The grand prize in a quiz contest on the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 will no longer be a trip to Moscow. There was a bit of popular uproar over that choice inside Hungary. It was apparently enough to make the Education Minister rethink the prize. (I covered the initial report of this here.)
"The winners can go to Paris, the city of revolutions," the ministry said in a statement on Monday after Education Minister Istvan Hiller changed the award.
The media, politicians and teachers had questioned why the top prize should be a trip to Moscow, the then capital of the Soviet Union, which ordered the bloody suppression of the uprising in 1956.
The final of the quiz tournament will be held on October 23, the 50th anniversary of the uprising, when dozens of world leaders are expected in Budapest to attend the official commemoration.
I thought the prize somewhat odd, but Roland, a commenter from Hungary, did not think it a bad choice.
Well, the “popular uproar” was mainly by right-wing media, and some far right organization.
I did not think it odd, for one reason: If you want to learn more about an incident between two countries, and you know one side of the story, is it odd to go, and check out what the other side wrote and thought about the event?
I think not.
Now they go to Paris. Paris is a nice city, and yes, there are really good stuff about the French Revolution.
But then, if some 50 years from now, you happen to be a US student and you want to learn about the US – Iraq incident – call is for simplicity’s sake, not implying any similarity or anything -, would you go to Paris or to Baghdad after learning the US side of the story?
We can whine and mope about the Soviets trashing us. But shunning the opportunity to learn their side of the story, and generally, pretending that that part of the world does not exist or at least, does not worth learning about, is a bit weird.
Plus Moscow is a beautiful city. And I bet, that in the future, when these students have grown up, they will visit Paris not Moscow.
Just my two cents Рor would it be fill̩rs for me?
Yeah, I was pretty sure that would be your take on it. You have a point, but it still seems a bit odd for a choice – only because there have to still be a lot of people who remember – and dislike – the Russians.
“only because there have to still be a lot of people who remember – and dislike – the Russians.”
Well, I don’t know.
I mean, I know a lot of old men and women who dislike hungarian communists and soviet leaders – and none of the blame the “russians”.
When my grandfather died, the man who gave the speech at his grave said “he turned against the party in ’56″, and yes, he did, but still he never hated the russians – neither did my grandma.
The man, who gave that speech however now hates communists, is a right wing politician, and dislikes russians.
The problem is, that such people shape public opinions. I know some hard-core, anti-communist right-wing politicians, and I know, that they were loyal members of the Party, and were the first to quit after ’89.
I think the main problem is, that such people don’t want to face the past, don’t want to be reminded of the events, and all.
And I think the people who dislike russians are a minority. It is shown by polls, and my own experiences.
Of course, I can be mistaken. I don’t know everything.
But the protesters were the same, who protest everything that is made by the socialist party – even if those things were made or promised by the right-wing.
And a last point. The Soviet Union were not the Russians – for example, Stalin was not russian, he was a georgian. The Soviet Union was a union of several nations, latvians, lets, ukranians, russians, mongols, georgians, belorusses, etc.
Equating the Soviet Union with the Russians is like equating the European Union with the French.
A really appealing thing to do, but not the right one.
hm.. I hope my response was not “devoured” by the net…
For some reason it got caught in the spam filter. I retrieved it
Heh, seems it does not like me writing such long comments.