we are on the threshold of a ‘post-Christian’ and ‘post-national’ era [which is] defined by artificially created guilt” because “all Europeans should feel guilty about climate change, people living today should feel guilty about their ancestors, people about to have children should feel guilty about their unborn babies, white people should feel guilty about black people, men should feel guilty about women, heterosexuals should feel guilty about homosexuals, the elderly should feel guilty about the young, and Europeans should feel guilty about people on every continent of the world.” In his view, this new culture of guilt differs from the Nazi or communist ideology only in the sense that it does not label a minority with the stigma of inferiority and collective guilt. Instead, it turns everyone against everyone. By this point, Kövér’s soaring thoughts left me utterly earthbound.
Although Kövér allegedly wants to get rid of this “destructive culture of guilt,” when he was in Slovakia he said that “What was committed against the Hungarians in the Highlands between 1945 and 1947 was a sin against God and man.” And, he added, “the Hungarians could not forgive the crimes committed against them, because to this day they have not asked for forgiveness.” But “we have a moral basis to wait with gentle but steadfast patience for a gesture of apology and satisfaction for the crimes committed against Hungarians for the sake of peace for generations to come.”
Let me make myself clear on this issue. I think that the Czechoslovak government’s decision to expel all Germans and Hungarians was an unjust decision, just as was the expulsion of ordinary German peasants from Hungary after World War II. However, one cannot demand that people and countries shake off all feelings of guilt on the one hand and, on the other, require an apology and retraction from those who may have done wrong to you. But I guess for Kövér it is essential to distinguish between artificial guilt and real guilt; liberal guilt and illiberally-defined guilt.
In any event, Ivan Korčok was right. It would be a good idea to concentrate on the future. For example, to imagine a day when one doesn’t have to listen to László Kövér’s speeches.
August 29, 2021
Blog posts by Eva S. Balogh also appear in Hungarian at https://ujnepszabadsag.com/
