Carpathian Day VIII in Brussels: peace is needed as soon as possible!

For the eighth time, the Carpathian Day in Brussels was organised by Fidesz MEP Andrea Bocskor, at the Liszt Institute. The aim of this year’s event is to raise awareness of the situation of the Hungarian community in Transcarpathia, their difficult everyday life in the shadow of war, and to present a slice of local Hungarian art and theatre, of which the community is justly proud. “The war, which has been going on for more than a year and a half, has left its mark on the lives of the people of Transcarpathia, and the threat of conscription and the possibility that next year Hungarian students from the 5th grade onwards may no longer be able to study in their mother tongue has caused a lot of concern among Hungarians. This only reinforces the need for peace in the Russia-Ukraine war as soon as possible, because it can revive faith in the future”, Andrea Bocskor said in her opening speech.

The opening ceremony was addressed by Tamás Iván Kovács, Ambassador of Hungary to Belgium and Luxembourg, László Brenzovics, President of the Hungarian Cultural Association of Transcarpathia, Ildikó Orosz, President of the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College and the Hungarian Pedagogical Association of Transcarpathia, and Zsófia Kovács, the new director of the Liszt Institute in Brussels.

The event continued with the presentation of the exhibition of Péter Matl, a Munkácsy Prize-winning sculptor, entitled “In Fives”. The artist’s works recall the tragedy of the Transcarpathian men of Hungarian and German nationality, who were deported to “three-day work”, the so-called Malenky robot, in the autumn of 1944, the hopelessness they experienced being counted in lines of five, as well as the perseverance and faith in the future and in God that characterised the people of Transcarpathia.

In the second half of the evening, participants were treated to a musical-verse performance of “Tart6atlan” by the actors of the Hungarian Drama Theatre of Transcarpathia. The play focused on life and hope behind the difficulties of everyday life. The play symbolised the perseverance of Hungarian women in Transcarpathia during the current war and the trust of the families living there in each other, as women must be able to stand their ground as heads of families in these trying times.