APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110037-3
Magyar rise, the homeland calls
Now or never, the hour falls
Will we be slave or free?
To this what will your answer be?
We swear, we swear that we will
no longer be slaves!
From the Nemzeti Dol (National Song) by Sandor Petofi (1848). Used as a rallying cry in the revolts of 1848 and 1956.
The Hungarian nation would have perished long ago if its political wisdom had not succeeded in preserving it... it is very characteristic... that by giving up the battle it has in fact consolidated its position and its opportunities in Europe... The whole existence of this people has been a series of lucid compromises and an uninterrupted meditation on its actual possibilities.
On the Hungarian Character, Mihaly Babits, 1939.
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200110037-3