Our Deceased Soldiers Are The Token Of Peace

On the 1st of November all of us remember the deceased. In times of war, many waited in vain for their loved ones to return; it often happened that they could not even say farewell to their deceased family members in person. There were times when Romanian and Hungarian soldiers were facing each other as enemies. But history changes constantly: today we are not opponents but allies, since both countries are NATO member states.

It also indicates the improvement in the relations of the two countries that a story that began seven years ago has finally ended. The foundation stone of the Hungarian Heroes’ Plot was laid in 2002 in Bucharest’s Calvin graveyard, where it immediately catches the eye of anybody who browses through the inscriptions on the graves that from the 19th century until the present day mainly Hungarian names have been inscribed on the tombstones. During the years that have passed since the laying of the foundation stone, beyond the completion of the artistic memorial – inaugurated on Sunday -, an agreement was also concluded in March 2008 on the legal status of Romanian-Hungarian military graves.

On the Hungarian part, Minister of Defence Imre Szekeres, General László Tömböl, MoD Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General (ret.) Dr. József Holló, Director General, MoD Institute and Museum of Military History, and János Debreczenyi, the mayor of the city of Veszprém and chairman of the War Grave Association took part in the ceremonial event the date of which was chosen to coincide with All Saints’ Day. On behalf of the Romanian state, Viorel Oancea, the Secretary of State for Defence Policy of the Romanian National Defence Ministry laid a floral tribute on the memorial.

– The complexity of the history of the Hungarian and the Romanian people is reflected by the fact that in the course of history, there were soldiers of Romanian nationality fighting under Hungarian colours, and there were soldiers the native language of whom was Hungarian, their nationality was Romanian, and they were fighting under Romanian colours – Imre Szekeres said in his address, also underlining that our deceased soldiers have become the token of peace.

– In most of the cases the names inscribed on heroes’ memorials, wooden crosses, memorial plaques do not clearly indicate the national identity of the buried, not even if we can identify them more precisely with the help of research. What the soldiers of our countries had been fighting for in the past with a weapon in their hands is the thing that has been realized in a peaceful way by us, the generation succeeding them. I believe and I know that this is what our Hungarian soldiers for whom we have erected a memorial now, and their Romanian fellow soldiers who already have a similar memento in Budapest, would have wanted the most. Let us remember them! For we can do it today in other ways as well, not only in soul – the defence minister closed his address.

Viorel Oancea, the State Secretary for Defence Policy of the Romanian National Defence Ministry expressed in his address how pleased he was that he could be present at the inauguration ceremony of the memorial.

– The citizens of Romania and Hungary respect their armies. Today both countries are members of the same alliance, and we can plan the common future along this alliance.

– said the state secretary. Following the hoisting of the Hungarian and the Romanian flags with all due ceremony and the addresses of the dignitaries, the Hungarian and the Roman parties, and everyone who is concerned in any way laid their wreaths and floral tributes on the memorial.