Hungarian Conservative

József Mindszenty is often commemorated as one of the first victims of the Rákosi regime. However, his 1949 arrest and show trial were not the last stage of his ‘white martyrdom’: he spent one and a half decades as an asylee at the US Embassy in Budapest, only to be exiled from the country for good in 1971.

Cardinal Mindszenty played an important role in the 1956 revolution. He assumed his post as archbishop immediately after his release from captivity, appealed for international aid for Hungary, initiated the process of cleaning the church from Communist infiltration, while also being active in the political life of the country. Firmly holding onto his conservative view of himself as the most important dignitary of Hungary, he tried to set the direction of the course of events. Contrary to the recent myth-busting efforts, this direction was not reactionary or outdated.

When Arrow Cross dictator Ferenc Szálasi took over on 15 October 1944, the new authorities required all civil servants to pledge allegiance to them. It was then that Mindszenty prepared a document entitled ‘Juramentum non’ (‘no oath’ in Latin.) The motto of the document was: ‘One cannot serve the [Arrow Cross] revolution and the Church at the same time.’

Vilmos Apor is known as the Bishop of the Poor, and as the martyred prelate who was fatally wounded defending the girls and women under his protection from Soviet soldiers on the Good Friday of 1945.

Andrea Mészáros has been an active member of the Hungarian community in Cleveland since her childhood. In the interview she talks about her family, her strong attachment and dedication to the Hungarian community, her different roles in its service, and her belief in the power of community.

During the oppression by the Communists, which specifically targeted Catholic churchmen, such as the Venerable Cardinal József Mindszenty, many priests were coerced to flee the country. Blessed Brenner, however, chose to stay, saying: ‘I’m not afraid. I’m happy to stay.’ He was murdered on 17 December 1957.

St Stephen RC Magyar Church in Passaic, New Jersey was founded 120 years ago, and its mission has remained unchanged ever since: to help the Hungarian American community preserve its faith, culture and identity.

‘While establishing the Coalition in the early 1990s, I often tried to look at issues through the “other lens”. If something works in the US, why not try it in Hungary? And if it works in Hungary, why not try it in the US?’

When the Soviet intervention against the Hungarian Revolution was placed on the agenda of the UN Security Council, the Soviets immediately vetoed it: their argument was that it was no more than a ‘reactionary uprising’ supported by the US. The French, meanwhile, were of the view that not only the UN Charter had been contravened in Hungary, but also the Paris Peace Treaties, and even the Warsaw Pact that served the legal foundation for the invasion. On the other hand, the United Kingdom questioned whether the use of Soviet military forces stationed in Hungary under a valid treaty and at the behest of the Hungarian government could even be called an intervention at all.

‘I thought, there is communism at home, half of the world is godless, they don’t know God or don’t consider Him important, and nobody wants to be a priest anymore… Thus, out of some kind of Hungarian defiance, I decided that I would become a priest.’

The Mariazell Basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary is one of Austria’s most popular tourist attractions and a national pilgrimage site. Its foundation dates back to the mid-12th century, yet the construction and re-foundation of the present church in the 1370s was due to a generous donation from King Louis the Great of Hungary.

The spirit and dedication to God of Cardinal Duka were not broken when in prison as an underground clergyman—he kept conducting masses for his prison mates that he disguised as occasions of a chess club. A couple of years ago, in an interview with Mandiner, he said: ‘My personal experience is, as someone who also suffered imprisonment for the sake of justice, is that the question often arises: “who is really the prisoner?”. It was not clear whether it was us or those who were looking at us from the other side of the bars.’

In 2015, Cardinal Erdő was chosen to give the opening remarks at the Synod on the Family in Vatican City. The Cardinal, to the disappointment of progressive churchmen, reaffirmed the importance of the divine doctrine and reality of indissolubility in marriage.

Jewish-Hungarian MP from the Horthy era Béla Fábián was held as a POW in Russia in World War i, and was taken to a concentration camp in World War II. He became an avid critic of the Hungarian Communist Party while living in exile in the 20th century, for which the Kádár regime subjected him to a smear campaign, claiming that he actually served as a ‘kapo’, a prisoner-turned-guard in his camp. Here’s the story of the extraordinary life of a special man.

As communist ideology considered religion, including Christian faith ‘the opium of the people’, as Karl Marx famously put it, its teachings were labelled harmful—and so was celebrating Christmas as a Christian holiday.

During the great show trials of the late 1940s and 1950s, the Communists often held small ‘side trials’, which provided ample opportunity to extract and collect further compromising data and testimonies against the primary targets, as well as to conduct silent showdowns and to set the course for later trials. This is how the Archbishop Grősz trial led to the arrest and imprisonment of some 50 people, including well-known Hungarian monarchists.

To commemorate the 66th anniversary of the Hungarian revolt against Russian occupiers, Niagara Falls was painted red, white and green to honour the freedom fighters’ memory.

On the commemoration day of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of Hungary, spoke in Zalaegerszeg.

With 1.5 billion people still living under Communist dictatorships, viewing the collapse of the USSR as the end of the horrors of Communism is misguided. The Victims of Communism Museum in Washington D.C., opened this summer with financial contribution from the Hungarian government, is a powerful reminder of the danger that Communism poses.

In the twelfth and final part of the Theologians on Modern Politics series, we would like to highlight the details of Pope Pius XII’s political thinking.

Representing several Hungarian American associations, Adelbert Balunek explained the significance of the Holy Crown, saying that it represented ‘1,000 years of Christian, independent, sovereign rule in Hungary.’

Carl von Clausewitz advised that “According to our idea of a people’s war, it should, like a kind of nebulous vapoury essence, never condense
into a solid body; […]. Still, however, on the other hand, it is necessary that this mist should collect at some points into denser masses, and form threatening clouds from which now and again a formidable flash of lightning may burst forth.

The guiding thread of Hungarian conservative thinking has always been to represent the Hungarian national interest, and thus the preservation of the country’s sovereignty and freedom—this is understood to supersede any theoretical concepts.

The most persecuted religion of the world is Christianity. The Hungarian government was the first in the world to establish a special administrative organ, the State Secretariat for the Aid of Persecuted Christians, and it launched the Hungary Helps Program in 2017.

Witnessing from Hungary what’s been going on in the ‘happier’ and more developed West in the past decades, we see that the parallel between genderism and communism is becoming more pronounced. 

‘I’ve often said that if Donald Trump had had even half the intelligence and the focus of Viktor Orbán, America would be a very different place.’

As Live Not by Lies makes clear, we are facing the zealots of a new sect with its own dogmas, clergy, and easily uttered anathemas.