Fairname
21 september, 2004	Magyar Hírlap
The word-processing program underlines in red the expression in the title (fairname, written as one word!); it doesn’t recognize it. Yet for over forty years it and its protection has been one of the key elements of the Hungarian Civil Code. There is something startlingly emblematic in the fact that our public and legal “culture” has not espoused and still does not comprehend the word, which our civil law validates in dramatically presented court cases. During the dictatorship, which did not particularly respect a person’s right, dignity and personality, during the decades prior to the change of regime, art. #78 of the Hungarian Civil Code was sound, its interpretation and application was modern, of high standard and consistent. (All in all, it still is!)

After losing the case
20 september, 2004	Népszava
„According to Hegel, the past is the realm of absolute necessity, since it cannot be changed. Dr. Schmidt does not listen to Hegel, and is endeavouring to sugar-coat the ugly past. The past, however, is reluctant and resists. Dr. Schmidt is forced into the role of the lame dog (“It is easier to catch a liar than a lame dog”), and because she feels uncomfortable in that role, she hobblingly forges ahead. She takes legal action for libel. Still, whatever the outcome of the case, the past will not become more beautiful, and the lame dog remains a lame dog.” That is how I concluded my article: Mária Schmidt is Suing Me – written in March of this year, which appeared in issue No. 11 of this year’s Élet és Irodalom.

Let’s discuss it!
20 september, 2004	Klub Rádió
Good morning, this is János Dési speaking from Klub Rádió. I suggest the following topics for discussion. The government and the government parties are determined that the dynamically developing competitive banking sector should take on an annual 30 billion HUF excess liability – declared prime minister-in-waiting, Ferenc Gyurcsány today, despite the fact that several banks protested against the planned increase in banking taxes; the head of the OTP was particularly vocal in his opposition, even proposing that his bank or some of its affiliates could, or would, go offshore. Today in Parliament the Socialists also wish to bring up the question, how the firm of the wife of the ex-prime minister, Viktor Orbán could have received similar state support as the one that forced Ferenc Wekler to resign from his post as Deputy-Leader of the House. According to the Socialists, it gives rise to particularly serious ethical questions, if one of the ministries of a Prime Minister supports that prime minister’s family – thus the news bulletin. The third topic is the appeal of the MSZP for a counter-demonstration on October 15, when a handful of an extreme-rightwing group wants to, or wanted to, hold a demonstration in Budapest in front of the House of Terror Museum, the former headquarters of the Arrow Cross. Our final topic, which I should like to draw your attention to, is that this morning a security guard shot a bank robber. We shall give you a detailed account of this incident later. We are getting in touch with the spokesperson for the Budapest Chief Police Commissioner’s office to find out how enquiries are proceeding and what can be ascertained about this matter.

Appeal by the MSZP
19 september, 2004	Vasárnapi Hírek
György Jánosi, chairman of the steering committee of the MSZP informed our paper that at its yesterday’s sitting, the committee accepted an appeal in connection with the action planned for October 15 by the group spouting Arrow Cross ideas. He told us that the congress of the MSZP was sitting at the same time, and the board is asking the participants to adjourn the meeting in order to take part, together with all of the party leaders, in the counter-demonstration of the democratic forces to be held at a time and place to be advised.

Gergényi is going to be stern
19 september, 2004	Blikk
The police will intervene if it perceives anything that offends the law during the openly hungarist Group for a Hungarian Future’s October 15 demonstration – declared the Budapest Chief Commissioner of Police in the Nap-kelte. Péter Gergényi promised that action will be taken against anyone who offends against the law. As is known, the Group for a Hungarian Future is going to stage its demonstration in front of the House of Terror Museum, whose building once housed Ferenc Szálasi’s Arrow Cross Party.

If need be, the police will intervene
18 september, 2004	Gondola
In one of the TV programs last Saturday the Chief Commissioner of the Budapest Police emphasized: the police will intervene if it perceives anything that offends the law during the openly hungarist Group for a Hungarian Future’s October 15 demonstration.

Unfalsifiable history
18 september, 2004	Népszabadság
The gentle reader could have read István Eörsi’s article in last Thursday’s issue, had we not removed it from the paper. But, unfortunately remove it we did, as it would have cost too much.

György Jánosi: for the first time all the parties could present a united front against something
18 september, 2004	Uno.hu
According to information from György Jánosi, the National Committee of the MSZP expressed its indignation at the Hungarist meeting to be held in front of the House of Terror.

Interview with Péter Gergényi, Chief Commissioner of the Budapest Police
18 september, 2004	Napkelte
Allow me to welcome in the studio Mr. Péter Gergényi, Chief Commissioner of the Budapest Police; my image, or rather my correct perception of him is that we have never seen him nervous in the past, nor see him so in the present, nor shall we see him so in the future, because, after all, why should an expert be nervous, someone who knows what he is doing. On the other hand, he has several months behind him when, along with his important tasks, he had to busy himself with a lot of frippery, seeing that the Prime Minister, who later resigned, nominated you for the post of National Chief Commissioner, and then something was activated, which subsequently turned out to be nothing but a fabrication. Do I see this correctly?

András Gerő’s error
17 september, 2004	Élet és Irodalom
On the strength of our old acquaintance I rang András Gerő as soon as I read in the ÉS that he had teamed up with Mária Schmidt. I told him at once why their jointly signed article (ÉS, 2003/27) was specious, albeit in the firm belief that he had long since changed his mind, and I was unnecessarily hurting his feelings. I was wrong.

Security based on the law
17 september, 2004	Élet és Irodalom
As a die-hard liberal I am all in favour of not having a law against the spreading of lies about the extermination camps, or against Holocaust deniers; nor is it illegal in our country to profess pro-Nazi views. Not even in my wildest nightmares, however, could I have imagined that voicing one’s indignation against people professing similar views – branding those views as falsifications of history – could entail a penalty, even if (for the time being?) only in a civil and not in a criminal court, and in the form of a fine and not a prison sentence.

The Hungarists are preparing more posters
16 september, 2004	Magyar Hírlap
So far the Ministry of Justice has only unformed notions about how to amend the act covering public assembly. Diána Bácsfi, the recently released leader of the hungarist group, yesterday confirmed that they will hold the planned demonstration in front of the House of Terror on October 15. In the meantime they are preparing within a couple of days to inundate the streets of Budapest with their posters depicting Szálasi.

The public service scandal
16 september, 2004	Magyar Nemzet
Ferenc Mádl is a tough man in important matters. Just as he had reservations about presenting an official medal to Gyula Horn in Parliament House, he also vetoed officially to honour Nap-kelte. The highest constitutional personage should not exalt a political program, which is not only extremely divisive, but has also been repeatedly condemned by the media authority. Yet the unsuspecting, naïve Péter Medgyessy had so cleverly worked out the birthday gift, before he was made to resign!

Bob Dole in the House of Terror
2 march, 2004	Népszava
Bob Dole was in Hungary at the weekend. The Senator ran as the republican candidate in the 1996 US Presidential Elections, and had previously been the Majority Leader of the US Senate. During his stay in Budapest he visited, among others, the House of Terror Museum. He got acquainted with relics of Hungarian history exhibited in the Museum, with former symbols of internationalism. (In the picture: Dole with the portrait of Lenin on the wall). Mária Schmidt, director-general of the House of Terror guided the senator through the rooms.

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