„
Life is full of sign-languages -/ death is
sleepier: / it yawns to anyone in the same way /
it is Kozma Street, number 6 //
Only
modesty, does not wear away under the Pannon sky
- / such information / Kozma street, number 6!
//
Do
not believe that /a number is better than
nothing/. You spent all your life here, you are
better in your death,/ than Kozma Street,
number 6.(1)
A few decades ago Agnes
Gergely’s bewildering poem appeared on the
horizon; it was mentioned in an interview with
the poetess by Paul Varnai, carrying the title
Cemetery in Pannonia.
I make a note here, that
before the change of regime, when a death notice
appeared in any newspaper, it did not include
the fact, that the funeral would take place in
the Jewish cemetery in Rakoskeresztur.
Instead the address, number 6 Kozma Street, the
exact address of the Jewish cemetery, was
written. Informing the public in this way
angered the poetess, and this is why she wrote
the poem. Furthermore, when the change of regime
took place, and anti-Semitism started to gain
ground under the guise of free speech, this
“Number 6 Kozma Street” started to appear in the
papers, and the Jews started to hide again. Yet,
people sometimes - through their over-prudence - are afraid to use the term Jew, still
thinking of it as an insult.
(2)
Now I would like to discuss
some compositions, which, surprisingly enough
support the above. The scene is the area between
Árpád Bridge and Chain Bridge on the Pest side,
a distance of approximately 2.5 kilometres. On
the way I found not less than six memorials,
plaques, and statues.
1. The first statue I intend
to discuss can be found in the Vizafogó quarter,
a few hundred metres to the south of Árpád
Bridge. The title of the composition is
‘Memorial to the Martyrs’; the original version
was made by Makris Agamemnon in 1959. It was
placed in the concentration camp at Mauthausen,
in memory of those victims, who suffered
martyrdom during the Second World War at
Mauthausen.
This cubist memorial on the
bank of the Danube, a copy of Agamemnon’s
statue, consisting of eleven compositions, was
erected in the mid eighties
(3). It stands in
the XIII district on the bank of the Danube at
Viza Street. This is a half-sized copy of the
memorial erected at Mauthausen.
Makris Agamemnon: Martyr
Memorial
IN MEMORY OF THE RESISTANCE
FIGHTERS, DESERTERS AND PERSECUTED ONES WHO WERE
MURDERED ON THE BANK OF THE DANUBE IN THE WINTER
OF 1944-45.
THE METROPOLITAN COUNCIL OF
BUDAPEST AND THE ASSOCIATION OF THE HUNGARIAN
RESISTANCE FIGHTERS AND ANTIFASCISTS. 1986.
2. Walking further we arrive
at the next memorial, which was erected by the
Zionist Association in the early 1990s in memory
of the Hungarian resistance fighters, who saved
the lives of hundreds of thousands.(4)
The periodical New Life
published a report about Zionism in which these
events, and the erection and inauguration of the
memorial were mentioned. Below the photograph
published at the time in the periodical, the
following sentence is written: ‘The newest
Holocaust-memorial. The contemporary
historian sadly remarks, that the work was not
finished, not even at the time of the
celebration. Stones were still being piled up on
the composition in the hours preceding this
important event. The composition recreates the
crematoriums, on the peak of which an imitation
of a “chimney” peers up to the sky. Nowadays
(November 2008), the memorial is in a highly
neglected state, the text on it being almost
illegible. (5)
The Zionist memorial
THIS [MONUMENT] WAS ERECTED
IN MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS AND THE HEROES OF THE
RESISTANCE FIGHTERS ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF
THE HOLOCAUST BY THE ZIONIST ASSOCIATION AND THE
HUNGARIAN OFFICE OF THE JEWISH AGENCY FOR ISRAEL
IN APRIL 1994.
3. On the Pest side of Margit
Bridge, on an elevation of Jászai Mari Square
the composition of the French sculptor Anna
Stein, called “Screaming to the sky” can be
found. It is a memorial, made of painted
ceramics, erected in 1990 as a gift from the
artist. Looking at this painted ceramic - vaguely reminiscent of the baroque period -
the wailing of dread (pointing to the sky)
about what was done to our beloved, takes shape.
Anna Stein: Az égbekiáltó
(Screaming to the Sky)
In 2005
the composition was reconstructed, renewed, and
encircled. At present it stands in a good, well
maintained condition.
“The work of Anna Stein’s
weightless, floating forms could be called
modern baroque visions. Her art, lacking the
effects of the modern trends, takes inspiration
solely from the colourful baroque style. We can
feel the effects of El Greco’s thin, ethereal
figures and the virtuous colour harmony of
Tintoretto in a specific interpretation. The
subjects of her works are allegory or figures
from mythology, messengers of a lyric world of
fantasy. Anna Stein’s artistic accomplishment is
connected to Paris, although several times she
introduced her works to the local public too: in
1978 in Pécs, in 1986 in Budapest in the
Hungarian National Gallery; in 1994 she had an
exhibition in the Budapest French Institute”.(6)
- wrote Katalin Kopin
Anna Stein: Az égbekiáltó
(Screaming to the Sky)
IN
MEMORY OF THOSE HUNGARIANS WHO BECAME VICTIMS OF
THE ARROW-CROSS TERROR IN THE WINTER OF 1944 -
45.
The
contemporary ÚJ ÉLET periodical reports as
follows:
*4. The composition called
Shoes on the Bank of the Danube - the work
of Gyula Pauer - was erected some years ago. It
may be one of the most dramatic pieces of work
ever displayed in Budapest. At three points of
the memorial, the following words can be read on
cast iron plates in Hungarian, English, and
Hebrew:
IN MEMORY OF THE VICTIMS WHO
WERE SHOT INTO THE DANUBE BY ARROW CROSS
MILITIAMEN
- THIS [MONUMENT] WAS
ERECTED ON THE 16TH OF APRIL 2005 -
Pauer - Togay: Shoes on the
Bank of the Danube
“The composition Shoes on
the Bank of the Danube recalls the memory of
the people shot into the Danube during the Arrow
Cross terror. The artist produces sixty pairs of
shoes made of iron (sticking to the contemporary
fashion). Behind the shoes, fastened to the edge
of the limestone embankment, a stone wall forty
metres long and seventy centimetres high can be
found. At three points of the memorial the
following words can be found on cast iron plates
in Hungarian, English, and Hebrew: “In memory of
the victims shot into the Danube by Arrow-Cross
militiaman. This [monument] was erected on 16th
of April 2005. ” (7)
“The story of the people
murdered on the bank of the Danube belongs to
the terrifying nightmares of my childhood. I can
recall this feeling even today. That is why it
was very significant for me, that this memorial
could be made according to the vision I shared
with Gyula Pauer. It emphasizes the suppressed
and tortured memories of our home town in the
darkness, and bears witness to the fact, that
Budapest never gives in to forgetting and, it
can face the past.(8)
Allow me to share the
thoughts of the artist Gyula Pauer: “I lived
through the end of the war at the tender age of
four in shelters with my parents. I did not
understand too much of the events happening in
the outside world. Following the different
reports the only pictures that took shape in my
mind, were that the Russians were chasing the
Germans who were trying to escape from them by
blowing up the bridges, while the allied forces
were bombing the city.
The Arrow Cross militiaman
shot the people into the Danube. Going up from
the shelters to our flat my father made me
promise solemnly not to talk about the
“instalments uncle” who stayed with us for a
while. The name “instalments uncle” came from
the fact that the furniture we bought from him
was paid for in instalments.
At the end of the war I saw
Uncle Emil again; he was happily embracing my
parents, thanking them for giving him shelter.
By degrees, I began understand the horrors my
Jewish countrymen had been through, then as a
sculptor I became more and more interested in
the subject of the Holocaust.
On a contemplative night, the
unexpected visit of an old friend, the topic of
a conversation… the subject dropped for a while,
then it was picked up again, mentioned by my
friend, Can Togay; this helped me to find the
final shape of the work.
I believe, in a manner it
appeals to God.”
(9)
5. The next memorial is ‘The
Snake Killer’, the famous work of Pál Pátzay
which stood for a long time in front of Debrecen
University (Biogal Pharmacy), a copy can be
found at present in Saint István’s park. It is
to the honour and memory of one of the
outstanding personalities of Hungarian history,
the Swedish diplomat Raul Wallenberg.
On the
pedestal two texts can be read:
a./ HE WAS LEADER OF THE
SWEDISH ROYAL EMBASSY OF BUDAPEST FROM THE
BEGINNING OF JULY 1944 UNTIL JANUARY 1945. WITH
HIS BRAVE AND HUMANITARIAN DEEDS HE BECAME A
HERO, A LEGEND IN THOSE DARK AGES. THIS MONUMENT
PROCLAIMS THE UNCEASING GRATITUDE OF THE CITY,
WHOSE PERSECUTED ONES WERE PROTECTED BY HIS
RELENTLESS VIGIL OF HUMANITY DURING THE NIGHT OF
A BARBARIC AGE.
b./ THE ORIGINAL MEMORIAL IS
THE WORK OF THE SCULPTOR PÁL PÁCZAY. THIS
MEMORIAL IS A COPY OF HIS WORK PULLED DOWN IN
1945, THE RECASTING AND THE BASE BEING DONE BY
THE SCULPTOR, SÁNDOR GYÖRFFY’S WORKSHOP. THE
ARCHITECT IS LÁSZLÓ RAJK. THE RELIEF WAS
RECONSTRUCTED BY ISTVÁN MAROSICS.
Pál Pátzay: Snake Killer
“The Pest residents, who
escaped death, already declared after 1945 that
the capital should erect a worthy statue to the
Swedish diplomat. Annie Fischer gave a concert
just for the occasion and offered the total
takings towards expenses. When a sizable amount
of money had been gathered, Pál Pátzay was given
the task of making the sculpture. The
Metropolitan Council also made a contribution.
The sculptor had already created the prototype
in November 1945: a muscle-bound naked man
squeezing the neck of a vicious snake. The
bronze snake killer was completed by 1948. The
two metre high figure was placed on a limestone
base on which Wallenberg’s bronze face was also
set.
The Snake Killer was
prepared for the inauguration ceremony planned
to take place on 9 April 1949 in Saint István’s
Park. However, at dawn on the day of the
ceremony workers were ordered to the scene to
topple the statue and take it away (Lajos
Hatvani who had just returned from exile
witnessed the event from his balcony). When the
Soviet authorities learned about the Wallenberg
memorial, they ordered it to be pulled down
without hesitation.
The damaged snake killer
was recovered in the Metropolitan Gallery in
1950. Pátzay displayed it in the National
Gallery as an antifascist bronze statue in an
exhibition of fine arts. Later this very same
work appeared in front of the Biogal Pharmacy in
Debrecen in 1953, as a symbol of the struggle
against illness. It would stay there for
decades. The myth is timeless, yet Wallenberg’s
name appears nowhere. The snake killer changed
identity, it became literary: the Biogal emblem.
The figure is even used on headed paper.”(10)
*6. The sixth memorial can be
found on the side wall of the corner-house of
Pozsonyi Road and Wallenberg Street. In 1944-45
the ghetto was situated in this territory.
Since 1989 the Wallenberg plaque is to be found
here. Unfortunately I could not discover the
identity of the artist who made it.
Wallenberg memorial plaque
The text
on the plaque:
RAUL
WALLENBERG 1912
IN
MEMORY OF THE SWEDISH EMBASSY’S SECRETARY WHO
WITH HIS BRAVE STANDS AND DEEDS SAVED THE LIVES
OF THOUSANDS OF PERSECUTED ONES.
The six statues are the
accomplishments that different organizations
dreamt at different times, and are by different
artists. Their purpose is to remember those who
became martyrs due to their origins, religion or
roots in Hungary. One word however is missing
from each of them, namely that these victims
were Jewish - this fact can not be read on any
of them. The word Jew is replaced by some
euphemism, like “martyrs”, “victims”, in some
places “Hungarians” or “persecuted ones”.
Although all of these expressions are correct,
one question still remains: why can the
murdered, defenceless people not be called Jews?
I am watching the dirty
Danube full of whirlpools as it carries its
river deposit in the late autumn. Not far from
Parliament the poet Attila József, cast in
bronze has been looking down for ages. In front
of him the lines from his poem “Danube” carved
into metal:
As if it
was flowing away from my heart,
Troubled, wise, and great was the Danube.
(1)
Ágnes Gergely: Cemetery in Pannonia.
See in Kortárs literature book 1-2. Editor: Anna
Menyhért, Anonymus, 2006, p. 193.
(2) The subject is elaborated in more detail,
see: Pál Várnai’s discussion with the poetess
Ágnes Gergely at
http://www.szombat.org/archivum/h030101.htm
(3) A group of statues made of bronze and
limestone. According to http://www.szoborlap.hu/2814_martir_emlekmu_budapest_makrisz_agamemnon_1986
, this work, standing on public display on a
square, “can not be connected to religion”.
(4) See: the issues of the BETHLEN TÉRI
FÜZETEK.
(5)
The memorial days of the Zionist
resistance in ÚJ ÉLET, 1994 May 15. p.5
(6)
Relevant literature: Anna Stein oeuvres, peintures, sculptures, vitraux, bijoux.
L'Harmattan, 2001 Júlia Cserba: Magyar
képzőművészek Franciaországban 1903-2005. Vince
Publisher, 2006. Katalin Kopin’ writing: in
http://www.abigail.hu/tt/tt_profhaza.php?id=17
(8) Can Togay, was born in 1955 of Turkish parents.
He is today a Hungarian film director, screen
play writer, actor, poet.
(9) See the website of Gyula Pauer:
http://www.pauergyula.hu/emlekmuvek/cipok.html
(10) Ilona Székely: How many Wallenberg statues
can be found in Budapest. The Szombat 2008
Oktober 6 issue takes over the article of the
168 Óra
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