[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 118 (Friday, August 19, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 19, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          THE FACES OF FREEDOM

                                 ______


                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, August 19, 1994

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, I would like to share with our colleagues an 
article from the August 10, 1994, edition of the Richmond-Times-
Dispatch written by William C. Mims, a member of the Virginia General 
Assembly, who was among a group of young American legislators meeting 
recently with young political leaders from central Europe.
  Delegate Mims describes these young leaders, working to build 
democracies in Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and 
Slovenia, as the ``faces of freedom'' in central Europe and relates how 
important the support of Western Europe and America is to the future of 
these emerging democracies. His article follows:

           [From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Aug. 10, 1994]

                 Central Europe Looks West, to Freedom

       The televised images of 1989 remain vivid in my memory. 
     Five years ago this month, refugees from Communism streaming 
     to sanctuary across the newly opened Hungarian border. German 
     youths, delirious with freedom, tearing down the Berlin Wall 
     with their bare hands. Huge crowds in Bucharest, widely 
     waving Romanian flags with holes where the hated hammer-and-
     sickle had been. As the world watched with wonder, the Iron 
     Curtain fell.
       The images of 1989 are powerful, but faceless. Crowds 
     rather than individuals. On this fifth anniversary, as the 
     new democracies of Central Europe struggle with growing 
     pains, several of their young political leaders met recently 
     with a group of young American legislators of which I was a 
     member. They have stepped forward from the crowds to begin 
     the tedious task of building democracies. Theirs are the 
     faces of freedom.
       The faces of freedom are diverse, ranging from sandy-
     haired, blue-eyed Czechs to bearded Slovenians with jet-black 
     hair and eyes. Their countries--Poland, Hungary, the Czech 
     Republic, Slovakia, and Slovenia--adjoin Western Europe. They 
     share a love for democracy and a determination to say ``never 
     again'' to Communists tyranny. They look westward, to America 
     and Western Europe, for alliances to protect their fragile 
     democracies. How will we respond?
       Krisztina Szilagyi is one of the faces of freedom. Twenty-
     five years olds, she is the spokesperson of the Christian 
     Democratic People's Party in Hungary. Her experiences and 
     those of her family show how far freedom has come.
       Krisztina Szilagyi was born in 1969, the year after Soviet 
     tanks crushed a democratic uprising in neighboring 
     Czechoslovakia. She was a student during the democratic 
     revolutions of 1989. Today, democracy has become her job and 
     her passion. In June, Hungarian voters replaced a center-
     right governing coalition, which included Ms. Szilagyi's 
     conservative Christian Democrats, giving a majority in 
     parliament to a center-left coalition. Undaunted, she already 
     is planning for the next election.
       A devout Roman Catholic, Ms. Szilagyi also is studying for 
     an advanced degree in foreign relations to prepare for a 
     diplomatic career. She intends her lifework to be the full 
     assimilation of her beloved Hungary into the community of 
     free nations.
       What is most remarkable about her story is how unremarkable 
     it is in 1994. The governing coalition is replaced in an 
     election, and once-dominant parties move peacefully into 
     loyal opposition. People give voice to diverse religious and 
     political beliefs without fear of retribution. Young 
     professionals plan for meaningful careers without 
     surrendering to a stifling orthodoxy of belief demanded by an 
     illegitimate regime. Such experiences have become 
     commonplace, remarkable only when one remembers they were 
     fantasy a generation ago.
       The experiences of Krisztina Szilagyi's family since 1989 
     demonstrate vividly the benefits of capitalism. Ms. 
     Szilagyi's sister graduated from the university that until 
     recently was named for Communism's founder, Karl Marx. No 
     longer limited to government-sponsored jobs, she works in 
     Budapest for a symbol of capitalism, the giant Arthur 
     Andersen accounting firm. Her mother, after working many 
     years for a state-owned manufacturing company, now makes more 
     money and has more responsibility as a manager with a Dutch 
     chemical company. Krisztina Szilagyi's parents recently made 
     a capitalist investment decision familiar to many Americans--
     they built a small residential building for rental purposes.
       Democracy and capitalism have established firm beachheads 
     in Hungary and Central Europe. But the glorious revolutions 
     of 1989 are in a critical phase--the initial euphoria is over 
     and years of recession have tested voters' patience. Pressure 
     is mounting to scale back economic reforms. What will the 
     future hold for the faces of freedom? Where do they go from 
     here to build a stable and prosperous future?
       Krisztina Szilagyi's answer is immediate and forceful: the 
     West. The keys to the future are strong economic and security 
     relations with Western Europe and America.
       Central Europe's young leaders distrust and fear Russia. 
     Russia today is self-absorbed, wracked by internal problems, 
     but its former satellites cannot forget its expansionist 
     tendencies.
       The most important--and perhaps surprising--fact for 
     Americans to realize about these five Central European 
     democracies is that their political, religious, and cultural 
     traditions historically have much more in common with Western 
     Europe than with Russia. Only in the half-century of Nazi and 
     Soviet domination have they not had vigorous relations with 
     their western neighbors. They look to the West for a stable 
     future. They want to join the European Union and need its 
     favorable trade treatment. They long to join NATO and need 
     our security assistance.
       Western Europe and America must not ignore Central Europe. 
     Our national interest dictates strong trade and security 
     relations with these countries that are so strategically 
     located between East and West and that have much in common 
     with us. The 50th anniversary of the Marshall Plan is 
     approaching and General Marshall's prescription for 
     ``political stability and assured peace'' through ``normal 
     economic health'' remains valid.
       As I looked into the hopeful faces of freedom--persons who 
     in 1989 transfixed the world when they, in the words of 
     Emerson, ``planted themselves indomitably on their instincts 
     and there did abide''--I realized another compelling reason 
     to reach out to these fragile new democracies. It's the right 
     thing to do.

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