00:00:52
Excuse me, sir,
may I ask why you're here?
- To pay our final respects
00:00:57
to the Prime Minister.
- What did He mean to you?
00:01:00
- Actually, everything that
hasn't been for 40 years.
New opportunities, new hopes,
00:01:05
and what these three and a
half years have brought.
00:01:10
Not one agressive act happened in this
whole transition period. And that's what
we owe him in the first place.
00:01:17
- Are you an MDF member?
- No. I'm not a member of any party.
- He governed our country.
00:01:25
And I feel like we
owe you some respect.
00:01:31
- Yeah.
- Are you members of the MDF?
- No, I don't,
00:01:35
I don't know anything about politics
but I think I'm paying my respects
because I get it.
00:01:43
- What do you do?
- I'm unemployed at the moment.
00:01:48
- Then they must be in a
very difficult situation.
- Yeah, but it's only gonna get
00:01:53
worse than that, I think.
- The election's coming up soon,
isn't it?
00:01:59
The fact that so many people came here
to honor the president of the MDF.
Do you think it means
00:02:08
anything to the election?
- Well, I'm not sure they came to
00:02:14
honor the president of the MDF
but to honor a prime
00:02:20
minister who deserved it.
- Good evening.
Where are you from?
00:02:26
- We're from Drégelypalánk.
- When did you leave?
- Seven o'clock. 7:00 p.m.
00:02:32
- And why did you come from so far away?
- Because we loved the
Prime Minister very much
00:02:37
and we were very pleased with him.
- Did you know him personally?
00:02:42
- Not personally, but because he
was a great man and historian
00:02:49
and he was very sympathetic
to the farmers' eyes
00:02:54
just like everybody else.
So we respected him.
00:03:00
- How many of you have come
from Drégélypalánk? - The ten of us.
00:03:03
- There are a lot of feelings for
each other here and I think we don't
00:03:08
have a lot of people like
the prime minister was
00:03:14
people wouldn’t think the same way.
I believe that popularity is not the
number one virtue in a politician
00:03:21
but that what he wants is for the
good of the country, that community.
00:03:27
I got to know József Antall more
closely during the roundtable
negotiations. We sat next to each
00:03:33
other for three months, actually.
We worked together in
00:03:38
the Constitutional Committee.
The Sub-Committee 1/1 was the
name of this, and so we
00:03:45
dealt with constitutionalization,
so everyone was actually a lawyer,
except for József Antall.
00:03:50
Nevertheless, the knowledge that he
had humiliated many lawyers, because
00:03:56
he was terribly well-prepared in law,
and that was not the point
00:04:04
which impressed me very deeply
but the deep respect for the law
00:04:11
that almost radiated from him
and what can't be learned at
00:04:17
university, is probably what you
get at birth when you get it.
00:04:27
Ten days before he died, he was
very confident that he would recover.
00:04:32
When I visited him at the hospital,
he said that he wanted
00:04:38
three of his fellow politicians
to visit him regularly.
00:04:42
The Minister of the Interior who's
replacing him in the government.
Managing President of the MDF, who is
00:04:49
the second person in the party, and I,
who lead the parliamentary group.
00:04:54
And then I asked him if it was
because it was right according to public law.
00:05:02
He smiled and nodded,
00:05:09
saying, yes.
We, who have been lucky enough
00:05:17
to work close to him for years,
who have been able to get
00:05:22
to know him very closely
- for us the image of József Antall is
00:05:28
quite different from what has
emerged in a broad public opinion.
00:05:34
Somehow, on television, his true
personality could never come through.
00:05:40
He was an extremely direct man,
he was not at all reserved,
he was not proud,
00:05:47
he was rather modest,
and he was a terrible human and
had sunch a sense of humor,
00:05:52
a glistening sense of humor, which,
of course, could only be detected
00:05:57
in direct conversations, and this was
never seen in official manifestations.
00:06:02
Thank God there was one recording left
when he celebrated
00:06:09
his 60th birthday in the faction,
among the coalition. Well,
it was very difficult to celebrate
00:06:15
because when I told József Antall
that we wanted to celebrate
he didn't want to hear about it,
00:06:21
he said that he still remembers
Rákosi's 60th birthday well,
and that he shouldn't get
00:06:26
involved in one of those things.
We couldn't calm him down,
00:06:30
so we had to conspire with
his closest coworkers.
His schedule was arranged in such a
00:06:36
way that he had nothing official to
do at the time when the Coalition
Group came together, and then we
00:06:42
set him up with a concrete position,
said that all the coalition
representatives were here together
00:06:47
and that he was come from
Parliament to the White House
and then he would come over.
00:06:52
Well, József Antall wouldn't
have been József Antall anyway
if he hadn't taken this opportunity
00:06:59
to give a large political speech.
The videotape kept this event
unforgettable for all of usand
00:07:07
I would like to share it with
those who are willing to pay
their respects with
00:07:15
us to Prime Minister József Antall.
- Dear friends, this is no,
00:07:22
age and everything,
I feel that those who are here
00:07:29
may be any differences between us,
but all things considered,
00:07:36
I think that those who are
here and those who have come
00:07:45
are all friends to me.
Without modesty, I must say so much,
00:07:52
and in this circle, that nothing I
have had to do in recent decades
00:08:00
because of my special fortune,
which would have led my life journey a
00:08:07
hair's length in any way that I should
have had a bit of a responsibility.
00:08:16
I would like to emphasise
that this is special luck.
00:08:24
It was a combination of special
circumstances that, despite all
00:08:29
my difficulties and hardships,
I had been able to walk the straight
00:08:36
path since my consciousness and lead
a straight path here in politics,
00:08:43
and I can also say that when
the period of transformation came,
00:08:50
and during the round table
negotiations, my person came to
00:08:55
the fore in some sense,
and the road led here,
00:09:01
perhaps many people would have
preferred it on their way
00:09:07
out more than I did.
They used to think I was some kind
00:09:14
of sour Jozsi because you dictate,
I smile. This is not true
00:09:22
even if Sour József happened to
have my great-grandfather's boyar,
00:09:28
and the Sour Family still owes
me 300 gold forints today.
00:09:37
I gave this document to
the Museum of Veszprém.
It's gone, unfortunately.
00:09:44
As a result, I would like to stress
that I am not really József Sour,
00:09:53
and I do not think that I
have anything to do with it,
00:10:00
but the sense of responsibility
and of these difficulties that
have been waiting for us,
00:10:08
this has weighed on my
soul as a great weight,
00:10:13
including the period of elections.
Posterity will have to review this
00:10:21
period as a political struggle.
00:10:27
Even in our memory, who sit
here as professional politicians,
00:10:34
the circumstances under which
we were politicalizing often
00:10:39
fade into their memory.
Today it is easy to say that
00:10:45
this or that should have been done
differently. I've said it many times,
I've said it again. Please,
00:10:51
the Soviet army is only 1991.
In June, he retired.
00:10:58
And that even in the spring of
00:11:04
1991 we were clearly stressed and
even threatened not to leave.
00:11:15
Foreign Minister Kvicinsky
said that harshly. Jazov,
00:11:21
sitting in my room in Besmercny,
was more delicately formulated.
00:11:27
It's been going on and on and on
and on and on and on and on and on.
So it wasn't that simple,
00:11:33
just like breaking up KGST.
We were alone in this, too.
00:11:39
And we were the only ones
who wanted it clearly.
00:11:43
And when the Visegrád meeting
was here. Even then,
Havel and the Czechoslovak delegation
00:11:50
did not want to say the dissolution of
KGST without a successor organisation.
00:11:56
I went up before the signing of
the Visegrad Treaty and convinced
Valentina separately and with her
00:12:03
the following morning the Czechs.
I can also say that when we
00:12:09
were in Moscow in June '90,
at breakfast we tried to convince
00:12:16
the Poles that they wanted to leave
the Warsaw Treaty with us. Havel
00:12:24
said he'd support us for a while,
but the Secretary of State has already
come to say that it's not valid.
00:12:33
But Maiziere said there's
no way they're risking the
00:12:40
German unit by saying it.
And indeed, no matter how incredible,
00:12:47
when the Foreign Ministers
came in at 9:00 a.m.,
they met after breakfast, and when
00:12:55
the Secretary of State came back,
it was not the minister who
00:13:01
was in Paris, who came in from
the Foreign Minister's meeting,
00:13:07
and he said that neither Shevardnadze
nor the others had contributed
00:13:13
to the presentation of a draft
for the revision and dissolution
00:13:18
of the Warsaw Treaty in Hungary,
I had the two drafts, the Soviet draft
00:13:26
approved by good foreign ministers,
and the unaccepted Hungarian draft.
00:13:32
And it was indeed so
that this particular meeting
was intended to be formal,
00:13:39
and it was exceptionally a special
source of fate and history that
00:13:45
I presided over the last political
meeting of the Warsaw Treaty,
00:13:51
and as President, I began to
read the unaccepted Hungarian text.
00:13:58
And that's when everyone got stiff.
I thought I'd admit I
00:14:06
was wrong at the worst,
but I'm going to put this forward,
00:14:12
the atmosphere got pretty stiff,
and then Gorbachev said that K.
00:14:19
Haraso, I do not know whether
you misunderstood, understood,
00:14:25
or not risked or risked a scandal,
but in any case Gorbachev said yes,
00:14:34
and from then on
everyone was enthusiastic,
00:14:39
including the Poles and Havel.
It's different... On that day we
00:14:45
had a meeting with the Russians,
the next day we went with Lajos Für,
00:14:51
only for military trial in
the Kremlin probably a long,
many centuries of experience,
00:14:57
carried us in a narrow corridor,
and our own security people
00:15:02
were already separated.
We went down a long, narrow corridor,
we said to each other,
00:15:08
"What do you think, we're gonna end
up in Siberia?" I'm only telling
you this because of the atmosphere.
00:15:16
Anyway, now, we agreed on the way
we were banging, and then they
00:15:22
took us to a whole little door.
There must have been a lot
00:15:28
of Tartar Khans and stuff going
through that Kremlin's back door.
We thought it was some small room,
00:15:34
it's part of the soul.
I'm telling you this because I
might need these experiences.
00:15:41
They took us through a small door,
a small door like this,
00:15:46
they opened the door,
we didn't know where we were
going through the little door,
00:15:52
and then we went to a large room
full of huge chandeliers, that was
00:15:58
part of the psychological operation,
and then we agreed that the
00:16:02
soldiers weren't very keen on us.
Russia's power inspiration in
00:16:08
Central Europe did not start
with the Soviet Union,
but Königsberg's aim was
00:16:18
not with communism.
From the century to World War I,
00:16:25
Königsberg can be shown at any time,
in the same direction as the
00:16:32
Dardanellas, and simply by the fact
that this era of power has passed,
00:16:40
if these peoples forget that we
should always pay attention to it
00:16:47
and warn the world about it.
We must strive to ensure that
00:16:53
NATO continues to operate.
Work to maintain balance in Europe
00:16:59
so that no forces can prevail either
in Germany or elsewhere that turn
00:17:07
each other against each other.
Let's not create a situation where
00:17:14
the Americans take the isolicist
principles and want to withdraw
from Europe by turning inwards,
00:17:21
because if America retires,
Europe will be left alone and
the old conflicts will be restored,
00:17:28
there must be no great gift that
an empire can always be created,
00:17:34
and this danger will not go away.
The Hungarian Democratic Forum
00:17:39
expresses the idealism that
we intended it to be.
00:17:44
The Hungarian Democratic Forum may
have been intended for others
00:17:49
originally, but I think that we,
who are still here for
00:17:54
the Hungarian Democratic Forum,
were meant for such a centre
00:17:59
party and not for a complementary
collaborating movement. As a result
00:18:05
of the round table negotiations,
which have often been questioned
00:18:10
and many have not understood,
we insisted that we carry
through at least the acceptable
00:18:19
part of Hungary's state form
and fundamental fundamental laws.
00:18:26
This includes the form of the
Republic that works today.
00:18:32
Imagine if another form
of state in the Republic,
00:18:36
a system of the Republic formed
on other lines of force,
00:18:42
had it not been established,
either in the direction of
00:18:47
the Republic of the Presidential
Republic or in the direction
of a semi-presidential republic,
00:18:55
had it not been taken out in 1848.
Annex III to Regulation (EU) No
00:19:00
1822011 is amended as follows:
Act-based ministerial system
00:19:03
and Article 1946.
Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1822011
is amended as follows: a legal form
00:19:08
based on the Republic, which
corresponds precisely to the European
parliamentary republics and the
00:19:16
European constitutional monarchies.
Finally, about the pacts to
00:19:20
be heard by our friends who
were sitting in our ranks,
00:19:27
we did not make a pact,
and I would like to say this,
00:19:34
neither in 1989 did we make
a negative pact at the
00:19:41
National Round Table negotiations,
just as we did not conclude a negative
00:19:48
pact with SZDSZ at the end of April.
What we have done both times is that
00:19:57
we have laid the legal foundations
for the Hungarian transformation,
00:20:02
the legal foundations that we have
been able to achieve in the given
00:20:09
situations, in the given moments.
These questions will once again be
00:20:15
discussed in order to keep as few
lies in people's minds as possible.
00:20:23
I think it would be a mistake to
00:20:28
believe that the carriers of the
previous system have been permanently
00:20:34
renounced in internal politics,
the leading layer of the previous
00:20:40
system has permanently renounced
their return to power here.
00:20:47
They're trying to do
this by all means.
They're trying with economic
00:20:54
power in a democratic way.
And what my opposition,
00:21:00
my former comrades do not perceive,
they also welcome the
00:21:06
destruction of the SDS.
Fidesz has been tricked into
00:21:13
a two-year-old electoral struggle
and a determined attitude,
00:21:18
and they are waiting for
elections in '94 to become a
00:21:26
credible force and expert alone,
suitable for a social democratic
00:21:33
party, a different kind of party
that satisfies national passwords
00:21:40
and aspirations, all sorts of
political powers that will be
00:21:47
sufficient to obtain a majority.
I think that without anyone
00:21:53
chasing enemy images here,
but it would be a big mistake if we
00:22:00
didn't realize that the ruling elite,
ruling class that exercised power,
00:22:06
the younger representatives of
those who are in economic,
political and other positions today,
00:22:14
would have permanently renounced a
left or left centre here, if you like,
00:22:21
not to return as political forces.
To this end, the social democratic
00:22:27
international will be used.
They want to be accepted as social
00:22:34
democrats, they trust that there will
be such a line in Western Europe,
00:22:40
on the other hand,
national passwords if necessary.
This concerns internal politics, so
00:22:47
that we do not believe for a moment,
and do not believe that we are now
00:22:53
on the road for sure, we do not
have to chase an enemy image here,
00:22:58
we do not have to be afraid,
we simply have to be reasonable,
00:23:03
because this has not yet taken place,
nor do I say that they
want dictatorship, but power.
00:23:11
I told you all this so that we
wouldn't just think about tomorrow,
00:23:16
what will happen here tomorrow in a
year or two during our term of office.
00:23:22
We must work in such a way as
to prepare for this multi-directional
00:23:29
historical chance situation,
and based on the historical
experience so far, either in internal
00:23:36
politics or in foreign policy,
for the Hungarian nation,
00:23:41
for Hungary and for the Central
and Eastern European region.
00:23:47
I believe that this Parliament,
this Parliament, should,
in most of these matters,
00:23:55
be on the same footing, not just us,
the three coalition partners,
00:24:02
but also the part of the opposition
that should or should be thinking
00:24:10
with us on these issues.
But here, the three coalition
00:24:17
partners must always function
in balance and agreement
00:24:23
on fundamental national issues,
and when we see the various
00:24:30
instruments in internal politics,
let us not forget the great lessons,
00:24:38
the great lessons that centre forces,
the middle parties,
00:24:44
are always broken from the
left by using right-wing forces,
00:24:51
or right-wing propaganda,
behind right-wing slogans,
00:24:55
if economic power is in the
hands of the former far-left,
00:25:03
it is financed from there.
If otherwise, then vice versa,
00:25:09
but that the right wind and
the left wind have the same
00:25:15
goals and the same aspirations,
we must be aware of that,
00:25:21
and we, the middle-party democrats,
belong to any party from
00:25:26
the three coalition factions,
must work together to achieve this.
00:25:32
As long as I can, I'm sure
that's what I'm gonna work for.
Thank you for the memorial,
00:25:38
thank you for listening to me,
and I apologize for the fact that,
00:25:44
contrary to my promise,
I have been thinking about these
thoughts longer than I intended,
00:25:50
but this is a mistake I have
made many times. Thank you.
00:27:26
When he turned to the wall,
the spaciousness of creation opened
up to him. The former scene of
00:27:34
his struggles began to turn gray,
and then vanished. His vagyai,
00:27:39
which he had done with hard will,
were now found irresistibly,
00:27:44
with immeasurable lightness.
What had happened to him so far,
00:27:49
as if it had been a dream,
only sadness was familiar,
as in his previous life,
00:27:54
when he knew he had to wake up.
He wanted to change the impression
00:28:02
of the unchangeable, the operetta-like
industrial version of feudalism.
00:28:08
He was a born Democrat,
and as much as he despised
people who had been depraved,
00:28:14
he never allowed hatred to his heart,
but he did not allow the flame of
00:28:20
noble anger to be extinguished because
he believed that by perseverance
00:28:25
all evils could be redeemed.
And although he is justified
00:28:29
by complete existence, partial daily
events sometimes surprised him with
00:28:34
more hideous evils than expected.
He was shocked to note that his
00:28:39
gallant intentions were received by
envious rejection and a maid's grin.
00:28:44
You know, it's time for you
to come to that country you've
forgotten in your dream, but first,
00:28:50
you've got to eat each other
up with low-life interests.
That's what he wanted to avoid.
00:28:57
He hoped that the nation sunk
into vegetation would recognize
00:29:02
its true interests and elevate
the unimpeachable truth of
the finally liberated Hungarians
00:29:09
above its self-esteem, but the
dream-like freedom caused a panic,
00:29:15
not the soul created for good, but the
instincts sunk into indestructible.
00:29:21
They can't even interpret their own
interests, tearing each other apart
from day to day in that misconception,
00:29:29
as if they were missing something.
Monday doesn't understand Wednesday,
00:29:34
Tuesday doesn't even know Thursday,
Friday and Saturday on Sunday.
00:29:40
Sometimes it feels like he's
turning back on us. That's how
he sounds at times like this.
00:29:45
I could've made a thorough order here,
but everyone would've been hurt
00:29:50
because everyone wanted their own
order, and they wanted it to
be at the expense of others,
00:29:56
but I wanted to be a prime minister
who would've made sure that as
00:30:02
few people as possible were injured
in this wounded country. Thankfully,
00:30:06
those who had reason to fear sought
to wound me and my ideas to death,
00:30:13
for mercy and love were interpreted
as synonymous with weakness.
00:30:18
And those who had good reason
to avenge their ruined lives and
00:30:23
the humiliation of their homeland
turned on me with more anger
00:30:28
than my enemies because I refused
to assist in a bloodbath.
00:30:33
Poor people don't know that the
martyr is a martyr at least twice.
00:30:38
When they kill him and when they
remember him. It's his destiny.
00:30:45
But now I know that villains live
at least twice when they kill,
00:30:52
and when they are forgiven.
I believed the debauched
00:30:56
souls would find each other.
They wouldn't make each other sick.
That's not how it happened.
00:31:02
I feel like sometimes it's time
to put up with the order,
the will of the Lord,
00:31:09
and maybe there's no such thing as
a nation forgotten in that dream.
