THE BUDAPEST TIMES
Volume 10, No. 09
2 March – 8 March 2012
02 D O U B L E
www.bzt.hu
Hungary’s English-language weekly.
HUF 750/EUR 3
04 S T A T U E S
S T A N D A R D S Italy got away with a lot more than Hungary
Choosing what to remember... or neglect
allowing it to broadcast on the 92.9 FM
frequency. The station was awarded the
concession by the National Radio and
Television Board, which Prime Minister
Viktor Orbán’s conservative government abolished shortly after taking
office. In December 2010 the NMHH
declared the earlier tender process
void, and Klubrádió launched a legal
challenge.
Victory for
embattled
opposition
radio station
By the book: NMHH
ROBERT HODGSON
T
he
opposition
station
Klubrádió appears to have
made a breakthrough this
week in its battle to remain
on air, after the state media authority
was found to have unlawfully withheld
broadcasting rights.
Budapest Metropolitan Court ruled
on Tuesday that the National Media
and Infocommunications Authority
(NMHH) had acted illegally in refusing
to sign a contract with Klubrádió
The NMHH’s executive Media
Council maintains that its decisions are
made purely on legal and technical
grounds. In the case of the 92.9 FM
frequency it argued that Klubrádió was
already on air, and that one provider
cannot control two frequencies in the
same area. In fact, Klubrádió had agreed
to give up its 95.3 FM frequency, for
which its contract expired in February
last year.
– Continued on page 2 as ‘Liberal’
BZT/Aaron Taylor
Media authority
slapped down
Taking a stand on Kossuth square
A
nyone walking across
Kossuth tér (square) in
front of Parliament these
days is once again faced
with a security fence, a
reminder of the hoarding put up by the
previous Socialist administration to
protect against a terrorist threat. This
time it is for construction work which
began last weekend on the north side of
the square.
“Back to the roots” could be the motto
of the transformation plans. According
to the government decree passed last
year, “the artistic appearance of the
square is to be restored in such a way that
it corresponds to how it looked before
1944”. Zoltán Cselovszki, the local
district’s head architect, stressed,
however, that the look is not a question
of a single moment in time. Instead it is
about “combining the erstwhile atmos-
phere of the square with the expectations
of the 21st century”.
This involves questions of security and
tourism, he said. According to
Cselovszki, “where statues will be placed
has been largely decided, but which
statues exactly those will be also depends
on the extent to which restoration of
earlier damaged statues is possible”.
– Continued on page 5 as ‘Underground’
Many people can’t wait to tell you exactly where to go
T
he Travel Exhibition
at HungExpo showcasing tourist destinations near and far
has returned.
It is touted as the biggest
annual tourism promotion in
Budapest, with 55,000 guests
passing through the gates last
Olympic theme
Exhibitors are hoping that visitors to the Travel Exhibition this weekend will dig
a little deeper into their pockets to travel further afield than the exotic District X.
Among them is Hungary’s neighbour to the west, Slovenia. Maribor, above, is
one of the European Capitals of Culture this year.
339.98
23 Feb.
343.74
1 Mar.
288.17
23 Feb.
287.80 239.04
1 Mar. 23 Feb.
238.78 216.26
1 Mar. 23 Feb.
215.74
1 Mar.
STATS
RATES
www.takarékbank.hu
year to see what 29 countries
and 440 exhibitors had to offer,
when the special focus was the
Himalayas.
www.maribor-pohorje.si/Matej Vranic
Travel
Exhibition,
bike & boat
show at
HungExpo
This time around we suspect
there is a fitness theme and
some sponsorship under the
stumbling slogan that just didn’t
quite seem to get its laces tied
before running off the boardroom table: “Go travelling and
do sports. Go to the Olympics,
go to London!”
According to organisers: “We
will be offering ‘must-see’
programmes for sports-loving
visitors in the Olympic Pavilion.
Visitors will have plenty to see in
the best possible atmosphere
71%
of Hungarian
internet users visit
YouTube daily,
YouTube says.
43
Shared service
centres in Hungary
according to CA
Immo & DTZ.
thanks to a show of the various
Olympic sports and lots of
historical
exhibitions
of
Hungarian Olympic champions.
High-profile sports managers
and top athletes from Hungary
will also be present.”
Poland, Debrecen
Themes aside, the country
featured as the guest of honour
is Poland, while Debrecen will be
in the limelight from among
Hungarian cities.
Cruising
alongside
the
Travel
Exhibition
which
opened on Thursday and closes
on Sunday is the Budapest Boat
Show and the Bike Expo.
– Allan Boyko
Exhibition
Friday to Sunday 10am to 6pm
HungExpo Budapest Fair Centre
District X, Albertirsai út 10. (Expo
tér 1.)
Getting there:
– by metro line no. 2 to Örs vezér tere
then by bus no. 100 or on foot from
Pillangó utca metro station (about
15 minutes).
– by car on Kerepesi út from downtown. Plenty of paid parking.
– by train from Nyugati Railway
Station to Kõbánya felsõ station
(about five minutes)
Daily ticket HUF 2,000. With concessions HUF 1,400. Family ticket
HUF 4,000 (two adults and three
kids up to age 14). Discounts if
booked online.
Website: utazas.hungexpo.hu (in
English)
475 BN 458,467 20%
the drop in forint of
net household debt
owed in forex in
January: MNB.
of Slovaks were
ethnic Hungarian in
2011, down from
520,528 in 2001.
jump yr-on-yr in
new car registrations in February at
4,262: Datahouse.
771785 110000
12009
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
2 MARCH – 8 MARCH 2012
POLITICS
Liberal ‘talk’ station lost out to ‘pop’ bid
– Continued from page 1
Since then, the Media Council
awarded that frequency to a hitherto unknown firm promising a diet
of pop music and local news to
replace Klubrádió’s mix of politics,
news and discussion that draws
several hundred thousand listeners.
Cry heard abroad
Klubrádió was outbid by the firm
with no track record in broadcasting and registered capital of just
HUF 1 million (EUR 3,461). The
ruling sparked an outcry from
Klubrádió’s owners and listeners,
who saw the decision as a politically
motivated attempt to silence one of
the few opposition voices on
Hungary’s airwaves. The case went
international, with renewed expressions of concern in Brussels and
Washington over the government,
which had earlier been forced to
amend restrictive media laws in
which many saw the potential for
censorship.
Who listens
to talk?
esearch by pollster TNS
Hoffmann found that
Klubrádió averaged 170,000
listeners a day in January in
Budapest alone. This suggests
that the station’s estimate of
400,000 listeners is plausible,
assuming they do not all listen
every day, and counting those
outside the capital and online.
The only talk-driven station
with more daily listeners in the
capital is the public-service
broadcaster Kossuth Rádió, with
268,000. The conservative
Budapest news- and politicsdriven broadcaster InfóRádió
has 110,000 listeners a day and
the far-right Lánchíd Rádió
attracts 51,000,. The survey was
based on a sample of 1,406
Budapesters over the age of 15.
R
BZT File/Aaron Taylor
02
Authority spins decision
The NMHH was defiant on
Tuesday and issued a statement that
ignored the key fact of its having
been found to have acted illegally.
“The court confirmed the principle
of European law maintained by the
Media Council, that it would be
unlawful for an owner to have more
than one frequency in a given settlement,” the authority wrote.
That may or may not be so but the
court’s verdict suggests that it clearly
did not support the NMHH’s
contention that Klubrádió would have
been in breach of any rules on media
monopolies if it were to assume the
92.9 FM frequency and relinquish
the 95.3 one. The Media Council,
which called the ruling “contradictory”, had 15 days to appeal. If it
does not, or it does and loses, then
Klubrádió would appear to have
won, for now, its battle to stay on air.
Meanwhile a ruling on Klubrádió’s
legal challenge to the 95.3 FM
tender is expected in mid-March.
COMMENT
Are some more equal than others?
EU discipline
under microscope
I
n mid-January, the European Commission
launched infringement proceedings against
Hungary over three laws passed by Prime
Minister Viktor Orbán’s conservative Fidesz
government. Among them was a reform seen
as weakening the independence of the Hungarian
National Bank and a reform forcing judges into
retirement at 62, seen as potentially damaging
judicial independence. The government has
submitted a lengthy reply, which the Commission
is digesting, and signalled that it is ready to
compromise on the main issues raised.
Then last week the Commission threatened to
withhold half-a-billion euros in development
funding next year if the government fails to
convince that it is ready to make necessary reforms
to sustainably reduce its budget deficit. (Hungary
has been under the EU’s excessive-deficit procedure longer than any other member state but
currently has one of the lower deficits in relation to
its GDP). Last week, Orbán told a meeting of
German businessmen in Budapest that the EU was
applying “double standards”. This Tuesday, his
chief of staff Mihály Varga said the same in a radio
interview. Below, in an abridged version of a piece
that appeared in the Budapester Zeitung, reporter
Peter Bognar argues that some cases from recent
years might fuel suspicions among many
Hungarians that the same standards are not being
applied to all member states.
Presidential
power
T
hat Brussels and the European public are applying
different standards to the Orbán government than
to other EU countries can hardly be illustrated
more clearly than through the examples of
founding members France and Italy under presidents
Nicolas Sarkozy and Silvio Berlusconi. Sociologist, theatre
director and author Benjamin Korn, who has lived in Paris
since 1982, says this of the French presidential system: “I
know of no other land in Western Europe where the head
of state is so powerful and parliament is so weak.”
First, let’s go to France
Sarkozy, who has been in office since 2007, seems to
combine everything that Viktor Orbán and his government
stand accused of by the European Commission, the
European Parliament and the European public. Orbán’s
government is accused of trampling on the freedom of the
K-12 International English-Speaking Private School
Tel: 274-4053, 275-4795 Web: WWW.GGIS.HU
Hungarian media
probed in Brussels
A multi-party media affairs group heard
opposing views from Hungarian journalists in Brussels this week during a hearing
on the state of media freedom in the
country.
The deputy editor of the left-liberal
broadsheet Népszabadság, Gábor
Horváth, and Klubrádió editor and phonein host György Bolgár said press freedom
was in grave danger.
Journalist Tamás Pindroch of the progovernment right-wing paper Magyar
Hírlap disputed this, saying there was not
even self-censorship. He claimed that the
previous Socialist-backed government
had used the secret services to intimidate
reporters on the right-wing paper Magyar
Nemzet.
György Schöpflin, an MEP with the
governing conservative party Fidesz,
presented the government line: there is an
ideologically motivated campaign against
Hungary by an insecure domestic and
international left wing.
Call for revival of
Radio Free Europe
In an essay published on Tuesday in
the Washington Post, historian Charles
Gati, former Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe representative on
press freedom Miklós Haraszti and former
US ambassador to Hungary Mark Palmer
called for the revival of Radio Free Europe,
which broadcast US propaganda into
Eastern Europe during the Cold War.
“With the fall of Hungary’s Westernstyle, pluralistic democracy, the time is
right for the United States to reinstate
Radio Free Europe’s Hungarian-language
broadcasts,” they wrote. Prime Minister
Viktor Orbán and his conservative Fidesz
party have taken control of “all branches of
government and all independent institutions, including the judiciary,” the authors
claimed. “A new Hungarian channel, by
making full use of gifted editors and
reporters in Hungary, should become a
hub for quality journalism, a provider of
inclusive debates and fair information,
inviting to all and detached from all,” they
wrote.
Radio Free Europe, now based in
Prague, broadcasts into Russia, former
Soviet states and the Middle East.
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
Berlusconi shortened statutes of limitation (to protect himself), downgraded the falsification of balance sheets from a
crime to a misdemeanour (to protect himself) and introduced a broadcasting law enabling the government to have a tight
grip on state television broadcaster RAI. Yet no Infringement procedures were brought against Italy questioning its
democratic and constitutional commitment
press in Hungary and bringing the state media to heel. And
what is the situation in France? A recently published report
by the German weekly Die Zeit about the upcoming presidential elections in France says this: “Television viewers in
France followed the performance of their president on
Saturday evening increasingly aghast. An hour was
devoted to Nicolas Sarkozy on seven television channels,
as though we were in North Korea.”
The EU, however, hardly seems to be worked up about
it. Orbán and his government are also pilloried for eliminating the separation of powers. France has more or less
only paid lip service to the separation of powers since the
establishment of the Fifth Republic under General Charles
de Gaulle. And how does Brussels react? With eloquent
silence.
Berlusconi’s mafiocracy
Nor did Italy under Silvio Berlusconi cover itself with
glory in democratic terms. Berlusconi, who stood down at
the end of last year because of Italy’s deep economic crisis,
had pretty much free rein in his country for more than a
decade. Criticism of “Berlusconism” on the institutional level
of the EU was half-hearted, to put it mildly. Italian philosopher Sergio Benvenuto describes the “Berlusconi system”
as follows: “There are three great powers today in the West:
political power, economic power, and cultural and media
power. Should those three powers come together, for
example in a mafiocracy, democracy would be essentially
reduced to a ritual... Berlusconi set out to combine those
three powers, that is, to foil democracy.”
The Austrian paper Die Presse commented as follows
after Berlusconi’s resignation in November: “He remains in
reality an anti-politician for whom the mills of parliamentary
democracy and governing itself are burdensome and who
bends the constitutional state at his own discretion to suit
his interests.” German sociologist Peter Kammerer said
Berlusconi “degraded parliament to a bourse and a place
of cronyism, he replaced language with slogans and generated mass passivity”.
“Berlusconism” also shortened statutes of limitation (to
protect Berlusconi, who has numerous court proceedings
around his neck), downgraded the falsification of balance
sheets from a crime to a misdemeanour (to protect
Berlusconi, who as a businessman is suspected of having
done just that) and introduced a broadcasting law enabling
the government to have a tight grip on state television
broadcaster RAI.
How come Hungary is hit?
Infringement procedures questioning the democratic
and constitutional commitment of the state leadership were
not brought against either Italy under Berlusconi or France
under Sarkozy, yet three such procedures have been
launched against Hungary. Nor was a resolution adopted
by the European Parliament against Italy under Berlusconi
or France under Sarkozy owing to the “worrying situation”
and the “infringement of the fundamental values of the EU”
as has happened against Hungary.
The foreign policy spokeswomen of the European
Greens in the European Parliament and an initiator of the
vote on the resolution, Ulrike Lunacek, commented as
follows on the decision of the European Parliament: “The
European Parliament sent a clear message today in
defence of fundamental European values and took a decisive stance against the creeping erosion of democratic
values in an EU member state.”
The EU seems to regard taking control of the media and
the judiciary, eliminating the separation of powers and
undermining democracy as peccadilloes in the case of
France and Italy, while it is taking a hard line with Hungary.
It is hard to avoid coming to the conclusion that double
standards really are being applied in the EU.
ISSN 1785-1106
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THE BUDAPEST TIMES
Budapest Prosecutor’s Office has
acted on a criminal complaint by nationalist party Jobbik and launched proceedings against former interior minister Béla
Biszku, who allegedly had a leading role in
the retaliation after the 1956 Uprising.
Jobbik’s complaint was filed in a bid to
have Biszku tried under new laws abolishing the statute of limitations on crimes
against humanity.
Biszku, 91, held office in the years after
the Uprising was crushed by Soviet Union
military might. On his watch, dozens were
executed for their role in what the communist dictators characterised as a “counter
revolution”, among them its reluctant
leader, reform communist Imre Nagy.
Since the change of regime Biszku has
lived a reclusive life but in a recent interview with the state’s Duna TV he said he
does not consider the Uprising a revolution, he will not apologise for what
happened after the events and he declined
to comment on the executions, because
“as minister of interior I had nothing to do
with the rulings of the courts”.
Iranian twin town
The small northern town of
Gyöngyöspata has twinned with an
Iranian town, its far-right Jobbik party
mayor, Oszkár Juhász, told the newspaper Magyar Hírlap on Wednesday.
Juhász did not name the town. He was
elected mayor last summer (with a low
turnout and one third of the vote) after the
activities of far-right paramilitaries thrust
the town into the international media and
the incumbent resigned for “personal
reasons”.
The eastern town of Tiszavasvári – also
led by a Jobbik mayor – last year signed a
“twinning” deal with Ardabil, near Iran’s
Caspian Sea coast. Jobbik is a vocal
supporter of the Iranian regime, with
which it shares a strong antipathy towards
all things “Zionist”. Unlike Western
European countries, Hungary has no
sizable Islamic immigrant community for
the far right to despise.
City to squeeze out
water partners
City Council authorised Mayor István
Tarlós on Tuesday to terminate the city’s
management contract with Hungáriavíz,
foreign-owned manager of city water
company Fõvárosi Vízmûvek. Tarlós said
the contract may be terminated on technical grounds but that consultation with
the government will be needed first.
Hungáriavíz, a consortium of French
firm Suez Environment and Germany’s
RWE, bought a 25 per cent stake and
management rights in Budapest water
company Fõvárosi Vízmûvek in 1997 for
HUF 16.5 billion (EUR 57.24 million). The
two investors rejected Budapest’s offer for
HUF 6 billion (EUR 20.82 million) last year
for the stake valued at HUF 55-60 billion
(EUR 190.8-208.25 million), saying that a
minimum of HUF 25 billion (EUR 86.76
million) would be necessary.
Suez and RWE deny having breached
the contract and said they had delivered a
high level of service, but declared themselves ready to reach an agreement with
the city council.Termination of the contract
for management of the capital’s water
facilities would deal a second blow to
Suez’s presence in Hungary after it was
forced to withdraw from a similar contract
with the city of Pécs in October 2009.
Suez owned a 48 per cent stake in the
Pécsi Vízmû waterworks until the Pécs
council forced out the multinational and
set up a new company. Suez is suing Pécs
for EUR 32 million in damages. A new trial
was ordered after Hungary’s Supreme
Court ruled last year that the Pécs
takeover was unlawful.
Nationalist MP
drops his guard
The deputy leader of the far-right party
Jobbik is being prosecuted under legislation that outlaws the activities of the
Magyar Gárda, an extremist paramilitary
group linked to the party. Elõd Novák put
on the banned group’s scarf and declared
“we are all Gardistas” at an event in Pécs
on Saturday. Such groups have been
banned from operating in public. Novák –
who could face a fine – has given up his
parliamentary immunity from prosecution,
Jobbik said.
Crime hunter shifts
to ‘mafia’ mess
Agriculture
secretary tires
from the fight
against big ag
Taxman pays
visit to
anti-gov’t
protesters
Viktor Orbán, and representatives of
agrarian interest organisation
Magosz, of which Budai is a director.
Ángyán resigned on 18 January and
although 19 environmental nongovernmental organisations asked
Orbán to retain him, the resignation
was accepted.
T
‘Mafia-like’ system
ATTILA LEITNER
overnment “accountability
commissioner” Gyula Budai
has replaced József Ángyán
as the State Secretary of the Ministry
of Rural Development after the
latter quit because of a “mafia-like”
system in the sector.
“A decision whether I will keep my
post as accountability commissioner
has not been reached yet,” Budai
told state news agency MTI, adding
that he would like to continue the
work at least for some time. Budai
was appointed after consultations
between the minister, Prime Minister
G
In a letter sent to the organisations taking his side and made
public on Monday, Ángyán said the
“mafia-like system which established
itself over the past decades wants to
put its hand on everything: land,
resources, subsidies and markets.
They want to take everything from
local communities and families and
I, my colleagues and our National
Rural Strategy is just standing in the
way of this exploitation”.
Sources of news website origo.hu
said Ángyán’s idea of strengthening
the position of family-owned small
farms went against factory-like
producers, who were stronger at
lobbying the government. A deputy
More churches
T
approved, even
more rejected
Accountability commissioner Gyula Budai
would like to wear both hats, at least for a
while.
state secretary – who does not work
at
the
Ministry
of
Rural
Development – told origo.hu that the
divide within the cabinet and within
the ministry is a recurrent topic at
interdepartmental meetings.
Ángyán told his supporters in his
letter that he did everything in his
power to present these problems to
the prime minister. “For months I
tried to get a personal meeting with
Viktor Orbán but I just could not,”
he alleged.
Massive centralisation under way
he government has taken over from local
authorities the running of 757 institutions,
while assuming HUF 189 billion (EUR
656.43 million) in related debts, Deputy Prime
Minister Tibor Navracsics said on Wednesday in
reply to a parliamentary question.
Among those now under direct government
control are 240 schools, 66 hospitals, 220
A
nglicans, Methodists, Mormons, Hari Krishnas,
Muslim and Buddhist sects and Jehovah’s Witnesses
were among 18 churches officially recognised by
Parliament on Monday. An amendment to a law on the status
of religious groups brings the total of recognised churches in
Hungary to 32. However, with 66 applicants rejected, the move
by governing conservative party Fidesz and Christian
lawmakers who dominate the national assembly has done little
to quell critics of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government.
Legislation passed late last year cut the number of registered
churches in the country to only 14 well-established Christian
and Jewish denominations. All others had to reapply for official recognition, which comes with tax-free status and access to
subsidies (for example, employees can have one per cent of
their income tax transferred to a religion of their choice).
The government had argued that many of the 360 registered churches were bogus, in it only for the money. Under
the new rules, an applicant must demonstrate it has been
present in Hungary for at least 20 years, or internationally
for a century, and collect the signatures of 1,000 members.
Only then are they subject to a parliamentary vote, with a
two-thirds majority required.
Opposition Socialist politician Ildikó Lendvai has called on
President Pál Schmitt not to sign the legislation into law,
arguing that government lawmakers are making arbitrary decisions. She claimed that the failure of government MPs to
recognise an outfit called the Hungarian Evangelical
Fellowship was politically motivated. Its leader, Gábor Iványi, is
a former liberal politician and spoke at a demonstration
against the government’s new Constitution in January.
Large churches criticised over failure to speak out
The larger churches were targeted by a group of liberal
intellectuals and former anti-communist dissidents in an
open letter on Wednesday. The 13 signatories argued that,
just as in the communist era, the churches favoured with
recognition by the powers that be are keeping quiet while
smaller congregations are suffering under laws “humiliating
their believers, destroying their schools and depriving the
helpless of the services provided by their charity institutions”.
“Today, too, we speak out against this arbitrary, overtly
political discrimination, though our protest would not be
necessary if the recognised churches were not keeping silent
similarly to the past,” the letter reads.
Former mayor of Budapest Gábor Demszky, writer György
Konrád and former Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe press freedom representative Miklós
Haraszti are among the signatories.
he main organisers of the
protest group One Million for
Hungarian Press Freedom,
known as Milla, have been
subject to audits by the Tax and
Customs Authority (NAV), news
website
index.hu
reported
on
Wednesday.
As the group is not a legal entity,
Mátyás Torsa and Róbert Fölkel
collected donations in bank accounts
under their own names. Recent protests
in the capital have involved the erecting
of large stages with PA systems and
attracted tens of thousands of antigovernment protesters.
Torsa has already been quizzed by
NAV inspectors. He told index that he
was asked about the way the protesters
were organised and to give names. He
alleged that inspectors implied they
were acting on instructions from “higher
up”.
Milla is planning another demonstration at the Pest end of Erzsébet híd
(bridge) on the 15 March national
holiday, having recently overcome
bureaucratic obstacles. Prime Minister
Viktor Orbán is due to speak in the
capital on the same day.
bodies involved in environmental or water
management, 147 children’s homes and other
welfare institutions, and 84 cultural facilities.
Democratic Coalition politician István Kolbér
had also asked what is the value of all the
assets taken over by the government.
Navracsics said he could not answer because
an assessment is ongoing.
03
POLITICS
Ex-minister charged
over 1956 ‘crimes’
2 MARCH – 8 MARCH 2012
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
2 MARCH – 8 MARCH 2012
Symbolic
figures
KRISZTIÁN UNGVÁRY
C
omparison of the number of
statues commemorating the
most prominent Hungarian
figures of the 20th century
serves as a measure of public
remembrance. Such publicly funded monuments allow many conclusions to be drawn
about the intellectual and spiritual state of a
nation.
They reveal those lines of tradition that
continue to serve a purpose and be valid in
the present day in the eyes of their
supporters. Of course it is only possible to
speak here of those bearers of traditions
who are largely positively remembered,
because otherwise it is not possible for such
a tribute to them to be financed by the state
or local authorities. Below I will discuss the
statues that have been publicly financed
since the change of regime.
The figureheads of public remembrance
in Hungary naturally tend to be those of the
20th century. An overview of the statues
erected since the change of regime presents the following picture: in the whole
country there are only four statues, in relatively insignificant locations, of the important
political scientist István Bibó, whereas 49
monuments have been put up in honour of
the writer Albert Wass.
There is only one statue of István
Bethlen, the liberal-conservative prime
minister between 1922 and 1930 who
managed to consolidate Hungary following
the First World War, while there are three
statues of his predecessor and notorious
antisemite Pál Teleki, two of the regent
Miklós Horthy, four of writer Sándor Márai
and 14 of the former communist functionary
and symbolic figure of the 1956 Uprising,
Imre Nagy.
Wass is the clear leader on the list; not
only is he represented across the country
but he can also lay claim to the most prominent positions.
The country’s most popular politician
probably remains communist leader János
Kádár, who presided over Hungary from
1956 to 1988. He was identified by 42 per
cent of those canvassed as the “best politician of the 20th century” in an opinion poll in
2006. That popularity is based to a considerable extent on a subsequent decline in the
standard of living compared to the Kádár
period for large sections of the population,
but (fortunately) it is not reflected in statues
of him.
According to another survey from 2006,
Imre Nagy is the politician of the 20th
century who is the least disliked. However,
that is not sufficient for there to be
consensus about his person. Nagy
remained a communist until his death. He
was sentenced and executed by hanging
after the uprising for his courage and refusal
to bend. His name only became synonymous with the uprising retrospectively. The
assessment of Nagy as a person differs
markedly from the assessment of his political views.
With regard to positive figures, in the first
decade after the change of regime there
was only broad consensus about one
person, István Bibó. That is particularly
interesting because Bibó has since disappeared off the public’s radar almost entirely.
He was one of the most important
Hungarian political thinkers of the past
century. His books about political hysteria
and the Jewish question in the country have
been translated into several languages. He
is among the few from the Christian middle
class who addressed the majority
Hungarian society’s responsibility for
national antisemitism.
Bibó personally saved Jews from deportation in 1944. He only just escaped execution for his involvement in the 1956 Uprising.
His life shows no trace of moral weakness.
Those aspects of his life and his person
should highly recommend him as a
symbolic figure of national politics.
Bibó had special characteristics that
contributed to an upswing in his being
remembered. He had always advocated the
“third way”, namely state socialism not
dominated by the Soviet Union.Those ideas
are not foreign to many liberals with a
radical left-wing past. The same is true of
those on the right who always fundamentally rejected capitalism. Bibó’s political
home, the National Peasants’ Party, was
composed of some politicians who were
racist and some who were supporters of the
Communist Party. In other words Bibó was
remembered by both the left and right of the
political spectrum.
Above: 49 monuments have been put up in honour of the writer Albert Wass since the change of regime. He died in 1998. Right: There are
only four statues of the important political scientist István Bibó who personally saved Jews from deportation in 1944 and only just escaped
execution for his involvement in the 1956 Uprising.
The left-wing intelligentsia, which did the
ship because of his pro-British attitude.
most to remember him, benefitted from any
However, the fact that he only appeared to
kind of anti-communism having been alien posterity as an anti-fascist because he saw
to Bibó. His remark that it should be written the Germans as an even greater racist
on his gravestone that in a political sense he threat than the Jews could not be discussed
“lived” between 1945 and 1947 shows a
at that time. Since Teleki was a fervent anticertain bias, because even that period, semite and several anti-Jewish laws are
though Bibó wrote his most important works
closely associated with his name, it is not
in those years, was from a political point of
possible at present for him to be publicly
view already a dictatorship in disguise.
honoured (aside from two statues in out-ofHowever, it is precisely that lack of anti- the-way locations).
communism that has made Bibó a figure
The case of regent Miklós Horthy is
lacking topicality in the past
similar. On the one hand he can
decades. The legitimate desire
be considered a more
The
for anti-communist models
moderate politician than
could not be fulfilled by
Teleki but on the other
most
popular
Nagy and many other
hand he bears heavy
victims of the commupolitician
probably responsibility, for
nist
suppression
example with the
remains communist leader declaration of war
because they themselves
were
the Soviet
János Kádár, who presided against
communists.
Union. Although
István Bethlen over Hungary from 1956 to the former prime
played a positive
minister of the
role both during his
1988. He was identified by r i g h t - w i n g
watch as prime
governing party
42% as the “best politician and several of his
minister between
1921 and 1932 and
ministers
were
of the 20th century” in an present
afterwards as an
at
his
advisor to Horthy. He
reburial in 1993 as
opinion
poll
in
put a brake on the activi“private persons”, to
2006.
ties of the far-right paramildate efforts to establish a
itary squad, stabilised the
public monument to him in
currency
and
increased
Budapest have been rejected.
Hungary’s political room for manoeuvre.
That situation may change. It is clear to
Despite being conservative and not a
everyone, however, that it is no longer just
philosemite, he was badmouthed by his
a question of Horthy but the revaluation of
opponents from the start as a “liberal” and
an entire historical era. The symbolic
“friend of the Jews”.
reassessment of the period between 1920
As a staunch anti-fascist he had a
and 1944 is already taking place in several
moderating effect on Horthy and took part in
areas and the suitable person to express
the secret ceasefire talks with the Allied that has already been found.
powers in 1943 and 1944. He managed to
Albert Wass, the clear winner in this list of
escape the persecution of the Gestapo but
individuals, embodies the Kingdom of
not that of the Soviet secret service – he Hungary like none other. It is worth
died in Moscow in jail. In the view of
comparing his life with that of Márai. Both
Hungary’s authoritative historians, he was were born shortly after 1900 and both had
the country’s most important prime minister
established a literary career before 1945,
in the 20th century. Those circumstances whereby Márai was considerably better
predestined him to be a central symbolic
known. Márai committed suicide in 1989.
figure in the new Hungary.
Wass died in 1998 and experienced the
The writer Sándor Márai, who is also success of his works in Hungary. Márai
esteemed in Germany, is a similarly positive
described the Horthy period as a “caricafigure. He decisively rejected both fascism ture”, while for Wass the same period, which
and communism. In his diaries he
until 1940 he could admittedly only observe
condemned Hungarian antisemitism in the
from Transylvania (which belonged to
strongest terms. After 1945 he chose to Romania until that point), was an idyll.
emigrate. Despite his literary success,
Unlike Márai, Wass fought on the eastern
which was even greater abroad than in
front in an occupying division deployed
Hungary, he did not become established as
against partisans, which later was always a
a symbolic figure.
great source of pride to him. He never raised
The first attempt of those on the right to questions in that connection nor can critimake a political symbol of a new figure
cism of the antisemitic measures of the
concerned Pál Teleki. The distinguished period be found in his writings. On the
geographer was prime minister of Hungary contrary, following the ghettoisation of Jews
in 1920-1921 and 1939-1941 and was
in Transylvania he published a piece with
recognised to a moderate degree even in the telling title Land Occupation of the Rats.
the last decades of the communist dictator- That story is an allegory but in the given
context an interpretation other than the
equation of the Jews with the rats is hardly
credible.
At around the same time Márai wrote in
his diary directly about these events but in
an utterly different tone. The following
comment from the diary concerning the
same period and the same situation is illustrative of that: “It is shameful to live. It is
shameful to walk in the sun.”
The Romanian authorities sought to
prosecute Wass in 1945 for alleged war
crimes, which have not been precisely
established to this date (and which are not
connected to his military service). Like
Márai, Wass went into exile, yet in contrast
to Márai he maintained various connections with Hungarian far-right emigrants.
Although the places of birth of both
authors from 1920 (with a short interruption during the re-annexations after 1938)
were no longer in Hungary, they did not
take the same approach to that state of
affairs, although both wrote movingly
about the re-annexation of their respective
home regions after 1938.
Márai dealt in his works not only with the
“Hungarian questions of fate” (the expression used to refer to the post-Trianon situation) because he was far too much a
European and individualist for that.Yet Márai
never left any doubts that the Hungarian
language was an essential part of his world.
By contrast, in most of his works Wass
expressed pain at the personal loss of his
home (Transylvania) and only allows his
national perspective to be valid. He gave a
lot of space to Romanian and Soviet crimes
but kept silent about anything for which the
Hungarian governments could be blamed.
His literary work is pervaded by national
clichés. Even in exile he took the position
that the revision of the borders should occur
on a historical rather than an ethnic basis
and demanded the re-annexation of the
whole of Transylvania.
Wass is currently the most popular
figure of contemporary history: his statues
are personally inaugurated by Prime
Minister Viktor Orbán, and President Pál
Schmitt, elected by the Fidesz majority,
used a Wass quotation in his first speech
in office. Libraries are named after Wass
across the country and his books are on
the bestseller lists.
It would, however, be too simplistic to
explain his popularity with his antisemitism
and his incorrigibility. It is far more the case
that his person stands for an allowed lack of
reflection. All those on the right can identify
with Wass, providing they do not reflect
(which can also be said of most voters in
some other Eastern European countries).
Those who see the Trianon peace treaty
of 1920 as an injustice, those who want to
show solidarity with Hungarian victims of
nationalist aggression in the neighbouring
states, those who have not yet given up
File
ESSAY
Statues stand
for swings in
national mood
BZT/Aaron Taylor
04
fantasies of Hungary as a great power and
those who are genuine Nazis and antisemites can reach a compromise with
Wass.The other individuals named have the
flaw of seeing things in a more complex way
and of having condemned antisemitism,
which disqualifies them as allies in the eyes
of many on the right.
Treatment of the only living Hungarian
Nobel Prize winner, Imre Kertész, is indicative of the new climate. During the communist dictatorship he was merely a “tolerated”
person who accepted no compromises with
the regime. Kertész has said that it was only
the communist dictatorship that allowed him
to find language to speak about Auschwitz.
Indeed he regarded that dictatorship as a
continuation of Auschwitz. Communism can
hardly be condemned in stronger terms.
However, anyone assuming that Kertész
can now count on recognition among those
on the Hungarian right is mistaken. In the
right-wing press he was either not spoken
about or denigrated even after he was
awarded the Nobel Prize. The only exception is the small cultural monthly magazine
Kommentár, which lists Kertész among the
50 most important Hungarian conservative
authors of the 20th century.
It is indicative of the way in which he is
treated that the newspapers and magazines close to Fidesz – Magyar Nemzet,
Demokrata, Heti Válasz and Magyar
Hírlap – have never published an interview
with him, although they constantly favour
former communists who joined Fidesz in
time. And indeed Kertész’s work would not
be compatible with the historical lies of
those papers.
The problem with that process is that in
itself a reassessment of the period before
1944, which in Germany too is sometimes
referred to sweepingly as “Horthy fascism”,
is much needed. The Horthy period was at
most highly authoritarian and not fascist.
Parliament existed and the parties and
certain political interest groups had a
considerable influence on events, with
Horthy very rarely intervening in politics.
That a person who one-sidedly represents the worst traditions of that period was
chosen as a politically symbolic figure is a
fatal development of the right-wing political
culture of remembering.
– Historian Krisztián Ungváry, 41, studied
history and German in Budapest, Jena and
Freiburg. Currently he works as a
researcher at the Institute for the History of
the 1956 Hungarian Revolution in
Budapest. His fields of specialism include
the history of the Second World War, the
Hungarian Holocaust, the expulsion of the
Germans of Hungary and the Hungarian
state security past. Ungváry’s best-known
book is Battle for Budapest: One Hundred
Days in World War II, published in
Hungarian, German and English.
1222 Bp. Nagytétényi út 48-50 • Tel: (+36-1) 382-9000
Fax: (+36-1) 382-9003 • e-mail: fox@fox-autorent.com
www.fox-autorent.com • open: 8am-8pm 7 days a week
2 MARCH – 8 MARCH 2012
05
Underground garage & national security
NEWS
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
– Continued from page 1
Republic lives on
only on paper
As of 1 March no more official documents will be issued in the name of the
Republic of Hungary, the director of the
Central Office for Administrative and
Electronic Public Services (KEKKH) said
on Tuesday. The new Constitution that
came into force this year changes the official name of the country from Magyar
Köztársaság (Republic of Hungary) to
Magyarország (Hungary).
KEKKH chief Iván Vetési said official
documents must be changed in 167
points, some visible, some not. Existing
passports, driving licences, residence
permits and so on issued in the name of
the republic will remain valid until they
expire, Vetési said. Despite the name
change, Hungary remains, in the words of
the Constitution, a democratic republic.
Reward offered in
bombing case
The National Police Chief has offered
a HUF 5 million (EUR 17,270) reward for
anyone providing information leading to
the capture of a criminal who attached
explosives to the remote-controlled
garage doors of a condominium and a
family home in January. Nobody was
hurt in separate blasts but the National
Bureau of Investigation has launched an
investigation into attempted murder.
Press reports after the second explosion
said the owner of the car damaged at
the family home had previously worked
at the IT department of Eclipse. The
company received state orders in the
billions of forints between 2005 and
2007, and in January Budapest
Prosecutor’s Office charged Eclipse with
a HUF 1.3 billion (EUR 4.49 million) tax
evasion. According to news website
index.hu the firm had numerous ties to
the nation’s secret services and –
although she was not charged in the tax
evasion case – one of its project
managers was the daughter of former
and current Interior Minister Sándor
Pintér.
The trees surrounding the soon-to-begone statue of Mihály Károlyi were the first
victims of the government’s decision to
recreate the atmosphere of Hungary’s
inter-war years of right-wing rule by
Admiral Miklós Horthy. The small park was
laid bare with chainsaws on Wednesday.
Unanswered questions
Museum could
vanish in Kossuth
tér time warp
T
he Ethnographic Museum
opposite Parliament could
be the latest victim of the
nostalgic vision of returning
Kossuth tér (square) to its interwar glory. As the government’s
reshaping of the square itself got
under way, the left-liberal daily
Népszabadság reported on
Thursday that the Kúria (as the
former Supreme Court is known
after regaining its pre-war name)
wants its old building back. Kúria
president Péter Darák has sent a
request to that effect to Prime
Minister Viktor Orbán, the paper
reported.
First, the square is being made
accessible to historians. “That is part
of the preparations,” Bakos explained.
The cost of this preparatory work
would be part of the planned total
expense of HUF 2.5 billion (EUR 8.64
million).
The tender for the first stage of
construction will, according to Bakos’
plans, take place according to a socalled simplified procedure, made
possible by a government decree
passed in February. Security reasons
have been cited for this – in the case of
a standard tender procedure, information would have to be supplied that
could have an impact on national
security.
The building measures have met
with strong criticism. Both the tender
process and the sudden start of work
are seen as suspect in some quarters.
The Facebook organisation Milla
and the closely allied non-parliamentary party 4K! have expressed astonishment at the timing. A member of
Milla expressed the suspicion that the
construction work is designed to
prevent demonstrations during the
remainder of Fidesz’s term. András
Istvánffy, coordinator of 4K!, shares
that opinion. He added: “At the time
of what are probably the hardesthitting austerity measures of the past
decades it is astonishing that reconstruction of the square cannot be
delayed. The only explanation we can
find is that the distribution of the
investment sum was long promised to
certain big economic players.”
– Elisabeth Katalin Grabow
Ski resort ‘could face suit’ over girl’s death
Protective netting, warning signs erected after fatal crash
ATTILA LEITNER
A
Hungarian lawyer
says
Austrian
authorities
must
examine the responsibility
of the ski resort at Gerlitzen
where
a
12-year-old
Hungarian schoolgirl died
after hitting a cashiers
building at the end of a
slope at high speed last
weekend.
“By purchasing a lift pass
skiers essentially sign an
agreement with the resort,”
Róbert Fridman told the
tabloid Blikk. If the operator
is found to have been negligent, the family of Krisztina
H. could file a civil suit for
damages, Fridman said. “If
the instructor was indeed at
fault, then he will have to
face criminal charges and
can also be sued for financial
compensation.”
Hungarian teacher
was ski instructor
Austrian authorities have
launched an investigation
into the possible responsibility of a teacher from the
girl’s Hungarian school
group who also acted as a ski
instructor. The president of
the
Carinthia
Ski
Instructors’
Association,
Peter Gfrerer said many
Hungarian groups prefer to
have an experienced skier of
their own teach the sport,
but these instructors often
lack knowledge of the resort.
“In this case the instructor
probably did not consider
the fact that the slope
became rather icy overnight,
which can lead to very high
speeds,” Gfrerer said.
Local instructors and
teachers
from
the
Hungarian school attempted
resuscitation but the girl’s
injuries were so severe that
she died in a helicopter on
the way to hospital in
Klagenfurt. Witnesses said
she started to panic due to
her increasing speed when
approaching the end of the
slope, and instead of braking
she crashed into the wooden
building at such velocity that
her helmet came off.
Orange protective netting
and warning signs have been
erected since the accident.
Blame in red sludge report
T
he fatal red mud spill of 2010 was caused by “a
number of mistakes by authorities and the negligent
ownership approach of MAL”, Lajos Kepli, the head
of the parliamentary committee examining the catastrophe,
said when presenting the findings on Tuesday.
Ten people died and hundreds of homes were
destroyed near MAL’s bauxite refinery at Ajka after the wall
of a waste storage pool collapsed on 4 October 2010 and
some 800 hectares of land were left under a layer of toxic
red silt. The flood of an estimated million cubic metres of
sludge affected an overall area of 40 square kilometres.
Jobbik MP Lajos Kepli asserted that the units of the
aluminium manufacturer had never received an approval
from structural engineers. Kepli said an examination was
launched in the 1980s but was eventually suspended and
never completed. “Although this is one of the main reasons
behind the disaster it does not exonerate the responsibility
of the owners,” he said.
Kepli said previous governments must also be blamed
because they did not introduce certain European Union
directives that could have helped avoid the tragedy. For
example, the waste storage pool had never been classified
as hazardous and therefore disaster management agencies could not examine it.
Committee members from the governing parties
accepted the report but the representative of the opposition
Hungarian Socialist Party said the party disagrees with
blaming MAL. “It is a shame that the committee was not
allowed to examine the steps taken by the government
after the catastrophe,” the representative said.
Daily newspaper Népszabadság has reported that in
February director Lajos Tolnay of MAL had offered to sell a
50 per cent stake to the government for a symbolic sum of
HUF 1,000 (EUR 3.46). Tolnay told the paper that, in
exchange, he asked only for the government to allow the
firm to continue operating until the outcome of an
impending court case is known, and that the presumption
of innocence be extended to its directors.
BZT File
House Speaker László Kövér and his
Canadian counterpart Noel A. Kinsella
held talks about problematic Roma
emigration to America’s northern neighbour in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, last
Saturday.
“Hungary is not trying to chase Roma
away from the country,” Kövér said. “In fact
we appointed a state secretary to find a
solution to the issue and the government
is spending HUF 200 billion (EUR 691.57
million) until 2014 to ensure better
chances for underprivileged people.”
Kinsella warned that numerous
Canadian MPs have raised the idea of
reintroducing mandatory visas for
Hungarians. “We welcome engineers,
teachers and other well-trained workers to
Canada but we cannot let people arrive,
request refugee status and the cheques
that come with that, and fly back to
Hungary, Slovakia or Romania immediately after it is granted,” he said.
Canadian authorities knew about more
than one case where these “refugees”
had entrusted local acquaintances to pick
up the cheques in their name.
Kinsella’s words did not go unnoticed in
the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, which
issued a statement noting that the emigration wave poses a threat to the “excellent
bilateral” relations of the two countries,
and calling it regrettable that certain
Hungarians will not hesitate to present the
domestic situation falsely in exchange for
financial gain.
According to the ministry, the number
of refugees may decline as a result of
recent legislation that now only allows
Hungarians to change their names every
five years. “Many refugees have come
back home only to change their names
and file the same application,” the statement said.
Foreign Ministry sources of state news
agency MTI said that so far the Canadians
have been rather tolerant, because in the
case of the Czech Republic they reintroduced visa status when the number of
refugee applicants was much lower.
The fate of the statues that were
erected after 1945 remains unclear.
Those of the first Hungarian president, Count Mihály Károlyi, and
poet Attila József could disappear
from the city centre for an indefinite
time. The fate of the latter, erected
in 1980, still hangs in the balance.
State Secretary for Culture Géza
Szöcs recently spoke in favour of
leaving the poet in his place.
Károlyi on the other hand is
unlikely to return to the heart of
District V. This will surely please farright party Jobbik, which has long
been demanding his removal.
However, even where specific
plans exist there are still questions
to be resolved. For example, consultations with the Ministry of Justice
and Public Administration need to
be held about the planned underground garage with more than 400
parking places.
Emil Bakos, the chief economic
director of Parliament, told a press
conference on Sunday that direct
entry between the underground
garage and the Parliament building
is planned. This makes the
construction project a question of
national security, he said. “Since 1
January Kossuth tér has been a
square of national remembrance,
which means that it comes under
Parliament’s sphere of responsibility,” Bakos said.
An information point will be put
up by the fenced area. According to
the plans, Kossuth tér will be kept
completely free of cars in future,
with only trams stopping. “We want
to give Kossuth tér back to pedestrians and cyclists,” Bakos said.
The decree says the government
needs to move out of the Parliament
building by 31 May 2014, the time
when the construction work will be
completed.
BZT/Aaron Taylor
Canada renews
Roma warning
Ten people died when the wall of a waste storage pool
collapsed. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and 800
hectares of land were left under a layer of toxic red silt.
Financial consultancy KPMG has assessed the value of
the firm at over HUF 20 billion (EUR 68.35 million), Tolnay
said. Environmental protection authorities hit MAL with a
fine of HUF 135 billion (EUR 461.34 million) in September,
enough to put it out of business.
06
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
2 MARCH – 8 MARCH 2012
R E G I O N /N E W S
Envoys in firing line as EU-Belarus row
EU-Belarus
relations collapse
BÉNÉDICTE WILLIAMS
H
ungary’s ambassador to
Belarus was one of 26
European Union member state
ambassadors to be recalled
from the capital Minsk on Tuesday, marking
a new low in the EU’s relations with its
eastern neighbour.
The EU recalled the diplomats after
Belarus had called earlier in the day on the
Polish ambassador to leave the country policemen were added on Monday to the
along with the head of the EU delegation.
over 200 individuals accused of involveBelarusian Foreign Ministry spokesman
ment in moves to stifle political opposition
Andrey Savinykh said
in the country.
Belarus envoys to Brussels
A further name may be
and Warsaw have been
added next month if EU
instructed to return, a move
member states succeed in
that was expanded after the
overturning Slovenia’s deciEU announced it was
sion to block the addition of
expelling the country’s
Yuriy Chizh. The oligarch
representatives from all EU
signed a business deal with
capital cities.
a Slovenian firm to build a
The recall of ambassafive-star hotel in the
dors from both sides is a
Belarusan capital in 2013.
chain reaction to the deciEU enlargement commission of the EU to extend the Alexander Lukashenko
sioner Stefan Füle said the
list of Belarusan officials
ambassador recall was a
under sanctions, including a visa ban and distraction from the real issue of Belarus’
asset freeze. Twenty-one jurists and treatment of its political prisoners. Protests
in December 2010 when over 30,000
Belarusians took to the streets of Minsk to
demonstrate against alleged vote-rigging in
the last presidential election, resulted in a
brutal crackdown by security forces with
over 600 arrests and thousands of
protesters beaten.
Poland, which has ties with a large
minority of ethnic Poles, is the EU’s most
vocal proponent of sanctions, but the EU
has so far been unsuccessful in its
attempts to obtain the release of political
prisoners and the holding of free and fair
elections in the country.
Under Alexander Lukashenko, former
director of a state-owned farm and president of Belarus since 1994, the country
has repeatedly been called Europe’s last
dictatorship.
Explosion kills 10 in Russia
Misery strikes before national poll
T
en people died, 18 were injured and 13 still
reported missing on Thursday after an entire
nine-storey section of a residential panel building
exploded and collapsed in the south Russian city
of Astrakhan, leaving the rest of the building standing with
a gaping hole in its middle. Faulty gas equipment and poor
maintenance were blamed, but suicide was also rumoured
to be one of the causes after rescuers found the body of a
man who had previously threatened to blow up the
building’s staircase.
The apartment block housed 60 families, who will be
rehoused and compensated with around 1 million rubles
(HUF 7.38 million), a spokesman for Astrakhan’s defence
ministry said.
No assassination plot: Putin
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who changed his
schedule to visit the site, said a thorough investigation will
be conducted. He used the occasion to dismiss an alleged
T
assassination plot that hit the media after Russian stateowned Channel One TV broadcast televised confessions
by two men with Chechen links who were arrested in
Ukraine’s Odessa last month. The footage showed the two
men saying that they had received instructions and training
to kill Putin as he crossed Moscow in a motorcade
Several analysts, human-rights activists and opposition
politicians have cast doubt over the reports of the plot,
pointing to signs of bad bruising and possible torture on the
men’s faces and suggesting details in the accusations
don’t match up. Some also accused the media of a blatant
attempt to boost Putin’s ratings one week before Sunday’s
presidential elections.
Vote on Sunday
After two terms as president in 2000 and 2004 and
one as prime minister, Putin’s bid to return to the presidency after Sunday’s poll is likely to be successful, but
with none of the resounding victories experienced in
Serbia started negotiations in 2005
but its bid first gained credibility last year
after it captured and handed over Ratko
Mladic, its top war-crimes fugitive, to the
International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
The other major obstacle on Serbia’s
EU road is Kosovo, which declared
unilateral secession in 2008. Serbia has
so far refused to recognise the independence of its former province, which it
still considers as a part of its own terri-
The gap between the ruling FideszChristian Democratic coalition and the
opposition Socialists is at its narrowest
since 2010, according to a recent poll by
the Tarki institute.
The survey shows the government
parties remain most popular with 20 per
cent of respondents saying they would
vote for them if elections were held immediately, as opposed to 13 per cent for the
Socialist Party. Both parties gained two
percentage points compared to last
month. A similar poll last October gave 23
per cent support for Fidesz and 11 per
cent for the Socialists.
Numbers of respondents unable or
unwilling to express a preference
decreased from last month, from 50 per
cent to 47 per cent. Among decided
voters, Fidesz garners 39 per cent of preferences (down from 46 per cent in
October) and Socialists 26 per cent (down
from 22 per cent).
Radical nationalist Jobbik’s support
remains virtually unchanged with 11 per
cent of supporters across all respondents
and 21 per cent among decided voters.
Green liberal LMP sees a further
decrease in its score with 3 per cent of all
respondents and 7 per cent of decided
voters choosing the party, down from 5
and 10 per cent respectively in October.
Government buying
EUR 3.25m of advice
A nine-storey section of a residential panel building
exploded and collapsed.
previous elections. Back in Astrakhan, Putin said of the
plot reports that “people who are in my position have to
live with this but these things must never affect your
work” and that he was not scared.
– Bénédicte Williams
EU accepts Serbia membership bid
he European Union’s foreign
ministers endorsed Serbia as
an EU candidate on Tuesday
following the clinching of a deal
between the EU, Serbia and Kosovo
over the status of the breakaway
province. The decision to grant candidate status, which is likely to be rubberstamped by EU leaders early this month,
means Serbia will qualify for EU funds
and that accession talks may open in
December.
Socialists creep out
of wilderness
tory managed under a United Nations
mandate, but under a deal made last
week Serbia agreed to allow Kosovo to
participate in regional meetings under
its own flag. The two countries also
agreed on joint management of their
border, the scene of recurrent tension
between northern Kosovo’s ethnic Serb
population and North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation peacekeepers.
With the Kosovo issue temporarily out
of the way, the surprise at Tuesday’s
meeting came from Romania’s unexpected
pronouncement
against
endorsing Serbia’s candidate status
over concerns about the minority Vlach
community in eastern Serbia, many of
whom consider themselves ethnic
Romanians. Agreement on Serbia’s
candidate status was nonetheless
achieved despite these and further
objections from Poland and Lithuania
over the extent of Russia’s influence in
Belgrade.
The Ministry of National Development
extended this week the content of a
contract signed last December with three
researchers: analyst Strategopolis, rightleaning think-tank and research institute
Századvég and Századvég Foundation.
The three were awarded a monthly
HUF 37 million (EUR 127,700) contract
last year that runs until the end of the
current governing period in 2014.
According to the contract extension, the
group will now have to advise the government on its strategies concerning the
national railway, the city of Budapest and
gambling regulations before the end of
May in exchange for a maximum of an
extra HUF 940 million (EUR 3.25 million).
Cabinet spokesman and former political analyst András Giró-Szász held a
position in the foundation and was
managing director of Strategopolis before
he began his employment with the
government. Századvég Foundation was
previously headed by a former minister of
the first Orbán cabinet and now
Constitutional Court judge István Stumpf.
First
win
Slow process as Romania tackles communist hangover
R
omania celebrated the twentieth anniversary of
the fall of communism in late 2009 but it took
another three years for its lower chamber of
parliament to pass a lustration law banning
former Communist Party cadres, ministers, political
police chiefs and detention centre heads from holding
public office.
The law, which had already been passed by the upper
chamber, the Senate, in 2006, now needs presidential
approval before coming into force. All current highranking officials will be required to declare whether they
held important positions under the 44 years of communist rule between 1945 and 1989. The ban on holding
office runs for five years.
The passage of the law on Tuesday was not greeted
with much enthusiasm in a country where surveys have
found that nostalgia for communist times is on the
increase. Former opponents of the Ceausescu-led
regime also criticised the law. “It is too little, too late, as
the law has more of a symbolic role,” Teodor Maries,
leader of an organisation of victims of the communist
regime, told Balkan Insight.
A previous version of the lustration policy temporarily
restricting the former nomenklatura from public office
was struck down by the Romanian Constitutional Court
last year. Former president (1990-1996 and 2000-2004)
and honorary president of the Social Democrat Party Ion
Iliescu led the opposition to a law that he described as
Stalinist and anachronistic.
Tuesday’s parliamentary vote means the 82-year old
former politician, a Communist Party Central Committee
member until his marginalisation in 1984, risks losing his
chairmanship of the 1989 Romanian Revolution Institute.
Hungary going cold turkey as drug smugglers switch routes
D
rug
smuggling
through
Hungary and the north
Balkans is decreasing with
international drug smugglers
preferring other routes, according to the
UN International Narcotics Board annual
report released on Tuesday.
Hungary is a transit country rather
than a destination country in the international heroin trade, Ákos Topolánczky,
head of the anti-drug team of the
Hungarian UN Society said. Numbers of
cocaine users in the country remain low
but the number of seizures of amphetamines increased last year as heroin
addicts switched to other drugs including
synthetic substances. The seizure of 6.5
tons of acetic anhydride in April 2011
resulted in the dismantling of an organised criminal group, the report noted.
Marijuana and hashish continue to be
among the most popular drugs in
Europe, while the consumption and trafficking of cocaine stabilised at a rela-
tively high level in Western and Central
Europe. Although cannabis seizures in
Europe have decreased, the report
notes that the illegal cultivation of
cannabis plants on an industrial scale
has increased dramatically with the
involvement of organised criminal
groups.
Injury that forced the withdrawal of
women’s tennis former world number one
Serena Williams allowed Hungary’s 18year-old Tímea Babos to participate in the
2012 Monterrey Open in Mexico and
record her first Women’s Tennis
Association tour victory. Babos defeated
Romanian Alexandra Cadantu in straight
sets in the final, allowing her to jump to
68th in the world ranking and putting her
on course to participate in the tennis tournament of the London Olympics in
summer. She had been building for some
time to the trophy and USD 220,000 purse
in Monterrey, after reaching but losing the
final of an International Tennis Federation
tournament in Quanzhou, China, in
January and then losing an internationallevel semi-final in Bogota, Colombia. Her
new ranking means she will not have to
play qualifiers to step on clay at the
Roland Garros grand slam in Paris in May.
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
2 MARCH – 8 MARCH 2012
The Purchasing Manager Index
(PMI) rose 0.7 points in February and
once again went above the 50-point
mark, the Hungarian Association of
Logistics, Purchasing and Inventory
Management (HALPIM) announced on
Thursday. The composite is based on
five major indicators: new orders, inventory levels, production, supplier deliveries and the employment environment, and a PMI index over 50 indicates that manufacturing is expanding
and below 50 contracting. HALPIM
noted that in comparison with other
Februaries the current number is low,
but at least it shows expansion after
staying below 50 points for the past four
months.
Change at the top
for CIB Bank
CIB, the second-biggest commercial
bank in the country, is now led by
parent company Intesa’s former
Central and Eastern European chief
Fabrizio Centrone. He replaced Tomas
Spurny, the new head of a Romanian
Erste subsidiary, on Thursday.
Office centres may
be near-shoring
The 43 Shared Service Centres
operating in Hungary lease almost 10
per cent of the total stock of A-category office space, according to survey
data released by real estate investor
CA Immo and real estate consultant
DTZ.
The majority of the 200,000 square
metres of combined office space is in
Budapest though some centres are in
Székesfehérvár (IBM and Sapa),
Békéscsaba (Budapest Bank),
Debrecen and Miskolc (British
Telecom and Vodafone).
CA Immo managing director Edit
Gulyas said the trend is for Shared
Service Centres to move back to the
Central European region after a
period of relocating to countries such
as India that offer cheaper workforce
and office space. Hungary offers
several advantages such as a wellqualified workforce with good
language skills and an advanced level
of infrastructure, she said.
Among Hungary’s longest-operating business service centres are
those established by early entrants
EDS Hewlett Packard, IBM, British
Telecom, Tata, GE and Diageo.
Low-pay wage-rise
conditions spelt out
The conditions for companies to be
eligible for wage compensation subsidies were made public by State
Secretary for Employment Policy
Sándor Czomba on Wednesday. The
government’s HUF 21 billion (EUR
72.98 million) fund is set aside to
support a 5 per cent increase in the
wages of low earners who saw their
incomes reduced by the recently
introduced changes to personal
income tax. Under the new tax laws,
companies must raise the wages of
workers earning below HUF 215,000
(EUR 747.22) gross a month. Over
690,000 workers are affected by the
measure, according to government
calculations.
In order to be eligible for the subsidies employers must pay wage
compensation (excluding fringe benefits) to all workers with wages affected
by the tax changes, must not reduce
their employment levels and must not
turn more than one fifth of their fulltime employees into part-time
workers, Czomba said.
Aside from not being eligible for the
subsidies, companies that do not
apply the wage-increase measures
will lose the right to participate in
public procurement tenders for two
years.
Czomba said the subsidies are
expected to be made available in
June after Parliament approves legislation in March.
Top Manager in
Discussion:
Alexander Pappas,
co-owner of the
Pappas Group
T
he Budapest Times spoke to
Kommerzialrat
(Councillor
of
Commerce, a title conferred on distinguished Austrian businesspeople)
Alexander Pappas, CEO of MBAutomobilvertriebsgesellschaft m.b.H.
– a wholesale distributor of MercedesBenz motor vehicles, parts and accessories along with
seven other brands – and co-owner, alongside his
sister, Catharina Pappas, of the Pappas Group – which
distributes and services motor vehicles – about the
prospects of his Hungarian subsidiary and his business
philosophy.
To what extent do you expect to be able to turn the
Daimler investment in Kecskemét into growth for your
Hungarian subsidiary?
Daimler’s investment in Hungary is a great thing.
Wonderful cars are built in Hungary. The country can be
very proud of that. Of course we are also proud. We will
certainly be able to build the Kecskemét success story
of Daimler into our marketing. That is a one-off opportunity that we will naturally take advantage of. Our
subsidiary will benefit from the Daimler investment
through the increased prestige of the Mercedes brand
in Hungary..
“There is lively debate in our
company. Everyone has the
possibility to contribute their
ideas. That results in a lot of
new ideas, based not least
on local circumstances,
including those in Hungary. I
welcome that. After all, from
our head office in Salzburg I
cannot know the local market
so well as to be able to intervene optimally.”
BZT/Aaron Taylor
Purchasing index
on positive mark
– Alexander Pappas,
co-owner of the Pappas Group
There have been improvements in the case of some tax
regulations. However, overall the tax burden is too high in
relation to purchasing power. Another problem is the
shadow economy. I am thinking above all of grey imports
and garages that are partly working on the black market.
That can place us at a major competitive disadvantage.
The Hungarian state should keep up its efforts to crack
down on that. Our main problem, however, is the general
decline in purchasing power caused by the crisis.
What is next in terms of your brand strategy?
We will see how it all develops. Of course such decisions are not made overnight. It is a fact, however, that
the factory has given Mercedes a very different position
and profile in Hungary. All parties concerned are
working very closely together. Hungary is an important
market for Daimler AG. I see a lot of potential here in
the medium term.
We have a very pro-active strategy in Hungary involving
bringing various other brands under our roof as well.
That strategy has contributed to our being able to ride
out the downturn and secure jobs. We are well poised for
the time when things improve again. The unit numbers
are not too bad even now. At Mercedes two cars will be
presented in the A and B class. There are also interesting innovations in other classes. We are convinced
that we can soon get back to where we were before the
crisis in terms of Mercedes unit numbers.
Aside from Austria and Germany, you are only present
in Hungary. Are you planning to expand your presence
to other countries in the region in future?
The new presentations are increasingly held in the
second half of the year, which means that their full effect
will not be felt this year.
We want to do the things that we do properly. That
means we need to set priorities. There is personal
reason for having set up in Hungary in addition to
Austria and Germany. My father was born there. Since
the beginning of our engagement in Hungary we have
invested massively. That means we can now build on a
well-established network of dealers and garages and
are well positioned for the future. Should opportunities
arise, then of course we will take a closer look at them.
The most important thing, however, is not to grow at all
costs but to hold a strong position on the markets
where we are present
That’s not a problem because we are thinking long term.
It’s true that we won’t feel all the beneficial effects of the
new presentations this year but it means that we will start
next year in a very strong position. If things also pick up
based on the general economic situation, then we can
look forward to an excellent 2013.
Can such developments already be observed?
What conditions could improve in Hungary aside from
the general climate?
Do you have a well-rounded portfolio of brands at
present?
Yes, that is the case. We are very satisfied with our portfolio. I wouldn’t say definitively that our portfolio will not
be expanded at all. Of course we remain open to attractive opportunities. However, we are not actively looking
for new brands. We can market the brand mix that we
Turnover up 12% in 2011
D
espite persistently difficult market conditions, Pappas Auto Magyarország Kft.
managed to increase its turnover last year
by 12 per cent to HUF 37.4 billion (EUR
129.09 million). In terms of numbers of cars and
transporters sold, the company was well above the
market average.
Brands and markets
"This welcome development is proof that our
strategy which is based on expanding both our
network and our brand selection, is the right one,"
said István Nagy, managing director of Pappas Auto
Magyarország Kft. at the company’s annual press
conference last Tuesday. In total the company
managed to sell 2,077 vehicles at its six sites in
2011, a 9 per cent increase yr-on-yr. The growth
was particularly marked in the case of the Kia
brand: 515 Kia cars were sold, almost double as
many as in 2010. A new showroom in Kia’s modern
"red cub" design, which was officially handed over
on the occasion of the press conference, is engineered to promote Kia sales further.
Last year Pappas Auto, the largest MercedesBenz dealer in Hungary, managed to sell 565 of the
brand’s vehicles. That was an increase of 7 per
cent, which in itself was above the market average.
In the case of new vehicles the company performed
even better. While Hungary only saw growth of 4 per
cent in terms of new vehicles registered, Pappas
Auto managed a 25 per cent improvement with the
brands Mercedes-Benz, Smart, Jeep, Lancia, Fiat
and Kia. Pappas Auto also managed a dynamic
currently have optimally. In any case I support a multibrand strategy. However, one mustn’t spread oneself too
thin and bring in too many makes. At Pappas Auto we
are trying to develop a special identity. Customers need
to feel comfortable with us and know exactly what brands
and what products we represent. Pappas also stands for
the brand promise of doing everything at least a fraction
better than the competition. We need to live up to that
promise so that our customers continue to believe in us.
That’s why we cannot position ourselves too broadly.
increase in terms of utility vehicles, selling 1,849
vehicles, which represents growth of 32 per cent.
Sales of transporters developed particularly dynamically, with roughly 50 per cent more sold.
Tough 2012 anticipated
With regard to the current calendar year, the
company is only anticipating minor growth in the
number of vehicles sold. The company is even
expecting a decline in turnover of 7 per cent, although
managing director Reinhard Leutgeb noted that "the
planning for 2012 is very conservative. The reasons
for the decline in turnover are manifold. The two
leaders of the company refer inter alia to the poor
economic outlook, the VAT rise to 27 per cent, the
exchange fluctuations and uncertainties in terms of
financing. There have, however, also been positive
changes such as the lowering of the registration tax
and the possibility to reclaim VAT in the case of some
leasing models.
There are, however, also some new positive factors
from inside the company. Pappas Auto is hoping that
the introduction of an integrated service package from
1 February will have a perceptible impact on business. The package will extend the guarantee term to
four years or 120,000 kilometres driven. An additional
positive influence is the upcoming series manufacturing of the Mercedes-Benz B class in Kecskemét.
Managing director Reinhard Leutgeb is confident that
fact will positively influence the buying decisions of
Hungarian customers in particular.
– Jan Mainka
What is your strategy with regard to makes of car in the
three countries where you are present?
It varies a lot and is very much determined by the given
market circumstances. In Austria, for example, we don’t
have KIA in our portfolio. On the other hand we carry Fiat
both in Austria and Germany. In those two countries
Mercedes plays a considerably more important role than
in Hungary. In Hungary we were under much greater
pressure because of the massive market downswing.
That was one of the main reasons why we introduced
KIA three and a half years ago. KIA’s vehicles correspond better to purchasing power in Hungary, while also
being of excellent quality.
Does that mean that without the crisis you would not
have KIA in your portfolio?
KIA is our response to the changed market conditions. In
retrospect we can say that the decision was spot-on.
Without KIA on board we wouldn’t be in such a good
position today. Friedrich Lixl, our then-local manager,
took the right steps at the right time.
Was the decision in favour of KIA made in Hungary?
Yes. It wasn’t prescribed by our head office. That incidentally is one of our strengths. There is lively debate in our
company. Everyone has the possibility to contribute their
ideas. That results in a lot of new ideas, based not least on
local circumstances, including those in Hungary. I
welcome that. After all, from our head office in Salzburg I
cannot know the local market so well as to be able to intervene optimally. A further advantage of our company is that
it is sufficiently small and owner-led to be able to grab
opportunities quickly and flexibly and react to new circumstances. In such a position we can also think and plan for
the long term. That’s a great luxury today. We don’t need
to think in terms of quarterly results and can look at investments from a longer-term perspective. That’s why we
could continue to invest strongly even during the crisis and
expand our basis for sustainable growth. At the peak of the
crisis in Hungary we not only added the KIA brand but also
Debrecen as a location. For me profit has something to do
with creating value. Everything else is speculation and is
therefore unsustainable. Castles in the air are not my
thing. The crisis showed extremely clearly that all bubbles
will burst eventually. It can only be hoped that people have
drawn the right lessons from it.
Having the freedom to do business sustainably is not
least a question of the financial solidity of a company.
How does the Pappas Group stand in that regard?
We continue to be well-capitalised. Financially we don’t
have any problems. Admittedly I wouldn’t want to go
through such a crisis every ten years. However, so far we
have come through it very well and are very confident
that we will continue to perform well on the markets in
the coming years. I also find it very important for the
independence of a company that one budgets conservatively and does not go beyond one’s means. That
provides the necessary financial leeway even during a
crisis period.
How often are you in Hungary?
It depends very much on the work situation. I don’t need
to be informed about every detail. If you trust people,
then you need to let them work. However, I am always
involved in the strategic planning.
– Jan Mainka
E C O N O M Y /B U S I N E S S
Strength, not growth, key to survival
07
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
2 MARCH – 8 MARCH 2012
Some 500 tonnes of wild camomile flowers were
collected on the Great Plain last year, said Zoltán
Czirbus, director of producer Herbária, which
exports to Italy, Germany and Austria. Hungary has
secured PDO status for various other products,
including numerous sausages, onions from Makó,
horseradish from the Hajdúság and the meat of its
Grey Longhorn cattle, news agency MTI reported.
The government is debating whether to purchase
majority ownership in Gránit Bank, mainly owned by
business mogul Sándor Demján, sources close to the
decision makers have told news website origo.hu.
According to origo, the state is looking at potential
ways to increase domestic lending and the bank’s
finances are already being examined, the results of
which would heavily influence the method of purchase.
Origo notes that the intention of the state is clear but a
decision whether to purchase a smaller bank – which
would need further investments – or a larger and more
expensive institution with an existing and wider client
reach, has not been made yet.
Minister of National Economy György Matolcsy
hinted to weekly HVG last October about the possible
establishment of a state-owned commercial bank,
saying that the government is “working on an alternative
financing system, which would remove the burden of
foreign-exchange risk”.
OTP scheme helps local
authorities with forex debt
OTP Bank is offering local councils the option to pay
back Swiss franc loans at an artificially favourable rate
of HUF 200 to the CHF, Hungary’s largest lender
announced on Wednesday.
Like hundreds of thousands of Hungarian citizens,
local authorities borrowed heavily in the Swiss franc in
the years before the global financial crisis, when
foreign-currency loans offered far lower interest rates
than those available on forint credit. The level of debt
and size of repayments in forint terms for CHF
borrowers has rocketed as the cost of a Swiss franc
rose from around HUF 150 in 2008 to HUF 250 now.
The OTP scheme, similar to a government-backed
scheme for private borrowers, would give councils a
temporary breathing space with predictable repayments
based on a fixed exchange rate. When it expires in
2014, the difference between the artificial and the real
market rate – which accrues in a special overdraft – will
have to be paid back with interest.
Airport counts cost of
Malév loss
Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc Airport (BA) has cut its 2012
passenger number projection by 2 million as a result of
national carrier Malév’s bankruptcy, BA spokesman
Miháy Hardy said on Monday.The original estimate was
9.2 million passengers but with the stoppage of Malév
flights 1.5 million transit travellers were lost immediately.
Though some airlines announced capacity expansion
or new destinations, a number of cities such as
Belgrade, Skopje and Beirut remain inaccessible
directly from the Hungarian capital.
György Gál, a Free Democrat and former chairman
of the district’s finance committee, was given eightand-a-half years for fraud, bribery and abuse of office.
Others, including a former Socialist MP, a property
valuer and a local finance committee chairman,
received lesser sentences for minor roles. Eight
defendants were acquitted. The court’s decision was
appealed by both the prosecution and by those defendants found guilty.
Base rate held as
forint recovers
T
he National Bank held its base
rate at 7 per cent, the highest in
the European Union, during a
monthly meeting of its monetary policy
council on Tuesday. This came against
a background of a considerable
strengthening of the forint against the
euro to around 290. It hit negative
records late last year, losing 16 per
cent of its value in the last six months
as markets lost faith in government
economic policy and the National
Economy Ministry announced a return
to the International Monetary Fund.
Market sentiment has improved in
recent weeks as Prime Minister Viktor
Orbán’s government has adopted a
more conciliatory tone with critics in
Brussels and Washington.
However, the obstacles to starting
talks with the IMF and EU on a muchneeded standby credit line have yet to
be cleared.
“For a sustainable improvement...
Hungary needs to sign an agreement
with the EU and International Monetary
Fund,” central bank governor András
Simor said.
National Bank of Hungary governor András Simor said two proposals had been
discussed: one to cut the rate by 25 bp and another one to keep it on hold.
Tesco follows Lidl down
mobile path
Audi Hungaria revenue
EUR 5.6bn
Less than a month after rival retail chain Lidl
launched its mobile services package in association
with T-Mobile, Tesco has teamed up with Vodafone and
began offering its cellular products on Thursday, the first
day of spring.
The main difference between Lidl’s “Blue Mobile”
service and the new Tesco Mobile brand is that the
latter will receive its own area code (0631) and buyers
will actually become customers of Tesco and not the big
provider, as is the case with Lidl.
SIM cards are available in all Tesco-branded retail
units of the country but phones can only be purchased
in the company’s hypermarkets. Customers can opt for
Nokia and Samsung handsets, among them basic
smartphones and a device capable of handling two
differently branded SIM cards at the same time.
Initially Tesco will only offer prepaid cards with a 100
per cent top-up bonus, which will have to be used within
30 days. Both minutes and messages cost HUF 59
(EUR 0.2034), meaning that if the bonus is fully utilised
the actual cost can be reduced to HUF 29.50 (EUR
0.1017).
The Hungarian unit of German carmaker Audi generated revenue of EUR 5.598bn in 2011 from its
Hungarian unit, 17.2 per cent more than in 2010.
Financial director Johannes Roscheck made the
announcement in Ingolstadt on Thursday.
Audi Hungaria’s pre-tax profit climbed 3.8 per cent to
EUR 600 million, with 1,883,757 engines produced at
its base in Gyõr, up 14.3 per cent while 39,518 vehicles
rolled off the line, up 2.5 per cent.
See you in court,
union tells Tesco
Retail workers union KASZ will sue Tesco over
claims that its members were not paid the minimum
wage for skilled work, president Antal Potyondi said on
Monday. Tesco dismissed the claims and declared itself
“baffled” by the news, saying the union had made no
attempt to negotiate before announcing legal action.
Rehau grows on back of
Gyõr Audi
German-owned plastics manufacturer Rehau will
invest EUR 60 million into the construction of a 26,000square-metre plant near the Audi factory in Gyõr
Industrial Park, the company announced on Tuesday.
The automotive supplier will begin operation in 2013
and says the development could create as many as 200
jobs. “This expansion in Hungary is a part of Rehau’s
international growth plan,” the firm said. It has been a
supplier of Audi since 2005 but needs to increase
capacity because the German car maker is moving
production of further parts to Gyõr.
Nemak expands at Gyõr
Mexican-owned aluminium products manufacturing
automotive supplier Nemak has announced a EUR 10
million expansion of its Gyõr factory that will increase
annual capacity from 2.5 million items to 2.8 million.
11.1% can’t find jobs
Unemployment increased to 11.1 per cent between
November 2011 and January 2012, up 0.4 percentage
points on the last quarter of 2011, the Central Statistical
Office said on Tuesday. The rate was essentially the
same as in November 2010 to January 2011.
Insurance clawing back
The domestic insurance segment finished 2011 HUF
15.4 billion (EUR 53.37 million) in the black, a good
improvement on the after-tax profit of HUF 1.9 billion
(EUR 6.59 million) in 2010 but still far below the days
before the global financial crisis began. A report
released by the State Financial Supervisory Authority
this week revealed that insurance companies had to
pay extra tax of HUF 33.2 billion (EUR 115.05 million)
last year. Insurers managed to increase profit despite
revenue dropping more than 3 per cent and big
cutbacks by customers on Casco (non-mandatory) car
insurance.
Burger big league bombs
A Hungarian attempt to beat Burger King and
McDonald’s at their own game appears to have floundered, with financial daily Napi Gazdaság reporting the
demise of Gusto Burger and Cafe on Váci utca. The
would-be chain’s only outlet opened on the main tourist
drag in December 2010, offering flagship patty-in-a-bun
configurations of a Gusto Royal and a Gusto Big
Burger. Despite slick decor and a menu augmented by
kebabs, salmon burgers and even beer and wine, it
appears the burger-eating public was not ready to
forsake the secure familiarity of the US giants.
TakarékBank Weekly Economy Watch
Better signs paint rosier picture but externals a worry
Reliance on external demand makes Hungary vulnerable to adverse geopolitical developments
I
n the last couple of days many
encouraging economic data were
released, raising the possibility of a
less gruelling slowdown of activity
both on a global and domestic scale.
Among other factors the latest GDP
and labour market figures from the US
and the continued strength reflected in
German survey indicators made room for
improved economic predictions for 2012,
and indeed many research institutes that
frequently update their forecasts began to
cautiously raise their growth projections.
Are there some arguments for Hungary
avoiding recession or at least experiencing a less dramatic setback as well? In
fact, most recent macroeconomic data
were friendlier than many analysts would
think.
Retail sales figures were one particular example. Though still far from being
convincing, they point to more resilient
private consumption. This is actually
confirmed by new-car sales that considerably went up in the first two months of
2012 – even if compared to a very low
base last year.
Confidence indicators also stopped
deteriorating further in February; business and consumer confidence both left
behind more than two-year lows. The
Purchasing Manager Index returned
above 50 points, indicating that the
manufacturing sector is heading again
for expansion. Is it enough to get more
optimistic about overall economic performance?
The first thing to remember is that the
external environment is still rather
volatile. While the European Central
Bank’s liquidity injections certainly eased
concerns over a possible credit crunch,
rising oil prices – in the wake of a sharpening conflict in the Middle East – can
still strangle reviving growth momentum.
Even if domestic demand may turn
out to be not as bad as seen earlier, the
huge reliance on external demand
makes Hungary vulnerable to adverse
geopolitical developments. But we cannot be overly optimistic about domestic
demand either! As recently published
investment data for the fourth quarter
clearly exhibited, gross fixed capital
formation was still in marked contraction
even despite large-scale new projects in
the automotive sector coming to fruition.
WE’RE AT HOME CREATING VALUES
And even if a global credit crunch is
less threatening now, this may only be a
relief with respect to the financing of the
budget. Many domestic banks still have
to continue deleveraging, which means
that corporate credit will contract further,
keeping investment growth in the red.
The good news is that the risks
explained above were already known
well before and they didn’t grow larger in
the past weeks. Even if Europe is still not
close to an ultimate solution in the case
of peripheral Economic and Monetary
Union debt, the latest steps by the
European Commission and the
European Central Bank have considerably eased market tensions and bought
some time.
Adding better-than-expected recent
data releases to the picture we do think
that – if nothing else – at least there is
no reason to consider a further deterioration in Hungary’s economic outlook.
We thus keep expecting 0.5 per cent
GDP growth for this year, which may
not look spectacular even at second
sight.
Considering, however, that the much
less troubled Czech Republic will be
happy to avoid an outright contraction,
whereas Croatia will almost surely fall
back into recession this year, the “doom
and gloom” mood that is still rather
widespread both among professionals
and “laymen” is probably less justified.
– András Oszlay, senior economist
E C O N O M Y /B U S I N E S S
Gránit may be target in
state bank bid
The former Socialist mayor of District VII, György
Hunvald, was handed an 18-month jail sentence last
Friday for complicity in a local corruption scandal
involving the sale of valuable council-owned real
estate.
Hunvald, who has already spent 31 months in
detention, said he expects the European Court of
Human Rights to rule his detention unlawful, and
wants compensation.
MTI/Lajos Soós
A species of wild camomile native to Hungary’s
Great Plain (Alföld) has been granted Protected
Designation of Origin (PDO) status by the European
Commission. No longer will unscrupulous purveyors
of the herbal tea be able to falsely claim that theirs is
the famed “Alföldi kamillavirágzat”, whose name is
reckoned a guarantee of essential oils superior to
those of cultivated camomile.
NEWS
Mayor gets 18 months but free to go
Camomile gets EU protection
09
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
2 MARCH – 8 MARCH 2012
10
COMMUNITY
Lions roar into action wherever help is needed
systems, as Armin Krug, former president of the club, explains.
However, of the club’s 24 active
“Lions” not all are foreigners because
the members have been joined since
by some Hungarians. Membership
involves not only fund-raising but
also providing manpower and time.
10th Gala
Concert this
Wednesday
INES GRUBER
Projects
P
rojects to help disadvantaged
children, youths and adults in
their everyday lives are
supported, organised and carried out
each year by the committed members
and supporters of the Lions Clubs in
Budapest. The Budapest Times spoke to
the English-language All Nations
Lions Club about how it was established and its initiatives and plans.
The clubs have their origins in the
United States where at the beginning
of the 20th century a businessman,
Melvin Jones, began working to
improve the community in which he
lived. The concept, based on ethical
principles such as personal and active
help, integrity, justice and responsibility to fellow human beings and the
environment, soon spread around the
world. Today an international
network exists in over 200 countries,
which aims to encourage people to
serve their communities.
All Nations Lions Club
The English-language club, which
is open to all nationalities, was
founded in 1993 by an American, a
Greek and an Italian. The main aim
of the members was and is to give
something back to society and to fill
the gaps in the welfare and healthcare
The club has supported projects
such as the renovation of nurseries
and playgrounds or the construction
of homes for families in need, projects that require not only financial
support but also active work such as
digging foundations or cementing
base plates. “Here nobody can buy
their way out of working,” Krug jokes.
The club provides support where
the Hungarian state or the health
insurance fund fails. It has given
donations, for example, of insulin
pumps for children with diabetes,
and has collected and distributed
pairs of glasses.
Helping the blind and visually
impaired is one of the main goals of
the Lions worldwide. Some of the
glasses frames, which are largely
donated by opticians, go to Africa to
help children with reading, but there
is need in Hungary too, says Krug.
He explains that each year around 50
to 60 complete pairs of glasses are
made for children and relatives
supported by the Zoltán Kovács
Foundation.
“I know from my own childhood
what it’s like to be short-sighted and
not to have glasses, which is why this
project is particularly close to my
heart,” Krug says. The foundation,
which runs an integrative nursery for
Hungarians and Roma children, also
receives additional funds, such as for
a playground.
Donations
The club delivers donations of
equipment, clothes and other items
to those in need, rather than giving
financial donations. For example, it
has given musical instruments to the
blind institute and blankets and
clothes to an old people’s home. It
delivers food monthly to the day-care
facility for children in Zsámbék,
organises trips for orphans and vaccinations for homeless people, and
distributes some 1,000 parcels annually to disadvantaged children at
Christmas.
The main aim of the English-language All Nations Lions Club was and is to give something
back to society and to fill the gaps in the welfare and healthcare systems, according to
former president Armin Krug. Here a youngster gets an eye exam. Below is a playground
they built in Törökbálint.
Gala concert
For the past ten years the club has
organised a gala concert in spring.
The musicians perform for free and
the proceeds go towards a given
project. This spring the money will
support the renovation of the
neonatal care unit of Bethesda children’s hospital, which needs new
technical equipment.
The equipment will be purchased
in discussion with the hospital and
then delivered.
Suggestions for projects are made
by the members themselves and are
then discussed and voted on.
However, the club is open to ideas
from outside.
Only a fraction of its projects are
financed through donations by
private individuals. Most money is
received through the 1 per cent rule
in Hungary, allowing people to give
this amount of their tax to a nonprofit foundation. “It wasn’t easy to
gain that status but we managed it
nonetheless,” Krug says with pride.
Sustainability
The long-term support of individual projects is important to him.
He mentions in particular the Zoltán
Kovács Foundation, which seeks to
integrate Roma people and has set up
a homework supervision scheme, the
glasses project that helps many in
their personal development, and a
scholarship programme for Roma
pupils wanting to study at grammar
schools or in higher education.
These are initiatives that can
contribute to Roma and disadvantaged Hungarians being able later to
lead a regular working life, Krug says.
10th Gala Concert
Wednesday, 7 March at 7pm
Tickets HUF 5,000
Duna Palota,
District V, Zrínyi utca 5
www.anlcb.hu
CLASSIFIEDS
C AR R ENTAL
C OURSES
P RESS
Two-bedroomed 70 sqm flat for sale. Situated at
scenic Almássy tér, the property looks onto the
courtyard of an attractive and peaceful turn-of-thecentury building. Great layout, with separate
bedrooms at either end of the flat. Recently rewired
and fitted with efficient central heating, the property
also contains a bath, shower and a fully-appointed
“ American-style” kitchen. British owner with local
knowledge to help sale go smoothly. HUF 15.9
million. www.karoly-apartman.hu/almassy_flat
C HURCH
The International
Baptist Church of
Budapest is an interdenominational
church. All are
welcome to join us
for coffee before
worship at 10am.
www.ibcbudapest.info
+36 30 820-7658
Services every Sunday at 10:30am
at 1025 Bp. Törökvész út 48/54
R EAL E STATE
NEW COURSE STARTS:
Drawing and Painting
Short workshop Course:
4x5 hours to develop and realize
own ideas, with professionel help!
No previuos experience necessary!
More information:
christabartesch@yahoo.de
V ACANCY
SHOP AND EARN
Shop and earn
Renovated apartment for sale in Zuglo,
District 14. One bedrooom with amazing
architectural
details,
cathedral
ceilings,
clearstory
windows and
a gorgeous
combination
of real cork flooring and real pine
planking. Including the office in the
gallery, the living space is about 40sqm.
Price 60,000 USD. To view online, go to
www.bixlers.org/bixlerlakas/Your_New_H
ome.html. Contact Dr Rozsa Kollar for
sales details: (+36) 30 412-6698,
dr.kollar@t-online.hu
OB31380000
67,400 - 86,100 HUF weekly.
Work your own hours
M ASSAGE
& You choose your day off
THINKING RELOCATION?
THINK INTERDEAN.
Tel. 888-6750
budapest@interdean.com
“We make it easy”
Relocation
Immigration
Moving
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SERVICE
T UTORING
THE ENGLISH MAN: Native
English journalist/broadcaster giving
conversational and grammar lessons.
Proof-reading also.
Tel:+36 30/ 507 6077
This is a freelance job which will not
disturb your present job if you have any.
JOB REQUIREMENTS:
*Good business skills
*Honest ,responsible and industrious
*PC ,e-mail and internet skills
To advertise in
CLASSIFIEDS
call 453-0752
*No starting fee required
APPLY NOW – Contact Istvan
for more info: istvanshp@gmail.com
Express services in your hotel room
within
minutes
90
www.mobileservices.hu
T RANSLATION
+36 30 862 8155
M OVING
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
2 MARCH – 8 MARCH 2012
the King, by Experidance.
Classical entertainment
A38
Puccini’s Tosca.
ÓBUDA SOCIAL CIRCLE
AT
Philharmonic – Pécs conducted by Pawel
Przytocki performs Khatchaturian’s Flute
Concerto in D major (flute: Martin Michael
Kofler)
and
Berlioz’s
Symphonie
Fantastique.
BUDAPEST OPERETTA AND MUSICAL
THEATRE AT 10AM: Forest Ructions, fairy
play with music; AT 7PM: Romeo and Juliet,
A RTS
AT
7 PM (F ESTIVAL
THEATRE): Othello, dance performance by
Pécs Ballet on music by Verdi.
N ATIONAL DANCE THEATRE
AT
7 PM:
Enchantment, by Varidance.
NATIONAL THEATRE AT 7PM: The Complete
Works of William Shakespeare (abridged),
performance in English by Madhouse
Company.
A38 AT 8PM: Mary PopKids, Fran Palermo,
Kistehén, Lucrecia Protellor (rock, world
music).
BUDAPEST CONGRESS CENTRE
AT
8PM:
Shadowland, by dance troupe Pilobolus.
Saturday 3 March
Classical entertainment
OLD MUSIC ACADEMY
AT
11AM: Viktória
Szilvásy (violin), András Rudolf (viola) and
Bálint Maróth (cello) perform Rolla’s Trio in
B major, Mozart’s Duo in Ba major and
Beethoven’s Trio in C minor.
PALACE
OF
ARTS
AT
5PM (GLASS HALL):
The pendulum & the pit
Pannonia Allstars Ska Orchestra at
Akvárium Klub: Saturday, 3 March
T
The Budapest Strings Chamber Orchestra
performs works by Mozart, Malek, Vivaldi,
Szentpáli, Hoffstetter and Gulya; AT
7.30PM: Kálmán Oláh Trio and the Miskolc
Symphony Orchestra conducted by László
Kovács perform Gyöngyösi’s Symphony No.
2, Oláh’s Passacaglia for orchestra and jazz
trio, and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 (“From
the New World”).
STATE OPERA HOUSE
AT
6PM: Wagner’s
Tannhäuser.
FESTETICS PALACE MIRROR ROOM AT
7 PM: The Weiner-Szász Chamber
Symphony Orchestra performs Doráti’s
American Serenade, Strauss’ Double
Concerto and Dvorak’s Serenade.
Popular entertainment
PALACE OF ARTS AT 11AM AND 3PM
(FESTIVAL THEATRE): Beetle’s Tale, by
KFKI Chamber Ballet and Madách Musical
Dance School.
BUDAPEST OPERETTA AND MUSICAL
THEATRE AT 11 AM: Musical Tales,
theatrical magic; AT 3PM AND 7PM: Romeo
and Juliet, operetta theatre.
BUDAPEST CONGRESS CENTRE AT 3PM
AND 8PM: Shadowland, by dance troupe
OF
ARTS
AT
9 PM: Pannonia
Allstars Ska Orchestra with PlanetMan
(GB), McKemon, KRSA, Mammazita.
Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by
Mátyás Antal performs Ravel’s Rapsodie
Espagnole and Piano Concerto in G major
(piano: József Balog) and Saint-Saëns’
Symphony No. 3 (organ: László Fassang).
Sunday 4 March
Popular entertainment
PALACE
T
Saeed Farajpouri
Sunday 4 March at 8pm
Trafó House of Contemporary Arts
ARTS
AT
7PM (FESTIVAL
AT 11AM: The Danube
Symphony Orchestra conducted by András
Deák performs works by Haydn, Mozart,
Beethoven, Schubert and Strauss.
BUDAPEST OPERETTA AND MUSICAL
THEATRE AT 7PM: Rebecca, musical; AT
7.30PM (STUDIO STAGE): Baroness Lili,
PALACE
A38 AT 8.30PM: Marathon (rock).
OF
ARTS
AT
5PM (AUDITORIUM):
Verdi’s Ernani, replay of the live broadcast
of the performance by the Metropolitan
Opera Orchestra and Chorus; AT 7.30PM:
The Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra
conducted by György Vashegyi perform
Haydn’s The Creation.
operetta-fantasy.
BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB AT 9PM: Gereben Zita
Quintet.
JEDERMANN CAFÉ
AT
9PM: Morvai Tamás
Quintet (jazz).
Popular entertainment
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE
AT
Soundtrack for
the mind
10.30AM:
Ti-Ti-Ta, dance performance for children by
Jolán Foltin and Péter Novák.
AT
2PM:
Shadowland, by dance troupe Pilobolus.
BUDAPEST OPERETTA AND MUSICAL
THEATRE AT 3PM: Forest Ructions, fairy
play with music; AT 3PM AND 7PM: The
Gypsy Princess, operetta theatre.
PALACE
OF
A RTS
AT
7 PM (F ESTIVAL
THEATRE): Moses and the Ten
Commandments, by Hungarian Festival
Ballet.
Monday 5 March
Classical entertainment
PALACE
OF A RTS AT 7.30 PM : The
Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Esa
Pekka Salonen performs Sibelius’ Pohjola’s
Daughter and Violin Concerto in D minor
(violin: Vilde Frang) and Beethoven’s
Symphony No. 7 in A major.
Popular entertainment
N ATIONAL DANCE THEATRE
AT
T
he works of pioneering
Austrian
soundscape
composer Gabriele Proy
will be performed by Balázs Fülei
(piano) and the quartet of Ulrike
Anton (flute), Lucia Hall (violin),
Arne Kircher (cello) and Axel
Kircher (viola) on Thursday 8
March at the Salon of the
Austrian Culture Forum. Proy is
the recipient of numerous awards
and her pieces have been
performed with success in
Europe, Turkey, Iran, Japan,
Australia, Canada, Latin America
and the USA. She describes her
work as creating “poetic images of
environment – compositional
sound portraits which evoke
sound memories”. Proy herself
will be present at the concert.
The ticket
7 PM:
Dance, dance, dance… by students of the
Hungarian Dance Academy.
BUDAPEST OPERETTA AND MUSICAL
THEATRE AT 7.30PM: The Caucasian Chalk
Circle, musical play by Brecht.
Tuesday 6 March
Classical entertainment
PALACE OF ARTS AT 7.30PM: Concerto
Budapest conducted by Zoltán Kocsis
performs Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto
No. 3 (piano: Kirill Gerstein) and
Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony.
Register by emailing orsolya.nemeshazi@bmeia.gv.at or by calling
(+36-1) 413 3593. Entry is free.
Salon of the Austrian Culture Forum
Thursday, 8 March at 6.30pm
District VI, Andrássy út 43
www.okfbudapest.hu
Thursday 8 March
Classical entertainment
STATE OPERA HOUSE
Popular entertainment
AT
7PM: Erkel’s Bánk
Bán.
PALACE OF A RTS AT 3 PM (F ESTIVAL
THEATRE): The Magic Circus, ballet for children based on Mozart’s The Magic Flute, by
Yvette Bozsik Company.
AT 6PM: Anna Sofie
Mojzesova (violin) and Zsolt Ádám Szokolay
(piano) perform works by Bach, Beethoven,
Liszt, Chopin, Slavitcky and Dvorak.
BUDAPEST OPERETTA AND MUSICAL
THEATRE AT 7PM: Rebecca, musical.
Popular entertainment
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE
BUDAPEST OPERETTA AND MUSICAL
THEATRE AT 7PM: Rebecca, musical.
AT
7.30PM:
Tao Te, dance performance by Ferenc
Fehér and Ákos Dózsa.
Theatre Hall
District IX, Liliom u. 41
Tickets HUF 2,500 in advance, HUF 3,000
on the door, available at (+36-1) 2151600, jegy@trafo.hu or trafo.jegy.hu
OF
THEATRE): Yvette Bozsik Company performs
The Firebird and Les Noces, two ballets on
music by Stravinsky.
DUNA PALACE
TRAFÓ AT 8PM: Persian traditional music
concert with Saeid Farajpouri.
Pannonia Allstars Ska Orchestra
Saturday 3 March at 9pm
Akvárium Club
District V, Erzsébet tér 14
www.facebook.com/akvariumklub
he kemancheh is a bowed string
instrument, an indirect ancestor of
the violin. The tar, also a stringed
instrument, has a double-bowl
shape similar to that of the lute. The daf, dohol
and tombak are drums, some large, some
small, some equipped with rings like
tambourines. All feature in Persian traditional
music as presented on the stage of Trafó for
one of its trance music series concerts on
Sunday.
Born in Iran of Kurdish descent, a renowned
kemancheh player but also a composer and
music lecturer, Saeed Farajpouri has
performed solo and with major players of traditional Persian music such as the Dastan
Group, Shajarian and the Ava Ensemble. His
performance on the kemancheh comes with
vocal and instrumental accompaniment in
what the programme promises will be “an
unearthly journey to your peaceful inner self”.
The traditional atmosphere will be
completed with Persian homemade delicacies
prepared by members of Semmelweis
University’s Persian Society.
7PM: Romeo and
Juliet, by Badora Dance Company.
The ticket
Saeed Farajpouri – trance music
series at Trafó this Sunday
Pilobolus.
PALACE
Hungarian folk music. Supporting
acts are provided by Budapest
Riddim
Band,
McKemon,
Mammazita and the UK’s Planetman.
Tickets cost HUF 2,200 on the
door, HUF 1,800 in advance at major
ticket sellers.
Musical journey to joy
INNER C ITY PARISH C HURCH OF ST
MICHAEL AT 5PM: The Gabrieli Choir and
Saint Andrew’s Choral Scholars perform
works by Finzi, Whitacre, Miskinis, Stanford,
Tippett, Bach and others.
PALACE OF ARTS AT 7.30PM: The Hungarian
BUDAPEST CONGRESS CENTRE
aking over the pit of Erzsébet
tér (near Deák tér) formerly
occupied by Gödör Club,
Akvárium Club has recently opened
with a mixed programme of live rock
and dance-house events.
Among various acts, it hosts on
Saturday the Pannonia Allstars Ska
Orchestra, which celebrates its ninth
anniversary this year. The group of
vocalists and trumpet, trombone,
saxophone, keyboard, guitar, bass,
drums and violin players is a regular
fixture at Sziget festival with a
musical style fusing Jamaican ska and
reggae with jazz and traditional
Classical entertainment
Ballet
AT
Punk
STATE OPERA HOUSE AT 11AM: Mozart’s
Cosi fan tutte; AT 7PM: Puccini’s Tosca.
Popular entertainment
operetta theatre.
Wattican
Classical entertainment
PALACE OF ARTS AT 7.30PM: The Pannon
OF
8 PM: dEUS (Belgium), Little
A KVÁRIUM C LUB
7PM: The
Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra
performs Purcell’s Fantasy for Strings,
Mozart’s
Concerto
for
Piano
“Jeunehomme”, Suk’s Serenade and
Zombola’s Epitaphium.
PALACE
AT
Trouble Kids,
(Armenia).
STATE OPERA HOUSE AT 7PM:
Wednesday 7 March
BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB
AT 9 PM : New
Standard, with Márton Fenyvesi (guitar),
Viktor Hárs (double bass) and Zoltán
Kalmár (drums).
CZECH CENTRE
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE
AT
7PM: Pearl
Unison, by Duna Art Ensemble.
A38 AT 7PM: Free Fall, Mikhail Alperin (jazz);
at 11pm: FaktorFeszt (hiphop, funky, soul).
WHERE IT’S AT
A38 Boat moored on Buda side of Petõfi Bridge. Tel.
(+36-1) 464-3940. www.a38.hu
AKVÁRIUM CLUB District V, Erzsébet tér 14 (ex-Gödör
Club).
BÉLA BARTÓK MEMORIAL HOUSE District II, Csalán u.
29. Tel. (+36-1) 394-2100. www.bartokmuseum.hu
BUDAPEST CONGRESS CENTRE District XII, Jagelló út 13. Tel. (+36-1) 372-5400. www.bcwtc.hu
BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB District VIII, Múzeum u. 7. Tel.
(+36-1) 267-2610 (5pm to 11pm on concert days).
www.bjc.hu
BUDAPEST OPERETTA AND MUSICAL THEATRE Musicals
have English subtitles (above the stage digitally) and
operettas have German subtitles. District VI,
Nagymezõ u. 17. Tel. (+36-1) 353-2172, (+36-1) 2690118. www.operettszinhaz.hu
CZECH CENTRE District VI, Szegfõ u. 4. Tel. (+36-1) 3511737, 342-5818. www.budapest.czechcentres.cz
DUNA PALACE District V, Zrínyi u. 5. Tel. (+36-1) 2355533. www.dunapalota.hu
KIRÁLY BATHS District II, Fõ u. 84. Tel. (+36-1) 202-3688.
www.budapestgyogyfurdoi.hu
PALACE OF ARTS District IX, Komor Marcell u. 1. Tel. (+361) 555-3300. www.mupa.hu
DÜRER-KERT District XIV, Ajtósi Dürer sor 19-21. Tel.
LUKÁCS BATHS District II, Frankel Leó u. 25-29. Tel. (+36-
PAPP LÁSZLÓ BUDAPEST SPORTARÉNA District XIV,
(+36-1) 789-4444. www.durerkert.com
FESTETICS PALACE MIRROR ROOM District VIII, Pollack
Mihály tér 3. Tel. (+36-1) 266-3101. www.festeticspalota.hu
GELLÉRT BATHS District XI, Kelenhegyi út 4. Tel. (+36-1)
466-6166. www.gellertbath.com
HILTON BUDAPEST Hotel District I, Hess András tér 1-3.
Tel. (+36-1) 889-6600. www1.hilton.com
INNER CITY PARISH CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL District V,
Váci u. 47/b. (+36-1) 337-8116. www.szentmihalytemplom.hu
ITALIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE District VIII, Bródy Sándor
u. 8. Tel. (+36-1) 483-2040. www.iicbudapest.esteri.it
JEDERMANN CAFÉ District IX, Ráday u. 58. Tel. (+36) 30
406-3617. www.jedermannkavezo.blogpsot.com
1) 326-1695. www.budapestgyogyfurdoi.hu
MOHA CAFÉ AND GALLERY District XI, Bartók Béla út 1113.
MOM CULTURAL CENTRE District XII, Csörsz u. 18
www.momkult.hu
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE District I, Színház u. 1-3 in the
Várszínház building. Tel. (+36-1) 201-4407.
www.nemzetitancszinhaz.hu
NATIONAL THEATRE District IX, Bajor Gizi park 1. Tel. (+361) 476-6868. www.nemzetiszinhaz.hu
ÓBUDA SOCIAL CIRCLE (TÁRSASKÖR) District III,
Kiskorona u. 7. www.obudaitarsaskor.hu
Stefánia út 2. Central Ticket Office (Ticketpro) Tel. (+361) 422-2682. www.ticketpro.hu
RAM COLOSSEUM District XIII, Kárpát u. 23-25. Tel. (+361)
222-5253,
(+36-1)
222-5254.
www.ramcolosseum.com/
RUDAS BATHS District I, Döbrentei tér 9. Tel. (+36-1) 3561322. www.budapestgyogyfurdoi.hu
STATE OPERA HOUSE District VI, Andrássy út 22. Tel. (+361) 353-0170. Box office open Tuesday-Saturday, 11amshow time. (When there are no shows, open 11am5pm). www.opera.hu
SZÉCHENYI BATHS District XIV, Állatkerti körút 11.Tel. (+361) 363-3210. www.budapestgyogyfurdoi.hu
TRAFÓ District IX, Liliom u. 41. Tel. (+36-1) 456-2040.
www.trafo.hu
OLD MUSIC ACADEMY (FERENC LISZT MEMORIAL
MUSEUM) District VI, Vörösmarty u. 35. Tel. (+36-1) 3229804 www.lisztmuseum.hu
T E N -D AY G U I D E
RAM COLOSSEUM AT 7PM: In the Name of
Friday 2 March
11
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
2 MARCH – 8 MARCH 2012
T E N -D AY G U I D E
STATE OPERA HOUSE
spices will present their
wares and provide tips and
ideas. Cooking and cocktail
mixing courses will also
be laid on.
What’s
cooking
T
he latest in
kitchen furniture
and
appliances
will be exhibited at
Papp
László
Budapest Sportaréna
between 2 and 4
March. Producers of
cooking
utensils,
publishers of cookery magazines and books, writers of
internet blogs, cookery
schools and suppliers of
ingredients such as
herbs
and
7PM: Mozart’s
AT
Cosi fan tutte.
HILTON BUDAPEST HOTEL
AT 7PM: André
Vásáry and the Hungarian Virtuoso
Chamber Orchestra perform works by
Haydn, Vivaldi, Giordani, Kodály, Webber
and others for Women’s Day.
The ticket
ÓBUDAI SOCIAL CIRCLE AT 7PM: Zsuzsa
Vámosi-Nagy (flute) and Kinga Katinka
Szilágyi (harp) perform works by Paganini,
Liebermann, Briccialdi, Piazzolla, Meskó and
Saint-Saëns.
Tickets: HUF 1,900 for adults;
HUF 1,200 for students and
pensioners. Free under six.
Kitchen Exhibition
Friday – Sunday,
Open from 10am to 6pm
Papp László Budapest
Sportaréna
District XIV, Stefánia út 2
www.budapestarena.hu
PALACE OF ARTS AT 7.45PM: The Budapest
Festival Orchestra conducted by Iván Fischer
performs Bach’s “Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht
mit deinem Knecht” cantata and Bruckner’s
Symphony No. 7.
Popular entertainment
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE
Classical entertainment
BÉLA BÁRTOK MEMORIAL HOUSE
AT
6PM:
PALACE OF ARTS AT 4PM AND 7.30PM
(FESTIVAL THEATRE): Sierra Maestra
performs Cuban music.
ÓBUDA SOCIAL CIRCLE
MOHA CAFÉ
DUNA PALACE
THEATRE): Jazz Workshop – Grencsó Real
Time Music Collective.
7PM: The Danube
Symphony Orchestra conducted by Reiner
Hobe performs Mozart’s symphonies in A
major No. 29 and in G minor, and Hidas’
Symphony in A major No. 29.
PALACE
OF
ARTS
AT
AND
7.30pm (Studio Stage): Baroness Lili,
operetta-fantasy.
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE
AT
3PM
BUDAPEST OPERETTA AND MUSICAL
THEATRE AT 7PM: Rebecca, musical; at
Joseph Puglia (violin), Chaim Steller (viola)
and Kõszeghy Örs (cello) of the Trio Dumas
perform works by Dallapiccola, Berio and
Beethoven.
AT 7PM: Petra
Polackova plays guitar music by Legnani,
Weiss, Bach, Brouwer, Ponce and
Bogdanovic.
AT
7PM: Liliomfi, by Experidance – Sándor
Román Company.
Popular entertainment
Friday 9 March
DÜRER KERT
AT 6.30PM: Bring The Bands
Home Fest: Broo-Tall Pack, Tribute Pack
(rock, metal).
AT 7PM: Bodies’
Philosophy, by Szeged Dance Company.
AT
A38 AT 8PM: Melanie Pain album release
concert (rock, folk); AT 11PM: Stanton
Warriors (electronica).
7PM: Gábor Winand, Oláh
Kálmán (jazz).
PALACE
OF
ARTS
AT
7.30PM (FESTIVAL
Gábor Dusa
12
BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB AT 9PM: Tzumo – Egri
János Duo; AT 11PM: Szakcsi Lakatos Róbert.
A38 AT 9PM: Vad Fruttik, TükeZoo (rock).
7.30PM: Bach in the
Original – Wolfgang Zerer (organ, harpsichord)
and Gunar Letzbor (violin) perform works by
Bach.
Saturday 10 March
MOM CULTURAL CENTRE AT 7.30PM: The
Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra conducted by
Gábor Hollerung performs Wagner’s Die
Meistersänger von Nürnberg – overture,
Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante in E major and
Ravel’s Bolero and Daphnis et Chloé – suite.
OLD MUSIC ACADEMY AT 11AM: Katalin
Frideczky (piano) and Mátyás Büki (violin)
perform Weber’s Sonata in C major,
Mendelssohn’s Sonata in F minor, Dvorak’s
Sonata in F major and excerpts from Reger’s
Blätter und Blüten.
Sunday 11 March
Classical entertainment
Premiere
Classical entertainment
BUDAPEST JAZZ CLUB AT 9PM: Péter
Szolnoki and the Budapest Jazz Orchestra;
AT 11PM: Pataj György Trio.
Duna Art Ensemble premieres Pearl Unison on Thursday 8 March at 7pm at the National
Dance Theatre’s Main Auditorium. District I, Színház u. 1-3 in the Várszínház building. Tel.
(+36-1) 201-4407. www.nemzetitancszinhaz.hu
Bath night on Saturday 10 March
STATE OPERA HOUSE AT 11AM: The
Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra performs
chamber music by Strauss; at 7pm: Erkel’s
Bánk Bán.
ITALIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE AT 11AM: The
Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra conducted by
Gábor Hollerung performs Ravel’s Daphnis
et Chloé.
PALACE
OF ARTS AT 11AM AND 3PM: The
National Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by
Zoltán Kocsis performs Ravel’s L’Enfant et les
Sortilèges; AT 3.30PM: The Budapest Festival
Orchestra conducted by Iván Fischer performs
Bach’s “Herr, gehe nicht ins Gericht mit
deinem Knecht” cantata and Bruckner’s
Symphony No. 7.
Popular entertainment
NATIONAL DANCE THEATRE AT 10.30AM: The
Adventures of Vackor, performance for children
by Inversedance – Zoltán Fodor Company.
BUDAPEST
OPERETTA
AND
MUSICAL
THEATRE AT 3PM AND 7PM: Mike the
Magnate, operetta-theatre; AT 7.30PM: The
Caucasian Chalk Circle, musical play by
Brecht.
DOWN
THE ROAD
MONDAY 19 MARCH (7PM): Rise Against,
The Architects, Touché Amoré at Petõfi
Csarnok
Win Stars of Musical tickets
T
he Broadway Musical and Dance
Company promises stage fireworks
with its Stars of Musical production
at Budapest Congress Center on 14
April. The members of the company hail
from the US, Australia and Europe and
perform with international guest soloists
from the great opera houses to take audiences on a journey through the world of
musicals.
More than two million across the world
have enjoyed hits from The Lion King,
Mamma Mia!, Dirty Dancing, Falco and We
Will Rock You, as well as classics from The
Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Rocky Horror
Picture Show, Elizabeth, Dance of the
Vampires, Evita, Cabaret and other shows.
Highlights include songs from Tarzan, the
musical from the Disney Workshop with
music by Phil Collins, Andrew Lloyd
Webber’s hit musical Jesus Christ
Superstar, Udo Jürgens’ Ich War Noch
Niemals in New York and Sister Act.
The Budapest Times and Budapester
Zeitung are giving away six pairs of tickets,
provided by concert agency Schröder
GmbH, in the coming weeks. To have a
chance of winning two, send your answer to
the question “Who played the main role in
Sister Act?” to ines.gruber@bzt.hu. The
winners will be informed after the competition closes on 10 April.
– Ines Gruber
Stars of Musical
Saturday 14 April at 8pm
Budapest Congress Center
District XII, Jagelló út 1-3
Tickets cost HUF 7,500 – 14,200
www.bcwtc.hu, www.tex.hu
GELLÉRT BATHS
24 carat gold treatment
Anti-Aging: !QMS Collagen, Maria Galland Paris Lifting
Body Massage, Reflexology
Hair styling, colouring, highlights
SPA pedicure, manicure, detox
Mesotherapy
Permanent Contour Make-Up
Hilton Budapest, 1014 Budapest, Hess András tér 1-3.
Tel.: +36 1 889 6887 Mobile: +36 30 392 1150
w w w . a n n a s a l o n . h u
FROM
RUDAS BATHS
FROM
10PM
TO
3AM:
Night of the Baths, NVC (electronic).
KIRÁLY BATHS
FROM
10PM
TO
3AM:
Night of the Baths, District7 Lumenart
(electronic).
Personal programme
from Mrs. Anna
(Visagist)
Special offer!
Bring this coupon with you, and you get
2 facial treatments for the price of 1!
McKennitt at
Sportaréna
Papp
László
Budapest
WEDNESDAY 28 MARCH (8PM): The Nigel
Kennedy Quintet at Budapest Congress and
World Trade Centre.
WEDNESDAY 11 APRIL (7.30PM): Fazil Say
piano recital at the Palace of Arts
SATURDAY 21 APRIL (8PM): Cavalero,
equestrian art show at Papp László
Budapest Sportaréna
10PM TO 3AM:
Night of the Baths, Infragandi,
Superman, Simon Iddol (electronic).
Exclusive Cosmetics & Hair Salon
-
TUESDAY 27 MARCH (8PM): Loreena
he popular Night of the
Baths goes full steam
ahead next weekend with
events planned at Rudas,
Széchenyi, Gellért, Király and the
newly renovated Lukács baths.
From 10pm till 3am on Sunday,
centenarian baths will throb to
the sound of live acts with
popular DJ sets.
T
SUNDAY 29 APRIL (7PM): Nightwish, at
LUKÁCS BATHS
FROM
10PM
TO
3AM:
Night of the Baths, Girls & Mathematics
(electronic).
S ZÉCHENYI BATHS FROM 10 PM TO
3AM: Night of the Baths, Karmatronic,
Whiteboy (electronic).
Papp László Budapest Sportaréna
WEDNESDAY 2 MAY (8PM): Jan Garbarek
and The Hilliard Ensemble at Saint Stephen’s
Basilica
SATURDAY 5 MAY (7PM): André Rieu and
his Orchestra at Papp László Budapest
Sportaréna
2 MARCH – 8 MARCH 2012
13
Tues.-Fri. 12noon-6pm, Sat. 10am-1pm.
District V, Balaton u. 4. Tel. (+36-1) 354-1350.
www.b55galeria.hu
March. Open Mon.-Fri. 1pm-6pm. District V,
Alkotmány u. 18. Tel. (+36-1) 472-0000.
www.karton.hu
CENTRÁLIS GALLERY The exhibition Dead
Library showing books of Hungarian libraries
unread since 1989 runs until 22 April. Open
Tues.-Fri. 2pm-6pm and Sat.-Sun. 10am6pm. District V, Arany János u. 32. Tel. (+361) 327-3250. www.osaarchivum.org/galeria/
catalogue/hu_index.html
KASSÁK
MUSEUMS & GALLERIES
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
medieval village, viticulture, plants and more
with a temporary exhibition on The Horse –
National Horse Exhibition. The interactive exhibition Optical Illusions. Discover the secrets of
the brain and the eyes runs until 15 April. Open
Tues.-Sun., 10am-5pm. Tel. (+36-1) 363-1117.
District XIV, Vajdahunyad Castle in City Park.
www.mezogazdasagimuzeum.hu
Collection shedding light on the life of Jews
during the Middle Ages. Open Tues.-Sun.
10am-6pm. District I, Táncsics Mihály u. 26.
Tel. (+36-1) 225-7816. www.museum.hu
and zoology. The photo exhibition by Csaba
Karai runs until 5 March. Open daily 10am5pm except Tues. District VIII, Ludovika tér 2-6.
Tel. (+36-1) 210-1085. www.nhmus.hu
MEMENTO PARK Communist statuary shunted
out of the streets and into a field on the edge
of town. Direct buses leave from Deák tér at
11am daily. Open from 10am-dusk. District
XXII, corner of Balatoni út and Szabadkai út.
Tel. (+36-1) 424-7500. www.mementopark.hu
PETÕFI LITERATURE MUSEUM Named after
the poet Sándor Petõfi (1823-1849). The exhibition The Faces of the Invisible Man – Géza
Gárdonyi is open until 2 October. District V,
Károlyi Mihály u. 16. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am6pm. Tel. (+36-1) 317-3611. www.pim.hu
AQUINCUM MUSEUM Archaeological findings
MUSEUM
POSTAL MUSEUM District VI, Andrássy út 3.
Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-6pm. Tel. (+36-1) 2696838. www.postamuzeum.hu
MUSEUMS
AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM Covering life in a
from the remains of the Roman military
garrison and trading settlement Aquincum.The
exhibition There Is Something New Under The
Ground, a selection of new archaeological
finds from 2010, runs until 25 March. Open
daily 10am-5pm except Mon. The outdoor
ruins are open from 9am. District III,
Szentendrei út 135. Tel. (+36-1) 250-1650.
www.aquincum.hu
BÉLA BARTÓK MEMORIAL HOUSE Concerts
in one hall and a memorial room with original
furniture and Bartók’s folk art collection,
photos, letters and notes on his life. Open
Tues.-Sat. 10am-5pm. District II, Csalán út 29.
Tel. (+36-1) 394-2100. www.bartokmuseum.hu
BUDAPEST HISTORY MUSEUM Covering the
history of the capital with a temporary exhibition Lustrum. 100 years of the Ménesi út
Palace of the Eötvös College. The exhibition
Empire and Biedermeier in Hungary is open
until 1 April. Open daily 10am-4pm except
Mon. Buda Castle building E, District I, Szent
György tér 2. Tel. (+36-1) 487-8800.
www.btm.hu/
EVANGELICAL NATIONAL MUSEUM Covering
the Protestant faith in Hungary. Open Tues.Sun., 10am-5pm. District V, Deák Ferenc tér 4.
Tel. (+36-1) 317-4173. www.evangelikusmuzeum.hu
FERENC HOPP MUSEUM OF EAST ASIAN
ARTS Works collected by the traveller Ferenc
Hopp. The temporary exhibition is Land of the
Morning Calm, Korean Art in the 18th-19th
Centuries. Open Fri.-Sun. 10am-4pm. District
VI, Andrássy út 103. Tel. (+36-1) 322-8476.
www.imm.hu (Museum of Applied Arts
website)
FERENC LISZT MEMORIAL MUSEUM A reconstruction of Liszt’s last Budapest flat containing
his original instruments, furniture, books,
scores, personal objects and memorabilia. The
exhibition Liszt and Budapest, covering his
stays in the city from his first performance in
1823 to his farewell concert in 1886, is running
until 21 March. In the Old Music Academy,
District VI, Vörösmarty u. 35. Open Mon.-Fri.
10am-6pm, Sat. 9am-5pm. Tel. (+36-1) 3229804. www.lisztmuseum.hu
GEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE
OF
HUNGARY
Collection of rocks and fossils in a building by
architect Ödön Lechner. Open Thurs., Sat.,
Sun. 10am-4pm. District XIV, Stefánia út. 14.
Tel. (+36-1) 251-0999. www.mafi.hu
HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL CENTER Covering
the fate of Hungarian Jews in the Holocaust.
Open Tues.-Sun.10am-6pm. District IX, Páva u
39. Tel. (+36-1) 455-3333. www.hdke.hu
HOSPITAL IN THE ROCK Formerly secret
underground air-raid hospital and nuclear
bunker, with an exhibition about Friedrich
Born, Swiss delegate of the Red Cross in
Budapest from 1944-1945, who saved up to
15,000 Jews by handing out protection documents. Flashlight tour daily at 7pm in quest of
lost treasures of Count Gorgey. Open Tues.Sun. 10am-8pm. District I, Lovas út 4/C. Tel.
(+36) 70 701-0101. www.sziklakorhaz.hu
HOUSE OF TERROR MUSEUM Secret police
headquarters during both the fascist and
socialist periods celebrates ten years of existence as a museum of terror regimes. Open
Tues.-Sun. 10am-6pm. District VI, Andrássy út
60. Tel. (+36-1) 374-2600. www.terrorhaza.hu
HUNGARIAN JEWISH MUSEUM AND ARCHIVES
Religious and historical collection at the Great
Synagogue in District VII, Dohány u. 2. Tel.
(+36-1) 317-1377. www.dohany-zsinagoga.hu
HUNGARIAN MUSEUM OF TRADE AND
TOURISM Catering industry relics based on the
private collection of Frigyes Glück and
extended to include posters, scales, furniture
and a numismatic collection. The exhibition
Csárdás, Polka, Zepperli – Entertainment and
Music Trade in the 19th century is open until 29
April. The retrospective on Zórád Ernõ runs
until 29 April. The exhibitions on advertising
and “I have never had a home...” – Scenes
from Gyula Krúdy’s Budapest Life run until 31
December. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-6pm.
District III, Korona tér 1. Tel. (+36-1) 212-1245.
www.mkvm.hu
OF APPLIED ARTS Permanent
collection of works of applied art and Ottoman
Turkish carpets in an Art Nouveau landmark.
The exhibition A Hungarian artist in England –
the ceramics of Lili Márkus and the Márkus
family runs until 29 April. Open Tues.-Sun.
10am-6pm. District IX, Üllõi út 33-37. (+36-1)
456-5107. www.imm.hu
MUSEUM
OF
ETHNOGRAPHY Covering tradi-
tional customs and clothing. The exhibition
Amazonia – Reaching Out To The Indians runs
until 8 April. The exhibition Jewels from
Oceania – the Lajos Bíró Collection runs until
1 April. The exhibition Women, Hand-woven
rugs, Home industry features carpets from
Romania, Serbia and Bulgaria and runs until
26 August. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-6pm.
District V, Kossuth Lajos tér 12. Tel. (+36-1)
473-2400. www.neprajz.hu
MUSEUM OF TRANSPORT Covering the history
of road and rail transport in Hungary. The
aerospace collection is in the nearby Petõfi
RAILWAY
MUSEUM
Commemorates the continent’s first underground train line, the “Földalatti”, which opened
in 1896 (now Metro 1, the yellow line). In an
original stretch of the tunnel at Déak tér metro
station in District V. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am5pm. Tel. (+36-1) 461-6500. www.bkv.hu
ISTVÁN ZELNIK SOUTHEAST ASIAN GOLD
MUSEUM Collected by a diplomat/businessman over 45 years. Open Mon. 9am-6pm,
Tues.-Sun. 9am-7pm (Fri. and Sat. till 9pm).
District VI, Andrássy út. 110. Tel. (+36) 30 2507210. www.zelnick-collection.com
Magnus by Natalia LL is running until 18
March. Open daily 11am-7pm except Mon.
District VI, Nagymezõ u. 8. Tel. (+36-1) 4131311. www.ernstmuzeum.hu
FAUR ZSÓFI GALLERY The collective exhibition Animalicious is open until 11 March.
Open Mon.-Fri. 12noon-6pm, Sat. 10am1pm. District XI, Bartók Béla út 25. Tel. (+361) 209-3635. www.galeriafaur.hu
GODOT
GALLERY The exhibition
Emendation, a feeling installation by Erika
Baglyas and Erik Mátrai runs until 17 March.
Open Tues.-Fri. 10am-6pm and Sat. 10am1pm. District XI, Bartók Béla út 11. Tel. (+361) 322-5272. www.godot.hu
Two shows at Mai Manó House of Photography
T
wo exhibitions that point out the
remarkable aspects of everyday
life are being shown at Mai
Manó Hungarian House of
Photography.
Serene Enchantment
Csarnok (Zichy Mihály u. 3). Open Tues.-Fri.
10am-4pm, and Sat.-Sun. 10am-5pm. District
XIV, Városligeti körút. 11. Tel. (+36-1) 2733840. www.km.iif.hu
NAGYTÉTÉNYI CASTLE MUSEUM Eighteenth-
paradise with many steam engines and
carriages, operational turntables, the largest
roundhouse in Central Europe with interactive
programmes such as a self-powered rail car
and engine driving. Children’s miniature rail
line. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-6pm. District XIV,
Tatai út 95. Tel. (+36-1) 238-0558. www.vasuttortenetipark.hu
NATIONAL MUSEUM Covering the whole of
Hungarian history, from the ancient origins of
the Hungarians, their journey to the
Carpathian Basin and events until 1990. Open
Tues.-Fri. 10am-6pm. District VIII, Múzeum
körút 14-16. Tel. (+36-1) 338-2122/327-7749.
www.hnm.hu
MEDIEVAL JEWISH HOUSE
NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM Covering botany
Name by Csaba Nemes is open until 31
March. District VI, Liszt Ferenc tér 10. Open
Tues.-Fri. 2pm-6.30pm and Sat. 11am-2pm.
Tel. (+36-1) 267-3842.
KOGART The exhibition Boulevard by Imre
Kocsis is open until 15 April. Open daily
10am-6pm. District VI, Andrássy út 112. Tel.
(+36-1) 354-3820. www.kogart.hu
KOGART GALLERY The exhibition Cui Bono,
by Alessandro Papetti, Aron Demetz, Ugo
Dossi and Gábor Fülöp is open until 9 March.
Open Mon.-Fri. 10am-6pm. District VI,
Andrássy út 108. Tel. (+36-1) 354-3839.
www.kogartgaleria.hu
LUDWIG CONTEMPORARY ARTS MUSEUM
(PALACE OF ARTS) The exhibition Bakos by
Rita Ackermann is open until 11 March.
Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-8pm. On the last
Sunday each month entrance is free for visitors under 26, and up to two adult relatives
accompanying a child under 18. District XI,
Komor Marcell u 1. Tel. (+36-1) 555-3444
www.lumu.hu
MAI MANÓ HUNGARIAN HOUSE
OF
PHOTOGRAPHY Shows works by Hungarian
and foreign photographers. The exhibition
Serene Enchantment by Judit Szabó runs
until 18 March. Danube – Open Book runs
until 29 April. Open weekdays: 2-7pm, weekends: 11am-7pm. District VI, Nagymezõ u.
20. Tel. (+36.1) 473-2666. www.maimano.hu
Condensed Tomato by Zsolt Nyári is open
until 16 March. Open Tues.-Fri. 12noon-6pm.
District VIII, Bródy Sándor u. 22. Tel. (+36-1)
327-0095. www.molnaranigaleria.hu
MÛCSARNOK The exhibition New York,
Versailles, Budapest by Bernar Venet runs
until 25 March. The exhibition Eight Lessons
on Emptiness by Marina Abramoviæ runs
until 22 April. District XIV, Dózsa György út
37. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am-6pm except
Thurs.12pm-8pm. Tel. (+36-1) 460-7000.
www.mucsarnok.hu
MUSEUM
OF FINE ARTS Huge collection of
Hungarian and international painting.
Mummies Uncovered – exhibition and 3D
film runs until 1 July. Open daily 10am5.30pm except Mon. (ticket office closes at
4.30pm). Ticket desk open Tues.-Sun. 10am5pm, and on second Thursdays until 9pm
with a Museum + events ticket. District XIV,
Hõsök tere. Tel. (+36-1) 469-7100.
www.szepmuveszeti.hu
Danube – Open Book
The second exhibition is devoted to the
Danube. The waterway has served as a
source of inspiration to countless artists in
different disciplines in the past. The exhibition Danube – Open Book spans a long
period. Archive photos and recent images
show the “thousand faces” of the river.
“Water is part of life,” stressed Zsolt
Olaf Szamódy, president of the
Association
of
Hungarian
Art
Photographers. In his introduction, he
noted that the symbolic power of water
also manifests itself in “looking across to
the opposite bank” as a symbol of
“dreams, yearnings and thoughts”.
The exhibition was shown at the
Berlaymont building in Brussels last
March, where it was reportedly enthusiastically received. The exhibiting artists
are above all the middle and young
generation of contemporary Hungarian
art photographers. Visitors are almost
certain to find pieces that appeal to them
from among the diverse works of the
roughly two dozen artists.
KNOLL GALLERY The exhibition Father’s
MOLNÁR ANI GALLERY The exhibition
Judit Szabó, born in 1955, gained a
diploma in photography at the age of 21.
“She has not often shown her works to
the public,” photography historian Ibolya
Csengel Plank told the gathering at the
opening of Szabó’s exhibition Serene
Enchantment. Thus it is all the more
welcome that some of her best pieces
are now being shown. Pictured right is a
photo from 2010.
“Key moments” are of great importance in Szabó’s pictures. In some,
viewers see through partly open doors.
However, the focus is always on “visual
memory – on what can be stored in
memories and how so that the details are
not lost”, Plank says.
Amusing café scenes, remarkable
parts of buildings, hurrying pedestrians
and people in everyday situations all
become the protagonists of art through
Szabó’s black-and-white images.
HUNGARIAN RAILWAY MUSEUM Train buff’s
PRAYER
UNDERGROUND
ERNST MUSEUM The exhibition Opus
Key moments & a thousand faces
century castle restored to former splendour
featuring a permanent exhibition on the art of
furniture making from the Gothic to the
Biedermeier. Open Tues.-Fri. 10am-6pm.
District XXII, Kastélypark u. 9-11. Tel. (+36-1)
207-0005. www.nagytetenyi.hu
OF
STAMP MUSEUM Items from around the world.
The exhibition Memory Locked In an Album is
open until 15 June. Open Tues.-Sun. 10am6pm. District VII, Hársfa u. 47. Tel. (+36-1) 3415526. www.belyegmuzeum.hu
DOVIN GALLERY The exhibition Remember
the Journey by Zoltán Ötvös runs until 4
April. Open Tues.-Fri. 12noon-6pm and Sat.
11am-3pm. District V, Galamb u. 6. Tel. (+361) 318-3659. www.dovin.hu
MUSEUM Branch of Petõfi
Literature Museum. Mainly works of Lajos
Kassák (1887-1967), leading figure of the
Hungarian avant-garde. The exhibition The
Avant Garde in Private Collections II –
Circles of Interference. The MA and the Zenit
in the Marinko Sudac Collection, Zagreb, is
open until 15 April. District III, Fõ tér 1 (Zichy
House). Open Wed.-Sun. 10am-5pm. Tel.
(+36-1) 368-7021. www.kassakmuzeum.hu
PARK GALLERY The exhibition GM CORN by
Imre Bukta is open until 8 June. Open daily
7am-12pm. MOM Park, first floor, District XII,
Alkotás u. 53. Tel. (+36-1) 487-5500.
www.mompark.hu
PLATÁN GALLERY (POLISH INSTITUTE) The
exhibition of paintings by Bartek Materka is
open until 15 March. Open Tues.-Fri. 11am7pm. District VI, Andrássy út 32. Tel. (+36-1)
505-4660, 311-5856. www.lengyelkultura.hu
In addition, lenticular images by
László Hegedûs and Miklós Klotz show
the constant flow of the river. The archive
shots from the Danube Museum of
Esztergom, Hungarian news agency MTI,
FORTEPAN and the photography section
of the Association of Hungarian Artists
form a bridge between the past and
present of the waterway.
– Angela Korb
GALLERIES
ACB GALLERY The exhibition TRSH by
Róbert Batykó is open until 14 March. Open
Tues.-Fri. 2pm-6pm or by appointment. District
VI, Király u. 76. Tel. (+36-1) 413-7608.
www.acbgaleria.hu
ARI KUPSUS GALLERY The exhibition by
Nadya Hadun is running until 23 March. The
exhibition by graphic artist Gabriella Sulyok
runs until 12 April. Open Tues.-Fri. 2pm-7pm
and Sat. 10am-2pm. District VIII, Bródy Sándor
u. 23/b. Tel. (+36) 20 322-0334. www.arikupsusgallery.com
ART9 GALLERY The exhibition No Recipe! By
Mátyás Boros runs until 9 March. Open Tues.Fri. 4pm-8pm. District IX, Ráday u. 47.
B55 The exhibition Back and Forth – 8 artists
from London is open until 17 March. Open
Exhibitions
“Serene Enchantment” – Judit Szabó runs
until 18 March.
“Danube – Open Book” runs until 29 April
Mai Manó House
District VI, Nagymezõ utca 20
Open weekdays from 2pm to 7pm and at
weekends from 11am to 7pm
www.maimano.hu
HUNGARIAN NATIONAL GALLERY The
Retrospective exhibition of Károly Ferenczy
is open until 27 May. The exhibition Heroes,
Kings, Saints. Scenes and Memories of the
History of Hungary is open until 26 August.
The exhibition Rippl-Rónai – Pieces of Art
from the Hands of Old Collectors runs until
23 September. Open daily 10am-6pm except
Mon. Wings B, C and D of the Royal Palace.
District I, Szent György tér 2. Tel. (+36) 20
439-7325 or (+36) 20 439-7331.
www.mng.hu
INDA GALLERY The exhibition Free Will by
Endre Koronczi runs until 9 March. Open
Tues.-Fri. 2pm-6pm or by appointment.
District VI, Király u. 34, II/4. Tel. (+36-1) 4131960. www.indagaleria.hu
KARTON
GALLERY The exhibition Pekka of
Finland – a selection of works from contemporary Finnish illustrators runs until 23
RAIFFEISEN GALLERY The exhibition
Matches by Réka Nemere is open until 11
March. Open Mon.-Sun. 10am-5pm. District
V, Akadémia u. 6.
STUDIO GALLERY The exhibition Preparing
for the Post-apocalyptic Times is open until
20 March. Open Tues., Thu. and Fri. 10am6pm, Wed. 12noon-8pm, Sat. 12noon-4pm.
District
VII
Rottenbiller
u.
35.
www.studio.c3.hu
VASARELY MUSEUM Large permanent
collection of works by Hungarian-French
artist Victor Vasarely. The exhibition OSAS
Plus is open until 1 May. Open daily 10am5.30pm except Mon. District III, Szentlélek
tér 6. Tel. (+36-1) 388-7551. www.vasarely.hu
VILTIN GALLERY The exhibition Out of Order
by Zsolt Asztalos runs until 3 March. Open
Tues.-Fri. 12noon-6pm and Sat. 11am-5pm
or by appointment. District V, Széchenyi u. 3.
Tel. (+36-1) 787-5866. www.viltin.hu
VINTAGE
GALLERY The exhibition
Photoworks by László Csáder is open until 2
March. Open Tues.-Fri. 2pm-6pm. District V,
Magyar u. 26. Tel. (+36-1) 336-0584.
www.vintage.hu
V ÍZIVÁROSI G ALLERY The exhibition
Border Crossing – Society of Hungarian
Enamel Artists is open until 23 March.
Open Tues.-Fri. 1-6pm, Sat. 10am-2pm.
District II, Kapás u. 55. Tel. (+36-1) 2016925. www.vizivarosigaleria.hu/
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
2 MARCH – 8 MARCH 2012
14
BOOKS
Lion’s pride flares up as marital cage closes in
Review: Captive Lion by Zsigmond Móricz, translated by Bernard Adams
BÉNÉDICTE WILLIAMS
“T
he best thing in life
was for there to be no
complications. Secure
job, good wife, nice home.” Thus
ponders Aladár Vágrándy as he
strolls towards his office to start his
day’s activities as a middle-ranking
civil servant in 1930s Budapest.
Little does he suspect that by the
end of the day the foundations of
his peaceful life will have been
shaken to the core because of an
extra-marital affair, contemplated
but not carried out.
Exposing shame
Buy the book
Zsigmond
Móricz,
whose
writing career spanned the end of
the 19th century and the first half
of the 20th until his death in
Budapest in 1942, forged his reputation through his descriptions of
the dark undersides of the
Hungarian peasantry and provincial petit bourgeoisie. The countryside poverty in which he was
born, and the boredom and
corruption of small-town officialdom formed the backbone of
much of the grim, realistic stories
and novels that established him as
one of the country’s leading
writers.
Captive Lion, published in 1936,
shifts the scene to Budapest and
focuses on the near breakdown of
one couple’s marriage, a break
with previous themes whose
timing is far from accidental: the
book was written at a time when
Móricz, himself on the verge of the
breakdown
of
his
second
marriage, sought to rid himself of
Captive Lion
By Zsigmond Móricz
(Translated by Bernard
Adams)
Corvina 2011, 312 pages
HUF 2,990
Captivated by the sight of a young
woman in his office, Vágrándy teeters
on the brink of a decision that could
destroy the careful equilibrium of a life
constructed with minimal space for
emotional and social manoeuvre. He is
the book’s captive lion, captive in the
domestic harmony of a childless
marriage, held in check by the hierarchical constraints of a position obtained
through patronage. Vágrándy, the
country bumpkin in the city, prides
himself on being “a wild man from the
provinces” yet his life is “a closed
book”, devoid of ambitions in what he
sees as the soullessness of Budapest life.
Over the course of the day and those
ensuing, the reader follows the tortuous
flow of his ruminations as he and his
wife fight with each other, throwing
away the blanket of outward gentility to
reveal the bleaker undercurrents of a
marriage marred by unfulfilled hopes.
A view to Budapest’s past
If women, marriage and a touch of
social politics figure prominently in the
novel, the narrative gains a more
cheerful side in its close intertwining of
Vágrándy’s downfall with the background provided by a growing city. The
first signs of his dissipation come as he
walks home from the office, not
rushing as usual by the shortest
possible route but dallying to look at
the fountain on Kalvin tér, noticing for
the first time the beauty of Budapest
street life.
He has hitherto lived his marriage in
a two-room flat in a three-storey
building in the (then) suburban street
of Reviczky utca, just across from what
is now the Szabó Ervin Library in
District VIII, hurrying to and from the
office, avoiding the parading ground of
the Danube Promenade or Margit
Island and its smell of excessive luxury.
But following that spring morning,
as Vágrándy allows his thoughts to
wander towards a little emancipation,
the reader accompanies him in his
fascinating rediscovery of the landscape of interwar Budapest, from the
new, modern buildings of District XIII
to the mysterious attractions of the City
Park at dusk.
It’s a bleak picture of the downfall of
a marriage and of the sclerotic environment of interwar Hungary, but the
sympathetic, down-to-earth writing and
translation make it a worthwhile introduction to the works of Móricz.
Everything you always wanted to know about Hungarian cuisine
Evenings are enhanced by our entertainment show led by one of Hungary’s
best Gipsy bands, featuring world famous gipsy music and evergreens
from international performers.
the memories of his failed first, 20year marriage, which ended in his
first wife’s suicide in 1925.
Torn by temptation
Writing as he neared 60, Móricz
describes in minute detail the
thoughts and feelings of a middleaged protagonist who finds
himself torn between allowing
himself one taste of life’s charms
or remaining faithful to his
marriage. A “banal” enough storyline, as novelist György Spiró
notes on the back cover, yet it is
precisely in the depiction of the
helpless humanity of ordinary
people that the book’s appeal
resides.
Bring this ad with You! We’ll invite you for a glass of Pálinka of the house
(Hungarian spirit 4cl) after your dinner!
1014 Budapest (Castle District), Táncsics Mihály u. 25
Reservation: +36 1 212 8565, +36 1 212 9891, kiralyrest@t-online.hu, www.kiralyrestaurant.hu
Q UICK G UIDE
I N T E R N E T GUIDE
General
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AUSTRALIA: XII. Királyhágó tér 8- 9.
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The
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CHURCH: XII. 22/b Szilágyi E. fasor
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W W W. K O N C E R T K A L E N DA R I U M . H U :
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State Opera at the Opera House and the
Erkel Theatre in English. Booking online
WWW.MUPA.HU: Classical concerts and other
entertainment at Hungary’s principal venue
for the performing arts
WWW.OBUDAITARSASKOR.HU: Concerts at
the Óbudai Társaskör. Online reservation
possible.
Culture
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24-hour pharmacies
ARANYHORGONY PATIKA:
IV. Pozsonyi út 19
Tel.: 379-3008
DÉLI GYÓGYSZERTÁR:
XII. Alkotás út 2.
Tel.: 355-4691
ÓBUDA GYÓGYSZERTÁR:
III. Vörösvári út 86
Tel.: 368-6430
SZENT MARGIT PATIKA:
II. Frankel Leó út 22 Tel.: 212-4311
Tel.: 457-9777
BRITAIN: V. Harmincad utca 6
Tel.: 266-2888
CANADA: II. Ganz utca 12-14
Tel.: 392-3360 Fax: 392-3390
FINLAND: XI. Kelenhegyi út 16/A
Tel.: 385-0700
IRELAND: VII, Szabadság tér 7-9.
Bank Center. Tel. 301-4960
ITALY: XIV, Stefánia út 95.
Tel.: 460-6200
KOREA: VI. Andrássy út 109.
Tel.: 351-1179
SWEDEN: II, Kapás u. 6-12.
Tel.: 460-6020
TAIPEI REP. OFFICE: VIII Rákoczi út
1-3. 2.emelet. Tel: 266-2884
UNITED STATES: V. Szabadság tér
12 Tel.: 475-4400
wide range of seasonal festivals
TERÉZ GYÓGYSZERTÁR:
COMMONWEALTH
WWW.HUNG-ART.HU: A guide to the fine arts
WWW. MUSEUM . HU : Links to Budapest’s
VI. Teréz krt. 41
museums
XIII. Béke tér 11
without an embassy can register at
www.britishembassy.hu to be
eligible for emergency assistance.
WWW.BUDAPESTSPAS.HU: Guide to bathing
in the capital
Taxis
Food and drink
6x6
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WWW. BUDAPEST. COM / RESTAURANTS . HTM :
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WWW.BUDAPEST-TOURIST-GUIDE.COM: Food
and wine info in addition to usual tourist
advice
Tel.: 311-4439
MÁRIA GYÓGYSZERTÁR:
Tel.: 320-8006
NATIONALS
Airlines
266-6666
233-3333
211-1111
222-2222
200-0000
8888-000
355-5555
British Airways
411-5555
Delta Airlines
296-8860
KLM (SMS f. #) +44 77 81 488747
Lufthansa
411-9900
Luxair
(35) 2 2456-4242
Ryanair
018154429
Wizz 06 90181181 (225 HUF/min)
Community
BRITISH WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION:
Meets last Friday of every month
10am – noon. Contact Fiona
Whiteside (chair) on (+36) 30 5699767, bwahungary@hotmail.com
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S CLUB
INTERNATIONAL BAPTIST CHURCH
OF BUDAPEST: II. Móricz Zsigmond
Gimnázium, Törökvész út 48/54.
Services @10:30 am, Sunday.
www.ibcbudapest.info
INTERNATIONAL
C HURCH
OF
BUDAPEST: Óbuda Culture Center
District III. Kiskorona u. 7. 10:30 am
Sundays www.church.hu
FOUNDATION: IWCA Office; Hajós
utca 1. 1065 Bp. Tel./fax: 321- 4604
www.iwcbudapest.hu www.facebook.com/IWCofBudapest
K APOSVÁR
INTERNATIONAL
CHURCH: Hotel Kapos, Ady Endre
ROTARY CLUB BUDAPEST-CITY:
NEW COVENANT CHURCH: 10 am
First Tuesday of the month 19:30
Dinner. Other Tuesdays 12:30
Lunch. Location: Hotel Kempinski
Budapest, Erzsébet tér 7-8
u. 2 in Kaposvár @11 am Sundays
ibck@t-email.hu (+36) 30 255-5014
Budapesti Módszertani Szociális
Központ, District XIII, Dózsa György
u. 152. Tel.: (+36) 30 624-0599
Churches in English
THE R EDEEMED C HRISTIAN
CHURCH OF GOD 11-13 Üllõi utca.
A BIBLIA SZÓL VIII. Golgata ut. 3.
Rhema Community Center. Sun.
@ 10:30am & 6pm & Wed. @
6.30pm.
S T. C OLUMBA ’S C HURCH OF
SCOTLAND: VII. Vörösmarty utca
10 am Sundays. Tel. (+36) 30 7377543
51 Tel.: 246-2258
DANUBE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH:
District XI, Etele út 55. Sunday at
10:30 a.m. www.danubechurch.org
S T. MARGARET ’S A NGLICAN /
EPISCOPAL CHURCH: District VII.,
GREATER GRACE INTERNATIONAL
Almássy u. 6. Sundays @10:30 am
Tel.: (+36) 23 452-023.
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
2 MARCH – 8 MARCH 2012
Review: Callas Café, District VI
BÉNÉDICTE WILLIAMS
I
Callas Café
t’s situated in a prime position, right next
to the Opera House on Andrássy út. A
display case of cakes and pastries is pushed
up against the window in all seasons. In summer
tables spill onto the pavement and along the
quieter Dalszínház utca. Yet Callas is much more
discrete than its attractive internal decoration
would warrant.
The long, L-shaped room is a showcase for
the art déco movement, from the arcades ornate
with geometrical figures to the metallic lamps
hanging from the ceiling. Although the café was
renovated in 2006 on the basis of plans by interior designer David Collins, the placing of the
tables in two parallel rows along each wall of the
long room is old-fashioned and gives the whole
premises an air of relaxation.
Leaving aside the jarring pop music, there
are not too many signs of modernity. Waiters,
efficient and courteous, also play the part.
Raspberry cream soup
The menu is quite international and shows
some imaginative pairings. It also features a
good regional bent with a section of Hungarian
classics. The a la carte options are complemented by a weekly changing chef ’s offer and
by a business lunch menu.
The pheasant consommé provides a pleasant
start to the meal, a light, transparent broth with
a slight hint of acidity containing a couple of al
dente ravioli filled with ground pheasant meat.
The caesar salad is a more substantial option,
a good plateful of thinly shredded salad with
just the right amount of dressing, and topped
with pieces of fried, slightly caramelised chicken
breast. A few halves of ripe cherry tomatoes, one
olive, one anchovy, several thin slices of wellmatured, nutty cheese and a slice of foccaccia
complete the setup. The whole is well-seasoned,
which is just as well because it seems a shame to
have to rely on the shakers of pre-milled pepper
provided at each table (the proper pepper mill
is under the control of the waiter, who may or
may not offer to provide a grind).
The “Hungarian classics” section unsurprisingly presents an option of mangalica pork. The
thick spare ribs are very well cooked, lightly
seasoned but flavoured from the fat streaking
the meat and the few salt crystals strewn on top.
The accompaniment is less traditional, a mix of
grilled Californian red pepper, courgette, leek
Prices are high, at least for the restaurant
part, but they include great location, pleasant
service, relaxed setting and well-prepared,
good-quality food.
Baby chicken with potato-beetroot relish
and mushroom, brought together by a thin but
nicely pungent sauce of smoked paprika.
The dish of devil fish provides a similar
combination of Hungarian and southern influences. The white-fleshed Mediterranean fish is
dense, a tad dry, but this matches well with the
accompaniment of roughly mashed, creamy
potato cooked in its skin. A light compote of just
cubed tomatoes, a few whole cooked garlic cloves
and an olive oil-based sauce vierge that is more
like a warm dressing add a light, cheerful touch.
Among the desserts, the “walnut cake” translation misses the subtleties of its Hungarian
name, aranygaluska. The “golden dumplings”
are normally layered into a cake and topped
with vanilla custard. Here, the proportions are
reversed. The piece of pastry, dense and a little
Pumpkin ravioli with duck and sage
Price points
Starters and soups: .................HUF 1,150-2,550
Mains: .....................................HUF 2,750-5,950
Cakes and desserts: ...................HUF 600-1,350
Coffee, tea: ...................................HUF 420-950
French chocolate cake
tough, with a strong taste of walnut and wintery
spice, is surrounded by a very light, rather sweet
and almost foamy cream flavoured with an
ample amount of vanilla.
Of course, since this is a café, it is also possible
to simply stop by to have tea or coffee and cake.
The coffee selection is extensive and so is that of
teas which is, unusually, from the Mariage Frères
specialty tea company.
For an accompaniment, it is possible to choose
from the large display of cake and pastry classics.
The chestnut tart with poached pears, for
instance, comes as a thin, brittle pie casing, more
biscuit than pastry owing to the low butter
content, filled with a dome of dense chestnut
puree. The chestnut, sweet and dry with a hint of
rum, is counterbalanced by the topping of thin
slices of poached pear, making for a pleasant
afternoon treat.
V. Zoltán u. 16
(next to Szabadság tér)
Reservations:
331-4352
To advertise in
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
BUDAPESTER ZEITUNG
RESTAURANTS
call 453-0752
Arany Kaviar
Restaurant
Eat like a Russian Tsar
1015 Budapest, Ostrom u. 19 Open every day: 12pm-3pm, 6pm-12am
Tel.: (+36 1) 201 6737
reservation@aranykaviar.hu www.aranykaviar.hu
Callas Café
District VI, Andrássy út 20
Open daily 10am-midnight
Tel. (+36-1) 354-0954
www.callascafe.hu
E A T I N G O UT
International food in old-time setting
15
16
2 MARCH – 8 MARCH 2012
THE BUDAPEST TIMES
FAITH MATTERS
The Big Three: Judaism, Islam and Christianity
An examination of the worldviews of Theism
BRADLEY S. BELCHER
A
s we turn to Theism in our
study of Worldview, the main
question at hand is, “if there is
a God then what is He or She like?” For
the most part the three main theistic
religions of Judaism, Islam and
Christianity all have differing views on
who God is. But before we look at the
differences let’s examine some of the
similarities.
What they have in common
this about God: “Hear, O Israel! The
LORD is our God, the LORD is one!
You shall love the LORD your God
with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your might. These
words, which I am commanding you
today, shall be on your heart. You shall
teach them diligently to your sons and
shall talk of them when you sit in your
house and when you walk by the way
and when you lie down and when you
rise up. You shall bind them as a sign
on your hand and they shall be as
frontals on your forehead. You shall
write them on the doorposts of your
house and on your gates.”
First of all, all three of these theistic
religions hold to the idea that the
What the Tanak says
Divine is masculine in nature, that He
is One in His very essence
As Judaism traces its
and that He should be
Although
roots through the
honoured
and
great
patriarch
revered as God
many Jewish sects
we see
above all things.
do not focus their atten- Abraham,
Judaism’s God as
All three relition on things pertaining to the ultimate
gions also hold
to the idea of
the afterlife, for some the after- benevolent law
giver. He is the
God being the
Creator of all life promises rewards for the one who is
things and that righteous and punishments for worthy of all
our devotion
the
foundathe wicked. Some groups and attention.
tional basis for
The
word Shema
their faith comes
under Judaism even hold
in Hebrew which
from the writings
to
certain
forms
of
is translated in
of Moses found
Deuteronomy 6 as
within what is known
reincarnation.
“hear” could have easily
as the Torah, Pentateuch
been translated as “obey”.
or the first five books of the
Old Testament. For each religion God Under Judaism if you are hearing God
has demonstrated Himself throughout you most definitely work to obey God.
history through the affairs of men and All of life is to be lived in complete
for the most part He can be found by devotion to God and His commands.
seeking Him through humble devo- God and His word should be the
centre of your life and household.
tion.
The Hebrew Scriptures are known as
With all of these similarities, why are
these three religions in particular in the Tanak and consist of the law, the
prophets and the writings. Through
such great opposition to each other?
thoroughly and devotedly following
Judaism: keeping God’s law
and keeping God’s law a person can
anticipate a good life now and a life of
In terms of their differences let’s blessing in the life to come or Olam Halook at the God of Judaism first. In the ba (the world to come).
Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4-9 we find
Although many Jewish sects do not
focus their attention on things
pertaining to the afterlife, for some the
afterlife promises rewards for the
righteous and punishments for the
wicked. Some groups under Judaism
even hold to certain forms of reincarnation.
Islam: 99 names, one God
Under Islam there is no God but
Allah and Mohammad is His prophet.
Through the writings of the Koran
Mohammad gives the picture of God
as the ultimate One reality. Islam is a
religion for the faithful, and God is
seen as worthy of complete and undivided allegiance and faithfulness. In
Islam there are 99 names for God that
describe the attributes of the One
wherein all of humanity is to reflect this
oneness in every aspect of life.
For the most part Muslims believe
that Islam encompasses all religions in
that all prophets are honoured as
messengers of the one true God, Allah.
Islam generally considers itself to be
the universal religion in its purest
form. Allah is seen as the all-knowing
creator of all things.
His creation is governed by divine
fixed laws and that true peace can only
be found through the knowledge of
and adherence to these laws. There
needs to be complete surrender to
Allah to demonstrate true belief. All
humans will be resurrected and assembled for a final accounting of their
deeds. Heaven awaits the faithful and
hell awaits the infidel (unfaithful).
Creator and Redeemer
Under Christianity God is seen as
not only the Creator of all that exists
but He is seen as the Redeemer for all
mankind as well. Throughout the
centuries there have been many
attempts to articulate the characteristics of the Christian God.
One of the best-known statements
about the essence of God is found in
the Westminster Confession written in the men on the cross of Calvary.
mid-1640s. “There is but one living
Through faith in Christ you can find
and true God, who is infinite in being the peace of forgiveness and the joy of
and perfection, a most pure spirit, being reconciled to God your Creator.
invisible, without body, parts or In the most famous verse of the New
passions, immutable, immense, Testament Jesus puts it this way: “For
eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, God so loved the world, that He gave
most wise, most holy, most free, most His only begotten Son, that whoever
absolute, working all things according believes in Him shall not perish, but
to the counsel of His own
have eternal life.”
immutable and most
We see the exclusive
righteous will, for His
nature of Christianity
There needs to be
own glory; most
through what Jesus
loving, gracious,
said near the end
complete surrender to
merciful, longof His ministry
Allah to demonstrate true on earth, “I am
suffering, abundant in goodbelief. All humans will be resur- the way, the
ness and truth,
truth and the
rected
and assembled for a final life. No one
forgiving iniquity, transgrescomes
to the
accounting of their deeds.
sion and sin;
Father but by
Heaven
awaits
the
faithful
the rewarder of
me.”
them that diliand hell awaits the infidel
In
conclusion
gently seek Him;
(unfaithful).
and withal, most just,
So there you have it.
and terrible in his
It seems many people would
judgements; hating all sin,
like to say that all of these religions are
and who will by no means clear the
really talking about the same God but
guilty.”
after closer inspection it is clear that
The essence of God
each religion is holding on to something different about who God is, what
These statements, which are God has done and what God expects of
completely backed by a plethora of His followers.
Scriptures from the Christian Old and
For me I have found the peace and
New Testaments, are seen by many as a joy that is afforded in giving my life to
comprehensive statement about the Christ. I have been forgiven, I have
essence of God’s very nature. There is been redeemed and I am in the
one caveat that needs to be addressed process of being reconciled to God and
under the banner of Christianity and to the people I love around me.
for many it is a tough pill to swallow. It
I hope these insights have been
is the idea that ultimately Jesus the helpful to you along your spiritual
Christ is in fact God. He is God incar- journey. It has been my hope through
nate, God in the flesh.
this series that you’ve been able to
Under most orthodox Protestant improve the vision of your Worldview.
and Catholic movements God has
manifested Himself to His creation by – Rev. Bradley S. Belcher is the senior
way of the Holy Trinity; Father, Son pastor with the International Baptist
and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is seen as Church of Budapest www.ibcbudapest.info.
the Lamb of God who was sent to take Should you have a question or comment
away the sins of the world through His regarding this column e-mail
once and for all atoning sacrifice for all editor@bzt.hu
WHAT LIES BENEATH
The marketing end of butts and buns
A professional’s eye
on the art of
looking behind
WILLIAM LOWER
I
have heard and I might even have read
somewhere (possibly Psychology Today,
Scientific American or Cracked) that some
men are prone to taking more than a casual
interest in a woman’s posterior.
Walking Budapest’s streets I often see men
turn and glance at passing women and, if my
perception is accurate, these men do not
appear to be staring at the woman’s shoes or
hairdo (although in Budapest many hairdos are
worth a second look).
No, the passing glance appears to be midway
between the shoes and the hair. Of course, this
is nothing I have ever done; this is purely a
scientific and (as it turns out) marketing
curiosity on my part.
There are several theories why some men
seem to find an interest in studying a woman’s
mid-body backside. Some believe it is a primal
signal about a woman’s child-bearing ability. For
a woman to bear a child, something else has to
happen first which may be the real driver in
men’s interest. Of course, this is nothing but
speculation on my part. I would have no idea.
However, there are companies with budgets
and resources to study such human behaviours
in the interest of engaging customers,
increasing market share and, most importantly,
solidifying repeat business. I give you
McDonald’s.
sounded healthy but wasn’t: a McWrap. (If they
really offered a healthy breakfast meal it would
have to be some porridge/fruit concoction but I
can’t imagine anyone ordering that.)
After ordering my faux healthy breakfast, the
woman at the counter turned around to get said
McWrap. That is when I noticed it. As I
mentioned, I am not one of those chauvinistic,
A fresh look at the golden arches
sexist men who steal flirting, passing glances at
women’s posteriors.
No one can argue McDonald’s’ marketing
However, given my profession I am acutely
prowess. Having worked on their competitor’s interested in marketing and branding.
business (Burger King) I can assure you nothing
And there, embroidered on the right cheek of
happens within corporate McDonald’s without the counter woman’s jeans was the McDonald’s
first being tested. Machinery is tested, food is arch. Intrigued, I looked at other women
tested, communications is tested, as is decor: working behind the counter. In fact, academic
everything right down to the staff uniforms.
and professional curiosity had me studying all
McDonald’s is an ideal stop if one is looking the backsides of all the female McDonald’s
for a clean washroom or change of a large employees.
denomination bill. Monday
I
noticed
what
morning was such a
appeared to be a
beauty’s
Could
morning. I was in
hierarchy: One
need of McD’s,
woman whom I
posterior, he will
it be with this
not for the
assume must
staff uniform brand- think not of childwashroom but
have been a
for change for
ing, McD’s will bearing qualities & the supervisor
a
HUF
had more
embed association in sex required to bear chil- s t y l i s h
20,000 note.
Of course, the minds of their dren, but instead his mind pants and
you can’t ask
a
more
for change, male customers? Is it will drift to the golden arches s t y l i s h
you
must
arch
on
possible whenever a & the sex drive will be overorder someher right
powered
by
the
Quarter
man
steals
a
passing
thing, so I
backside
Pounder drive?
glance at a passing
ordered what
cheek.
Subliminal advertising
But why the right cheek? Is McDonald’s
doing a subliminal endorsement of the
American Republican party? Right cheek, right
wing? Or is it the opposite? Are they suggesting
anyone leaning to the right is an ass?
One thing is perfectly clear: McDonald’s is
capitalising on a human behaviour so basic and
primal it speaks to the very core of our existence. Could it be with this staff uniform
branding, McD’s will embed association in the
minds of their male customers? Is it possible
whenever a man steals a passing glance at a
passing beauty’s posterior, he will think not of
child-bearing qualities and the sex required to
bear children, but instead his mind will drift to
the golden arches and the sex drive will be overpowered by the Quarter Pounder drive?
Cheeky marketing
There are no easy answers to these questions
and certainly the corporate offices at McD’s will
deny any such motivation in the design of
uniforms. But I ask you this: when the uniforms
were designed and modelled, what is one
request that must have been made in evaluation? “Could you please turn around?”
I think McD’s is on the cusp of a huge
marketing breakthrough: tell me the McD
Libido Burger wouldn’t be a hot sale. A tad
cheeky. But I’m lovin’ it.
– Go cult. Be a follower. www.ThreeYearsOnMars.com