Strengthening U.S. Hungarian relations: Geza Jeszenszky, the ambassador from Hungary who spent much of his life under the oppression of communism, has high hopes for Hungary's future

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Nov 12, 2001 | by Stephen Goode

Geza Jeszenszky, Hungary's ambassador to Washington, is a historian and an expert on international relations. He's also an avid skier who is fond of slopes in Colorado and California.

Jeszenszky was 15 when the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 broke out. He says it would be "immodest to say that I was a freedom fighter." But he was a busy young man eager to see what was going on during those 13 days when his country challenged the power of the Soviet empire and was invaded by the Red Army. "A few times I could have been killed," he recalls. "Especially once when the Russian tanks rolled up in front of us. We were just standing there and they did not shoot."

The young Jeszenszky never joined the Communist Party and, he tells Insight, "refused to become an informer." As a result, he was banned from higher education and, at one point, he says, "it seemed that I would not even be permitted to finish my secondary education." By the 1970s, however, the old restrictions were eroding and Jeszenszky did get through college and earned advanced degrees.

For a while, he worked at the National Library, "which I enjoyed because there were so many dedicated noncommunists there and I could breathe freely." Eventually, he became a college professor.

How would he sum up the experience of growing up under a communist dictatorship? "I sometimes say freedom is just like air --you notice only the lack of it."

Insight: What were your reactions and the reactions of Hungarians to the terrorist attack on America?

Geza Jeszenszky: It is hard to find suitable words to express the horror. There have been many expressions of sympathy and one feels that to add one more is not enough to express what one feels.

In such a situation, where mere words are superfluous, it matters how we act. People did express their shock and support for America, but it is interesting how they did so. Many Hungarians immediately after the attacks went to the U.S. Embassy in Budapest with flowers and candles. There were other ceremonies as well: a Mass in the biggest cathedral in Budapest. In the square in front of the Hungarian Parliament, the flag was lowered to half-mast. The Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, immediately promised Hungarian support as an ally.

Now I don't want to paint an over-rosy picture. I also must say there were some people, a minority, who expressed in Parliament and elsewhere their opinion that the U.S. somehow was to blame, even while they expressed, and I suppose seriously felt, sorrow about the terrorist acts.

I was very sad about that, but a bit relieved when some Americans said the same thing. But I can tell you that the majority of Hungarians have always been pro-American, even during the Cold War, when Hungary and America were supposed to be enemy nations. The governments were enemies, but the people were not.

Insight: Three times in the 20th century, Hungary had to rebuild almost from scratch. The first period of reconstruction followed the devastation wrought by World War I and the 1919 Communist Revolution in Hungary under Bela Kun. The second came after World War II and the third followed the collapse of communism in 1989. How is Hungary weathering the transition from communism to democracy and capitalism?

GJ: I'm happy to say that we have overcome the malaise of transition. My summary of the situation is that under communism, with the artificial price structure, very little was available but that very little was affordable. Then everything became available -- and its availability was apparent in shop windows and advertisements -- but very little was affordable. That of course is often very frustrating, but we are more or less over that period.

I see a lot of energy and optimism in Hungary. Hungarians had the reputation of being pessimists, and there is much data that supported that reputation, such as the high suicide rate. At one point, it was the highest in the world. But it now has gone down substantially, and this is very important.

I think that one of the reasons why the Hungarian economy is doing well -- its growth rate still is about 4 percent, twice as high as the European Union -- is that Hungarians are an energetic people with a drive to succeed.

Insight: So 40 years of communist dictatorship didn't destroy the ambitions and abilities of the Hungarians?

GJ: The situation in Hungary is something like the American immigrants had when they came to the United States. They escaped from hardship and persecution. They felt they had to succeed. They had to show that, in the new country that gave them freedom and opportunities and where they arrived penniless, they could make use of that freedom and be successful.

To some degree I think that Hungary and some of the other countries coming out of communism have the same qualities. Yes, we have to prove our value; we have to make up quickly for lost time and lost income.

Insight: Former communist countries, especially Russia, have had a big problem with organized crime. How has Hungary handled crime during the period of transition from communism to free enterprise?