REFUGEES FROM HUNGARY

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28155, 19 December 1956, Page 22

REFUGEES FROM HUNGARY

First Party Arrives In Christchurch FIGHTING IN BUDAPEST RECALLED “He said four of them destroyed about 20 Russian tanks with Molotov cocktails and tommy guns. Two of them are here; he does not know what happened to the others. He is 16 years old.” “This man, the smallest of them, says he went back across the river with 10 boys and a machine-gun to try to hold up the Russians. There were about 1000 people in the group.” “The Russians had Hungarian flags on their tanks. When the people rushed out to welcome them they opened fire.”

Yesterday morning, in the lounge of a Christchurch hotel. Hungarians living here interpreted, in laconic statements such as these, the words of fellow countrymen—the first 15 Hungarian refugees to arrive in Christchurch. Direct conversation between New Zealanders and the refugees was impossible, for they spoke no English: indirect conversation was difficult. But through the interpreters and the gestures—the shrugs, the frowns and movements of the hands—and through, too, the facial expressions and the look in the eyes, came a little of the story of an oppressed people, and of a country divided by civil war. They were dressed in what they had travelled from Hungary in, or in clothes with which they had been provided. They had no luggage. Some wore suit jackets with sports trousers, or had no ties. But they smiled; and one. learning the phrase “thank you'* for the first time, used it when he was given an ash tray.

The tales they told, briefly. with little passion, were of courage and initiative before ruthless, organised opposition which few civilians in New Zealand have ever been called upon to display.

“There was a group of about 15 boys, all about 16 years old, in the square in Budapest.” said one young man. “They all had guns and the Russians came and told them to lay them down. They did so. They were ■hot. Their bodies are buried in the square.”

“Another group of young men and boys were without guns. When the Russians came the men took their guns by force. It gave them more courage. This man. with the piece of black cloth on his lapel, saw his brother shot in front of the parliament building in Budapest. That man there was fighting in the Budapest radio station. All his friends were killed.”

Zoitan Mattyasovszky, 20 years old. told of the fighting in front of the Royal palace in Budapest in which his brother was killed. They had a few grenades taken from the Russians, he said, and a few machineguns from the Hungarian militia, but the 74-ton Russian tanks they destroyed were put out of action with

petrol bottles smashed against the air intakes of the tanks so that flame was sucked through them. Joseph Pali, the 16-year-old boy who with his friends destroyed 20 tanks, and his friend, Steve Baller, spoke casually of street fighting in which boys jumped on to the Russian tanks and dropped Molotov cocktails through the open hatches. “Many of them were killed, but they did not mind dying,” the boy said. “It started with a peaceful demonstration, but the secret police fired into the people. Then the Russians came with Hungarian flags on their tanks, and shot those who welcomed them. After that; we began to get organised. We each held a street until we couldn’t fignt any longer. They were narrow streets, and we had to climb over people’s bodies to get near the tanks. We were sorry we could not help them.” Moving among the refugees, offering advice and information as they stood a little uncertainly in the lounge, were the immigration officer (Mr R. H. Bell), Mrs R. I. Brake, and Mrs F. E. Burrell, of the Red Cross, and Mrs D. J. Wales, the centre commandant of the Voluntary Aid Detachment. If the hosts would bring the refugees to the Red Cross depot they could have anyclothing they wanted, said Mrs Brake Already one man, who was wearing shoes far too small for him, had agreed to go to the depot before he went to his hosts, she said. The refugees were finger-printed by police for registration as aliens, and Mr Bell spoke to them upon their responsibilties. The Mayor of Christchurch (Mr R. M. Macfarlane, M.P.) welcomed them to Christchurch, and Mr Gyula Paal replied on behalf of the refugees.

The last word was spoken by Joseph Pali. “He says,” an interpreter said, “that it is the duty of all freedomloving people to help the people still in Hungary. If they destroy Hungary, where will they go next?” The chairman of the Christchurch Immigration Welfare Committee, the Rev. Stuart C. Francis, and some members of his committee were at the Christchurch railway station to welcome the refugees. Through an interpreter Mr Francis addressed a few words df welcome to them.