Dead Soldiers Are No Longer Enemies

Szöveg: Szabolcs Nyulas | 2016. július 6. 17:42

“They turned against one another under orders, but made peace in death”, Deputy Minister Tamás Vargha, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence stated referring to those Hungarian and German troops who lost their lives in World War II. Mr. Vargha gave a speech at a ceremony held on Thursday, 30 June to mark the 25th anniversary of the opening of Holy Spirit military cemetery in Székesfehérvár.

In his speech, the State Secretary emphasized that the soldiers who died during the war waged 71 years earlier in Székesfehérvár and other areas around Fejér County, were given a deserved final resting place 25 years ago. “Historical memory commemorates the mourning that followed the death of those soldiers who fell and were buried in our town and county in the two horrible world wars of the 20th century. Their mothers were overcome with grief, widows and orphans were waiting in vain for their return home", the State Secretary said.

Talking about the deceased, Tamás Vargha noted that they defended their homeland, their native country, or were sent to fight for alien interests and ideas so that they fall as enemies in foreign lands. Still, it does not matter anymore, because, as Sophocles famously remarked, dead soldiers are no longer enemies.

The Deputy Minister also said that recently the Bundeswehr, the German Armed Forces Reservist Association (VdRBw) and the HDF Augmentation and Central Registry Command have sent ten soldiers and operational reservists respectively, who performed maintenance works in the cemetery. In addition to WWII Hungarian and German troops, the graveyard is the final resting place of WWI Hungarian, Russian, Czech, Italian, Austrian, Croatian, Polish, Bosnian, Serbian, Romanian and Montenegrin heroes.

Speaking at the commemoration, Germany’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Hungary Dr. Heinz-Peter Behr said that these graves remind us that everyone is responsible for making sure that the current peace will be a lasting one. “Just like the military cemetery, peace needs to be taken care of, and needs constant maintenance", he added. The ambassador noted that the cemetery had opened in 1911, three years before the signing of a war grave care agreement between the two countries. “This shows many things. It shows that the creators of the cemetery were men of deeds and not of words", he said.

In his speech delivered at the ceremony, Johannes Schmalzl, President of the Baden-Württemberg German War Grave Care Commission (Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. in Baden-Württemberg) stated that Hungary had already started searching for war graves and creating a deserved environment for soldiers killed in action.