By James Patton
In a manner of speaking, Hungary was the junior partner of the junior partner to Germany and Austria in the Central Powers alliance. However, she played an outsized role in the fighting. Estimates of ethnic Hungarians killed or died run as high as 1.2 million, out of a total population of 9 to 10 million, one of the highest such ratios among all of the combatant countries.
At the village of Vácrátót, about 25 miles NNE of Budapest, there is a war memorial, shown above, created in the genre of Emil Krieger’s 1956 Four Mourners (at the Langemark German Cemetery in Belgium) as well as the 1932 Käthe Kollwitz sculpture The Grieving Parents (now at Vladslo Gerrman Cemetery, also in Belgium), each of which emphasizes the tragedy of loss rather than sacrifice for victory. The Vácrátót memorial is located on the outskirts the 200 year-old National Botanical Gardens.
The Vácrátót statue depicts a family, all in traditional Hungarian folk dress except for the father, who one can tell is wearing a Honved (means Reservist) uniform, even though he is actually a cutout silhouette — forever gone but never forgotten. The wife is trying to wrap her arm around the husband’s missing shoulder, the infant boy is trying to sit on daddy’s knee and the young daughter is attempting to cuddle up to the void. These little actions emphasize the horrific impact of two catastrophic wars on many thousands of Hungarian families. The emphasis is that loss is forever.
The Vácrátót memorial is by the Hungarian sculptor István Horváth Böjte (b. 1972) who specializes in public statuary, in both classical and modern styles. Below the sculpture is a stone plaque inscribed with the names of the 31 local soldiers who died in WW1 and the 22 who died in WW2. On the reverse side is another plaque listing the names of seven residents who died while performing forced labor during WW2.
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| The National Botanical Garden of Hungary |
Directions Driving from Budapest
- Get on MO Expressway in Budapest, north direction, which becomes M2
- Take Vácrátót Exit
- Follow Signage to National Botanical Garden ( (Nemzeti Botanikus Kert)
- Before the main entrance to the Garden, turn right on Petőfi tér
- The monument will be 150 yards farther on the left side.
Address" Vácrátót, Petőfi tér 7, 2163 Hungary
Distance Driving: 46 km
Est. Time Driving: 43 min
Needless to say, there are other war memorials all around in Hungary.
In Budapest’s Heroes Square (Hősök tere) there is a magnificent monument, the Millennium Memorial (Millenáriumi Emlékmű). Built between 1896 and 1900, it commemorates the foundation of the Duchy of Hungary by the Magyars in 896 CE. In 1929 the cenotaph called the Memorial Stone of Heroes (Hősök emlékköve), was added to the site, dedicated "To the memory of the heroes who gave their lives for the freedom of our people and our national independence."
A major one stands to the left of St. Mary’s Cathedral (one of only four cathedrals in the country) in Kalocsa, which styles itself as “The Paprika City”. Located 85 miles downriver from Budapest, the Kalocsa monument is a grandious bronze statuary surmounted by a defiant, flag-waving warrior, while at his feet sits a grieving widow. The emphasis is making a heroic stand in defense of the mother country.
Moving over to Tiszadob, about 125 miles NE of Budapest, we see a simpler statue, a soldier standing guard above the honor roll, which is disturbingly long. The design is virtually identical to the most common northern Civil War memorial in America. I used to live in Dexter, Michigan (pop. 6,696), which still has one of these standing in the center of town. The emphasis of this memorial is on faithful service.
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