The 5th Radnóti March: remember and remind
Civilians initiated again, for the fourth time, a ~17-kilometre rally on Saturday, the 9th November 2013 in Budapest from Parcel 298 of the cemetery "Új köztemető"(a) to the Danube.
- in remembrance of the Night of Broken Glass(1) (a.k.a. Reichskristallnacht), a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and in parts of Austria on the 9-10 November 1938;
- on the occasion of the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism(2);
- in remembrance of the Hungarian poet Miklós Radnóti(3), murdered by Hungarian Nazis (Arrow-Crossers (4)) in fall 1944 (5);
- to draw attention to the scandal of Parcel 298(a);
- to draw attention to the fact that Hungarians have thrown away democracy in 2010(6)in favour of the omnipotence of the far-right political power Fidesz (cooperating with Jobbik behind the scenes);
- to draw attention to the fact that Hungary has been breaking her own law including the Paris Peace Treaty(7) for more than 20 years.
A group of civilians will march throughout the whole way. The same rally took place also the last two years, i.e. on the 9th November 2010, 2011 and 2012 while the date of the first rally was 23 October 2009. The first two rallies ended at the Shoes, however later the route was extended to the house where Radnóti lived for a while. Like last year, the marchers will lay a wreath at the Plaque of the poet(d). This year the route can't include the Shoes because of the restoring the Kossuth square to the condition of the Horthy era.Cemetery maps can be found here: http://antifa-hungary.blogspot.com/2010/10/radnoti-march-2009-cemetery-maps.html
The route map with stations is here: http://antifa-hungary.blogspot.hu/2013/11/5-radnoti-menet-2013-program-es-utvonal.html
The organizers ask and will be thankful for any kind of help .
Contact:Stations of the march with (planned) times:
- Parcel 298 of the Cemetery "Új köztemető"(a), Address: Budapest X., Kozma street 8. - Start time: 09:30
- Halting-place at the crossing of Száraz street and Szlávy street: ~11:25 -11:40
- Halting-place at the crossing of Kőbányai street and Kőrösi Csoma Sándor street : ~12:05 -12:35
- Halting-place at the crossing of Kőbányai street and Könyves Kálmán blvd: ~13:00-13:30
- Plaque Little Warsaw(b), Address: Budapest VIII., Népszínház street 46: ~14:00-15:00
- Monument of Hungarian Jewish inmates of forced labour camps(c), Address: Budapest VII., Bethlen Gábor tér 2: ~15:30-16:30
- Plaque of Ferenc Koszorús(d), Address: Budapest VII., Károly blvd 3: ~17:10-17:55
- Halting-place at the crossing of Bajcsy-Zs. street és Báthory street: ~18:20-18:30
- Plaque of Radnóti Miklós(d), Address: Budapest XIII., Pozsonyi street 1. Final station: ~18:55-20:15
- 2012: http://antifa-hungary.blogspot.com/2012/10/radnoti-march-2012.html
- 2011: http://antifa-hungary.blogspot.hu/2011/10/radnoti-march-2011.html
- 2010: http://antifa-hungary.blogspot.hu/2010/11/radnoti-march-2010.html
- 2009: http://antifa-hungary.blogspot.hu/2010/10/radnoti-march-2009-summary.html
Sources:
(1) Night of Broken Glass: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht
(2) International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism
http://www.unitedagainstracism.org/pages/infon9_03.htm
http://www.unitedagainstracism.org/pages/underframeInternationalDayAgainstFascism.htm#99
(3) Miklós Radnóti: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikl%C3%B3s_Radn%C3%B3ti At this link you may find further links pointing to English translations of some of Radnóti's poems.
(4) Arrow-cross: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_Cross;
(5) Although the generally accepted date of Radnóti's execution in Abda is 9 November 1944,(3) this has recently been questioned by Tamás Csapody, a jurist, sociologist, expert in bioethics and behavioural sciences who spent many years with analysing documents of the death march of the inmates of the Bor labour camp. In his book (Csapody Tamás: Bori munkaszolgálatosok. Fejezetek a bori munkaszolgálat történetéből. Budapest, 2011, Vince Kiadó; for a summary in English see: http://bhiweb.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/summary2011-11-09.pdf). Csapody argues that the exact date of the execution is, as yet, unknown and it could happen sometimes between early November 1944 and February 1945. Nevertheless we believe that on 9 November, the International Day Against Fascism and Antisemitism it is appropriate to commemorate Milkós Radnóti, a victim of these horrific ideas irrespective of the fact whether this was the day of his death or not.
(6) 2010. Hungary: democracy is over, http://antifa-hungary.blogspot.com/2010/05/hungarian-parliamentary-election-2010.html
(7) Treaty of peace with Hungary, signed at Paris, on 10 February 1947: http://antifa-hungary.blogspot.com/2011/10/paris-peace-treaty-1947.htm
(a) The parcel 298 is the spot of the scandal: mass murderers (Hungarian Nazis - Arrow-Crossers) are buried here and their graves have been handled by various governments since about 20 years like the those of national heroes, funded by state money. The scandalous story is documented (unfortunately, only in Hungarian) here: http://298.nolblog.hu. For some information in English see: Thomas Ország-Land: How the Murderer of a Poet Became a Hero in Hungary, Outlook, Canada's Progressive Jewish Magazine, Nov./Dec. 2009, p.15: http://www.vcn.bc.ca/outlook/current_issue/Nov-Dec%2009/Holocaust%20Lit.pdf
(b) Memory of the (Little) Ghetto uprising; Photos about the spot: http://www.photoblog.com/utazo/2008/11/13/
(c) A memorial of the Jews who lost their lives in World War II as Hungarian inmates of forced labour camps; more in Hungarian: http://www.szoborlap.hu/7351_a_zsido_munkaszolgalatosok_emlekmuve_budapest_baraz_tamas_2009.html
(d) Ferenc Koszorús was an officer of the Hungarian army who stopped the deportation of Jews in Budapest with his troupes on the 9th July 1944; more in Hungarian: http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koszor%C3%BAs_Ferenc
(e) Shoes on the Danube Promenade: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoes_on_the_Danube_Promenade
(f) Miklós Radnóti plaque: http://hu.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=F%E1jl:Mikl%F3s_Radn%F3ti_plaque_Bp13_Pozsonyi1.jpg&filetimestamp=20110221180105
