Members of Magyar Garda, or Hungarian Guard, took their oath of loyalty to "defend Hungary" and Hungarians at Budapest’s Heroes’ Square, watched by an enthusiastic crowd of some 2,000 people, many waving ‘Arpad’ flags with red and white stripes, a flag associated since World War II with Hungary’s Nazi-allied Arrow Cross regime.
The Magyar Garda was founded by the Movement For A Better Hungary (Jobbik), a far-right political party not yet represented in parliament, and inaugurated in August with the induction of 56 members. On Sunday, October 21, the new members were already looking forward to their first job this week.
They will provide protection during a ceremony Tuesday, October 23, to unveil sculptures for Hungarian "heroes", including regent Miklos Horthy, under whose leadership Hungary introduced Europe’s first anti-Semitic laws. The ceremony is held on the day Hungarians will remember the outbreak of the 1956 Revolution against Soviet domination.
CONTROVERSIAL PASTOR
Reformed Pastor Lorant Hegedus Jr., a well-known outspoken controversial church leader, told BosNewsLife he had asked the Magyar Garda to stand in front of his Budapest church, where the statues will be placed. He defended his support for Magyar Garda despite concerns about its anti-Roma and anti-Jewish rhetoric. Asked how he can reconcile Magyar Garda’s activities with his Biblical duties as pastor, the 39-year-old Hegedus Jr. admitted there was "a conflict." However he said, "Christianity is not ape love…" Speaking about Jews and Roma he said: "If they want to be loved, they have to act in a way that people can love them…"
In 2001 he suggested in a publication to segregate Jews from "the Hungarian Christian nation" saying that "if we do not they will take our places." The synod of the Hungarian Reformed Church later declared the article irreconcilable with the Gospel and the Christian faith, but he has been able to continue his work as pastor.
"Since not all Palestinians can be smoked out of the banks of the Jordan river by using Fascist methods that shame even the Nazis, they are now coming again here, to the banks of the Danube river, sometimes as internationalists, sometimes by showing off their national sentiments, sometimes as cosmopolitans, to kick once more into the Hungarians," Hegedus wrote.
HUNGARIAN ‘HERITAGE’
"Hungarians, based on the heritage and legal continuity of 1,000 years, listen to the only life-offering message of the 1,000th Christian Hungarian year: Exclude them, because if you do not do so, they will do it to you!" he added. While acknowledging that the remarks "may have been offensive, shocking and alarming" the Budapest Court of Appeal later overturned his 18-month suspended prison sentence, saying Hegedus’ writings did "not constitute a crime."
Fearing a resurgence of extremism, the Socialist party in government joined Jewish and Roma (gypsy) rights groups in placing large billboards with warnings along one of the capital’s main avenues, where Magyar Garda members were to march Sunday, October 21.
The black-and-white signs, some showing Hungarian Nazi leaders during the war raising their hands in a "Heil Hitler" salute, read: "History repeats itself. You can still turn back." Not many did Sunday, October 21. The Hungarian Arrow Cross regime was responsible for the deportation of some 450,000 Hungarian Jews to Nazi death camps, mainly Auschwitz. In total about 600,000 Hungarian Jews perished in the Holocaust.
NO DOUBTS
"There is no doubt in my mind that they [the Magyar Garda] are fascists and think as fascists," said the president of the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities, Peter Feldmayer this week. The leader of Magyar Garda, Gabor Vona disagrees. He told BosNewsLife that his group only "wants to defend the Hungarian nation" by setting up representations "in every village of the country." Vona also confirmed the Magyar Garda leadership had advised its members to take shooting lessons.
Analysts say groups like the Magyar Garda gained in strength following anti-government riots that broke out last year after an audio tape was leaked on which Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany could be heard admitting he had lied to voters about the economy to win re-election. Hundreds were injured and arrested in clashes and the police was also criticized for using excessive force.
Gyurcsany has denied opposition allegations that he uses concerns about anti-Semitism in the country to take away the attention from his current problems to keep his party, and government, united amid the most dramatic austerity measures in years to reduce Hungary’s budget deficit, the largest within the European Union.
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