A Christian Democracy
By Campbell Campbell-Jack, A Grain of Sand:
During the recent break in posting we visited Budapest, and were left with some remarkable memories. A beautiful city with a terrible past, and not only from the dreadful Soviet days. Below the imposing Parliament building is a row of metal shoes commemorating the Jews who were lined up, forced to remove their shoes, and shot dead into the Danube by the fascist Arrow Cross militia in 1944.
We were there for the World Athletic Championships which were worth the journey alone. There was the fascinating duel in the women’s pole vault resulting in two gold medals, and Femke Bol’s imperious domination of the women’s 400 metres hurdles. Seeing Edinburgh’s Josh Kerr win gold in the 1,500 metres, beating hot favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen into second place, was special.
Respect and Affection Yet the most abiding memory came on August 20, which for Hungarians is St Stephen’s Day, a holiday celebrating their nationhood. That evening along the Danube there was the largest fireworks display in Europe. The watching crowd were treated to an incredible display. The remarkable thing came right at the end.
When it was clear the display was over the crowd began to disperse. Then we heard music and turning round saw, floating above the river, a huge representation of St Stephen’s crown, Hungary’s crown jewels. The crowd, mainly teenagers and young parents, stopped, turned to face the display and began singing the national anthem. There were no instructions, no commands, just a mass of people showing respect and affection for their country.
Where else in Europe would you witness a scene like that, a crowd of young people spontaneously singing their national anthem? Certainly not in the UK. When the anthem was finished, the crown faded and was replaced by a gigantic 3D outline representation of a cross.
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