The Cardinal, The Film Director & other plebsi

February 07, 2006 by Vándorló Budapest

Have you heard the one about the Cardinal, the Film Director and the Communist Spy? Well, if you haven't you're lucky. But to even out the luck quotient it goes something like this:

Cardinal Paskai László, film director Szabó István and a Communist Spy all die on the same day and go to meet St. Peter to find out their fates.

St. Peter approaches the three of them, and tells them that he will interview each of them to discuss their spying for the communists.

St. Peter points at the Communist Spy and says "János! In my office..." After 4 hours, the door opens, and János comes stumbling out. He is distraught, and is mumbling things like "How could I have been so wrong! I am so eternally sorry...  I am deeply humbled."

St. Peter follows him out and points in the filmmaker's direction. "István! You're next..." After eight hours, the door opens, István comes out, barely able to stand. He is near collapse with weakness and a crushed spirit. He, too, is mumbling things like "How could I have been so wrong! I am eternally sorry... I never really understood... "

Lastly, St. Peter points to the Cardinal, "László, your turn." Twelve hours later, St. Peter stumbles out the door, absolutely exhausted, saying "How could I have been so wrong! I am eternally sorry... I am deeply humbled."

OK, so now we are all having a bad day I can begin my rant.

Truth is, the real-life joke is everyday life in Hungary, as not one of our informers is sorry or apologetic. They never have been. In real life everyone is pretty gung-ho and Oliver Northish about the whole thing. The general rule seems to be:

1. act indignant
2. remain aloof
3. avoid comment

"So I did a little creative reporting in my spare time back in the 70's, what harm did it do?" You were helping people, right? People who didn't know better than you. Were they the same people that forewent the luxuries you gained such as better housing, more freedom of movement, better food, greater healthcare... blah-dee-blah-dee-blah... Ye, that's right, you were doing it for them.

Well, why then in all these years have you been so keen to keep your good work to yourself? Does your selflessness know no bounds? It's just give-give-give with you, isn't it?

Truth is, I don't know if I have sufficient reason to gas off on this collection of topics. For one, they never really affected me, I was just passing through when the wall came down, and for the record, it was a fence in the middle of nowhere, far from the Brandenburg gate.

I didn't suffer in the hands of communists, I have never suffered oppression (poor day-to-day management aside) and I was inordinately fortunate to have been born where I had the right to choose the people who would govern me (or at least have a go at it). Better still, my right to get at information and question how I am being governed have largely improved over the years - at least up to 9/11.

Yet, I take events here personally and I can't help myself for wanting to say something. I justify this because, well, I have a lot of friends and I know a lot of people for whom subjugation and intimidation was part of their quotidian lot.

So to tell you why this whole spying shebang matters to me, I have to tell you about two dear friends. One is a teacher (a real teacher, not a Cardinal with a dubious pseudonym for deception), a teacher of Russian amongst other things. The other was a young girl, a Catholic girl with a deep faith.

The teacher loved Russia, adored the language, admired their history and culture. And he still does. He loves Russia, but he hates communists. Can you imagine squaring that conflict back in the old days? Almost daily he was asked by a work colleague to join the communist party. It would mean a new apartment in a few years, better pay... He hated communism, though. And he saw its effects daily. He lived in a town/village bordering Austria. The West was just up through the village, out of town through the woods and down the other side into freedom.

But in the village were informers, in the woods were Russian guards and at the border a difficult boundary to cross (he was no athlete). Thing is, he knew where the border was, so he stayed clear of it. He stayed clear mainly because it was just a pain to get hassled more than usual everyday, everyday by the same Russian guards. The same guards who would ask him for the same papers that he showed everyday on his way to and from school. Like clockwork the intimidation went, like clockwork. Same guard, same expression, same demand.

Anyway, the teacher wasn't running anywhere, he was Hungarian and proud of it. For him it was no freedom to run - another dilemma he had to make sense of daily.

So our "Tanár Úr" (Teacher, Sir) stayed teaching Russian, hating communists, less than a mile from the West. But because he was only a mile from the West most of his friends and even his fiancé needed a special pass just to get on the train to visit him. Without the special pass, there were no visitors. If he became a communist, or just pretended to, then this problem could be smoothed over for him. But he hated communists and he loved his country.

That's it really. That's his story. It was an impasse. He had his beliefs and he wouldn't give in for anything, even if life was harder.

Years later I was sitting with him sampling the latest batch of home made brandy (házi pálinka) and someone came over to our table. They exchanged a few words and the visitor went on his way. My teacher friend turned to me and said 'He thinks we forget who he was, you know, but we don't.' Almost daily he was asked by a work colleague to join the communist party.

The story of the young Catholic girl is even simpler. She was a Catholic and she and her family made no attempt to hide their faith. It wasn't heroic, it wasn't noble, they were just Catholics. Everything else they did was just part of their faith. They worked hard, didn't drink too much and they got by.

Because he was a Catholic though, her father never got anywhere. It was the way of things. You could be smart and have the strength of an Ox, but you weren't actually meant to have faith in anything apart from the system.

The Catholic girl wanted to go to medical school, but that never happened, because, despite all her hard work and brains, her family had no favors to call in.

And that's her story. She still went to university and studied chemistry, but it wasn't where her heart was.

You see, most of the time, being an informer, being a communist was just mundane. But it was a bread and butter issue. Those that would compromise their faith and beliefs did better than those who refused on principle.