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Gyula Horn I did not expect subsequent events to happen so quickly. Even at the time of the demolition of the Berlin Wall, analysts were saying it could lead to a kind of confederation or a close partnership, but not unification. Of course, the leaders of the Federal Republic of Germany recognized the historic chance for unification. Without people like Helmut Kohl and Hans-Dietrich Genscher, maybe unification would not have taken place so quickly, or perhaps not at all. They played a historic role-just like Gorbachev.
I am proud of the role I played in 1989, when I was Minister of Foreign Affairs. But it is also important to assume responsibility for the past, and I never conceal the fact that I was a communist. By a long process, I turned from a communist into a European left-wing politician. There are many like me who gradually became convinced that the [communist] system was antidemocratic, against achievement and performance. Today we don't deal with who has what sort of past, or religion or ideology. Neither do we feel nostalgic for the paternalistic regime of Janos Kadar. We are wiping away the last remnants of Kadarism and putting an end to the patronizing role of the state.
PHOTO CREDIT: PHILIP HORVAT-SABA |
