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Polish president Andrzej Duda marks 1956 anniversary in Budapest
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Budapest, October 23 (MTI) – Hungarians “have always been friends” and they can always rely on Poland, “even in difficult moments of the future”, Polish President Andrzej Duda said in his address at a commemoration of the 1956 revolution in front of Parliament on Sunday.
Referring to the Poznan uprising, which preceded developments in Budapest, Duda said that Polish revolutionaries wanted the same things as Hungarians: “a decent living and freedom, all that communism had taken away”. Hungarians, however, went even further: they demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops, independence for the country, self-determination and a multi-party system, the Polish president said.
Poland is “proud and grateful” that it was able to provide aid to the Hungarian revolution, Duda said, and noted that his people had sent 44 tonnes of medicine and medical equipment as well as 800 litres of blood to Hungary shortly after the uprising broke out. “Poles are proud that the grandchildren of 1956 heroes have, symbolically, Polish blood in their veins”, the president said.
English translation of Mr. Duda’s words obscures his lack of class and tasteless self-promotion obvious in the Polish original.
Events in Poznan didn’t “give an impulse to Hungarian revolution” – at best it was possibly one of many factors in these post-stalinistic
years. On the opposite, Poland owes Hungary a gratitude and respect for triggering a situation when second Soviet intervention in Poland proved difficult in late 1956. Long talk about Polish blood donation was also out of place for a Polish speaker.
Sorry, Hungarians…
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