[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 28 (Monday, March 16, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E378-E379]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       THE 150th ANNIVERSARY OF THE HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION OF 1848

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                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 16, 1998

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, the year 1848 was a time of great political 
and social upheaval in Europe, which led to significant changes 
throughout the continent, with major events taking place in Germany, 
Austria, France, and Hungary. This was the revolutionary year when Karl 
Marx and Friedrich Engels penned the Communist Manifesto. Nowhere in 
Europe were those transformations more dramatic and far-reaching than 
those that convulsed Hungary.
  Exactly 150 years ago yesterday--on March 15, 1848--Hungarians in the 
city of Pest staged a massive peaceful demonstration demanding their 
independence from Austria. That demonstration marked the beginning of a 
brief but very significant period of independence and freedom for the 
people of Hungary. On March 15th in Vienna, the father of Hungarian 
democracy, Lajos Kossuth, and Hungarian parliamentary representatives 
presented demands to the Austrian Court for the severing of all ties 
between Austria and Hungary, except for the personal union of the 
Habsburg Emperor, who was also King of Hungary. The panic-sticken court 
accepted Kossuth's demands and a brief period of Hungarian independence 
began. In recognition of the importance of these events in the nation's 
history, March 15th has been the national day of Hungary.
  Hungary's independence, however, was short-lived. Under the 
leadership of Kossuth, Hungary severed all ties with Austria and the 
Habsburgs in July. The Austrian government, however, mobilized an army 
of troops loyal to the emperor. Kossuth rallied the Hungarian nation, 
organized the military defense of the country, and continued the 
organization of the newly independent nation. Despite the overwhelming 
odds, he was making progress.
  In June 1849, however, the Russian Tsar Nicholas I offered troops to 
the Austrian Emperor, and the Austrians accepted their offer. Against 
such an overwhelming force, however, the Hungarians could not prevail. 
Many of the Hungarian freedom fighters of 1848-1849 were killed in the 
military action that followed the Russian invasion. Kossuth, and many 
of his associates, were forced to flee Hungary. The leader of Hungarian 
independence came to the United States for over six months from 
December 1851 through July 1852. Here he was welcomed and honored for 
his inspired leadership in the struggle for the freedom of the 
Hungarian people.
  Mr. Speaker, in March 1990, as the people of Hungary were celebrating 
their new birth of freedom as the old communist government was 
disintegrating, a bust of Lajos Kossuth was placed in the United States 
Capitol, and it is still there on display as a symbol of the great 
friendship between the people of Hungary and the United States. On 
Friday of last week, I joined a group of Hungarian Americans and 
representatives of the government of Hungary to place a wreath on this 
bust of Kossuth to mark the 150th anniversary of that historic date of 
March 15, 1848.
  Mr. Speaker, the event which catalyzed the revolution in Hungary on 
March 15, 1848, was the reading of a poem that expressed national 
sentiments of the Hungarian people. On that day Sandor Petofi, a 
twenty-five year old Hungarian romantic poet, read his poem ``Rise Up, 
Magyar!'' or ``Natonal Song'' on the steps of the National Museum in 
Budapest. Petofi's recitation of ``Rise Up, Magyar!'' incited the crowd 
as they joined with him in chanting in unison the final line of each 
stanza of the poem--


     ``God of Hungarians, we swear unto Thee,
     We swear unto Thee--that slaves we shall no longer be!''

  Petofi was true to the high patriotic sentiments that he expressed in 
his magnificent poem. He was killed in 1849 in fighting to defend the 
independence and freedom of Hungary.
  Poetry is always difficult to translate, Mr. Speaker, but Professor 
Adam Makkai has

[[Page E379]]

done an excellent job of rendering this poem into English. Professor 
Makkai, a poet who was born in Budapest, received a B.A. from Harvard 
University and an M.A. and Ph.D from Yale University. He is currently a 
professor of Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. This 
is his translation of Petofi's patriotic ``National 
Song.''***HD***National Song

     Rise up, Magyar, the country calls!
     It's `now or never' what fate befalls . . .
     Shall we live as slaves or free men?
     That's the question--choose your `Amen'!
     God of Hungarians, we swear unto Thee,
     We swear unto Thee--that slaves we shall no longer be!

     For up till now we lived like slaves,
     Damned lie our forefathers in their graves--
     They who lived and died in freedom
     Cannot rest in dusts of thraldom.
     God of Hungarians, we swear unto Thee,
     We swear unto Thee--that slaves we shall no longer be!

     A coward and a lowly bastard
     Is he, who dares not raise the standard--
     He, whose wretched life is dearer
     Than the country's sacred honor.
     God of Hungarians, we swear unto Thee,
     We swear unto Thee--that slaves we shall no longer be!

     Sabers outshine chains and fetters,
     It's the sword that one's arm betters.
     Yet we wear grim chains and shackles.
     Swords, slash through the damned manacles!
     God of Hungarians, we swear unto Thee,
     We swear unto Thee--that slaves we shall no longer be!

     Magyars' name will tell the story
     Worthy of our erstwhile glory:
     We must wash off--fiercely cleansing
     Centuries of shame condensing.
     God of Hungarians, we swear unto Thee,
     We swear unto Thee--that slaves we shall no longer be!

     Where our grave-mounds bulge and huddle
     Our grandsons will knell and cuddle,
     While in grateful prayer they mention
     All our sainted names' ascension.
     God of Hungarians, we swear unto Thee,
     We swear unto Thee--that slaves we shall no longer be!

     

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