COURAGE

savienojot kolekcijas

A small group of second-generation Hungarian young people set up a literary and debate society in the middle of the 1970s, called the United Hungarian Youth Organization in the Hungarian House in Manhattan. In 1975, they founded a so-called Observatory and the Advisory Council to ensure the correction of misleading statements spread by authors and publishers of derogatory information in articles, films, etc. in various media, which were written as a result of deliberate counterfeiting, ignorance, or distortion. The young people at this debating society were informed of the Romanian provisions, which were severely damaging to Hungarian churches in Romania by press monitoring, in an article that had been published in an article in the Neue Züricher Zeitung in 1975. For that reason, they considered the situation of Hungarians living in Romania increasingly exasperating, and they decided to take countermeasures. To this end, according to the proposition of the Transylvanian branch of the literary and debate society, they began to organize a serious public demonstration in November 1975. Since none of the statutes of the existing Hungarian organizations at that time allowed for this kind of “political” activity, however, when filling out the police license forms, they came up with a name which was intended to be only ad hoc at that time. They gave the name Committee of Human Rights in Rumania, but this did not yet constitute a formal framework. 

The organizations founded earlier with the aim of providing support for Hungarians living in Romania, and in particular the members of the American Transylvanian Association, which was established in 1952 (with which members of the CHRR had friendly and family ties), responded to the organization of the protest in various ways. Béla Teleki, chairman of the American Transylvanian Association (ATA) and former president of the Transylvanian party 1941 and 1944, had distant family connections with László Hámos through his mother. He was opposed to the idea of the demonstration. Mr. Hámos’s then father-in-law and vice-President of ATA, Ferenc Koréh, in contrast was an important supporter of the protest, who invited him every week to his permanent show in Radio Free Europe, which was broadcasted to Hungarians living in Romania. In addition to the two hours of conversation, Hámos and his companions were trying to publish an advertisement of appropriate quality in one of the leading American newspapers. They managed to publish an advertisement almost a complete page long in the New York Times on May 7, 1976. (For details, see the highlighted item.) Seeing the advertisement, the applicant for the seat of mayor of New York City, Ed Koch, who had been fighting for human rights throughout his career, read the article and soon contacted the young organization personally.

After the first Week of Christian Culture in 1975, the need for more frequent intellectual exchange occurred. In 1976 in St. Anne Church in Warsaw Artists' Priesthood was formed. The group consisted of artists, writers, thinkers and people interested in modern art and critical thinking. The Priesthood was quite inclusive and did not restrict the invitation to the believers only. During the meetings the guests discussed some current cultural and social problems – sometimes in some truly passionate disputes.

Priesthood's members every year prepared Weeks of Christian Culture, where they invited artists of various disciplines and environments. After 1976 Artists' Priesthoods were formed in numerous dioceses throughout the country. They are still important ground for intellectual debates, although nowadays they focus on more religious considerations than during socialist times.

Czech poet, writer and Nobel Prize holder Jaroslav Seifert sold the manuscript of his memoirs “Všecky krásy světa” (All Beauties of the World), altogether 784 pages written between 1970 and 1975, to the Museum of Czech Literature in 1978. The sale, which was in negotiation since 1976, was realised based on an agreement with Marie Krulichová, the Literary Archive of the Museum of Czech Literature acquisition staffer, and with the help of an antiquarian book shop on Wenceslas Square 41 in Prague. The manuscript “Všecky krásy světa” became the foundation of the Jaroslav Seifert Collection in the Literary Archive of the Museum of Czech Literature, which expanded in the following years and now includes 63 boxes.

After the death of the Czech philosopher Jan Patočka in 1977, his students were afraid that his manuscripts would be confiscated by the state police. The fact that Jan Patočka had died at Strahov Hospital was hidden from the public. Ivan Chvatík learned of it from a broadcast by Radio Free Europe. He decided to immediately save Patočkaʼs documents. Ivan Chvatík met Miroslav Petříček on the way to Patočkaʼs house and together they called Jiří Michálek, who owned a car. It turned out that Michálek and Jiří Polívka had had the same idea. They travelled together to Patočkaʼs flat. After initially hesitating, Jan Sokol, the son-in-law of Jan Patočka, finally agreed to give Patočkaʼs writings to Chvatík and his colleagues. Then, Patočkaʼs materials were loaded into the car. The situation seemed dramatic, as an unknown car with men sitting inside was waiting in front of the house, and Chvatík and his collaborators were afraid they were being watched. Nevertheless, nothing unexpected happened and Jiří Polívka were able to safely hide the documents in a secret location.

Thanks to the fact that Patočkaʼs students Chvatík, Polívka, Petříček, and Michálek ran the risk of being uncovered and saved Patočkaʼs manuscripts, almost all of Patočkaʼs work and his personal notes were preserved and could be later published.