Honoring the Victims of Communism in Hungary and Around the World

Floor Speech

Mr. HARRIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the Memorial Day for the Victims of Communism in Hungary. On this day in 1947 the Soviet authorities occupying Hungary illegally arrested Bela Kovacs, the general secretary of the Independent Smallholders' Party, who, after being deported to the USSR and spending almost a decade in prison and labor camps died at the early age of 51. The arrest of this fellow Hungarian politician marked a new era in Hungary where the elimination of political opponents soon led to one-party dictatorship, and his fate symbolizes the tragic destiny of hundreds of thousands in Hungary whose rights were denied and whose lives were crushed by the evils of Communism.

As a son of an immigrant from Hungary who fled the same brutal regime that eliminated Bela Kovács, I know there are few among us who can give a firsthand account of the horrors of the soul-crushing Communist system. It is therefore all the more important that we officially remember the immeasurable damage caused by totalitarian regimes worldwide, and recognize that too many people of influence still subscribe to these same deadly ideas. Nostalgia toward Communism and the whitewashing of history is deplorable, and crimes committed during those times should never fade from our memory.

No leader in Europe today is a more outspoken advocate of remembering the crimes of the Communist system than Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who himself was instrumental in the underground movement that helped bring down Communism in Hungary. Hungary's leadership in facing and condemning its Communist past is exemplary.

Hungary was first among the nations of Central and Eastern Europe to institute a memorial day for the Victims of Communism, and soon many nations followed.
The Hungarian Parliament has set out to remove the last vestiges of communism and open a bold new chapter defined by its own history and its own national sovereignty--which was dictated by outsiders for far too long.

Hungary's new Constitution declared that the crimes committed against the Hungarian nation under communist dictatorship has no statute of limitations, and it rejects the authority of the country's communist constitution of 1949--which made a mockery of the rights and freedoms it claimed to enumerate for its people.

Since last December, former victims of the state-party intelligence service now have the right to go public with the names of their surveillance agents and search the formerly closed archives. In a society plagued by the secrets of the Communists' crimes, truth is the only antiseptic, and it is the only source of reconciliation.

Inaugurated by the Orbán government more than decade ago, the House of Terror in Budapest, the former headquarters of the Communist State Police and a place synonymous with the brutalities of the dictatorship, today is one of the most visited museums in the world showcasing the everyday horrors of a dictatorial regime.

Overcoming the damages caused by 45 years of totalitarian Communism is not easy, but Hungarians are on the right path. In an era of political correctness which too often refuses to shame the shameful and to elevate selfless heroes, Hungary's leadership should be applauded.

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