Little Hungarian Chronicle
Chronicler: Sandor Vaci for New Year’s Eve 2002-3
Little Hungarian Chronicle
22 November 1946
Stalin, Molotov, Beria, several members of the Politburo and the Soviet Army command have supper in a dacha near Moscow. The roast from the previous day’s boar hunting is served on a buffet sideboard. Around the long table the future of Europe and the next steps of the Soviet Union are discussed. The Commander of the Army, Zhukov, puts a question to Comrade Stalin: when is he going to issue an order for a new campaign all the way to the Atlantic Coast. One member of the Politburo, Bulganin, makes the point – between two shots of vodka – that the country is in ruin, the people have endured long years of suffering, the most important task for the Party now is rebuilding. Stalin, just as he prepares to answer puts a large chunk of boar into his mouth not noticing that the
meat not only has a lead shot but also a sharp bone fragment. In between taking breaths and chewing the lead and bone slip down into his lung. He starts choking, within minutes Stalin is near a heart attack. The attendant doctors rush desperately trying to extract the obstructions. Stalin’s condition becomes critical. There is no other way than to carry out a tracheotomy. The chief medical officer with shaking hands pulls Stalin’s head back and cuts his throat. He grunts, the lead shot drops out but the sharp bone fragment slips further down. At 12.35 hours Josef
Vissarianovich Stalin kicks out with his left leg breathing his last.
23 November 1946
After a twenty-hour secret session the Politburo admits Khrushchev as a new member and immediately elects him to be the Secretary of the Communist Party. Marshall Koniev follows Beria into the lavatory where
he shoots him dead. All next day funeral music is played on Moscow Chronicler: Sandor Vaci for New Year’s Eve 2002-3
Radio and Stalin’s death is announced. The burial ceremony will take place on 12 December.
12 December 1946
Russia’s World War allies are invited to the solemn event. Harry Truman, American President, Clement Attlee, British Primer Minister, de Gaulle, President of France accept the invitations. Winston Churchill stays away
to balance his absence from Roosevelt’s funeral. Stalin is placed next to Lenin’s coffin in the Red Square Mausoleum. After the ceremony Khrushchev and Truman hold a private discussion in the Kremlin.
Khrushchev emphasizes the importance of rebuilding the war-shattered country. Truman offers a ten billion dollar aid on the condition that within one year the victorious armies withdraw from East-Central Europe, which will be recognized as a neutral zone.
14 December 1946
The Politburo holds another secret session. Khrushchev puts forward Truman’s offer, which after a long and heated discussion is accepted. Dachas and secret Swiss bank accounts are given to the disgruntled
Army commanders. The following day the eternal and glorious friendship of the Soviet and American peoples is announced then adding the Americans have conceded they bought Alaska for peanuts and in an act
of contrition they will pay ten billion dollars being the true value minus the 7.2 million actually paid in the Nineteenth Century.
1947
The Soviet Army starts its withdrawal from Europe. The last soldier leaves Hungary on 6 October. Elections are held, the Social Democrats gain 46%, the Small Holders 23%, the newly formed Christian People’s
Chronicler: Sandor Vaci for New Year’s Eve 2002-3 Party 15% and the Communist Party 12%. The Social Democrats form a coalition government with the Communists who are allocated the Education portfolio.
1949
The Hungarian economic growth reaches 12% per annum. Standard Oil and Standard Telephone announce plans to invest millions of dollars in new industries.
1950
The European Coal and Steel Community comes into existence.
1952
At the Helsinki Olympics the Hungarian competitors gain seven gold medals, two silvers and three bronzes. There is an acute shortage of labour in Hungary, the economy is growing at an amazing rate, everyone
is busy at work. After more than two hundred year there is a Turkish invasion but these Turks come to work. Benjamino Gigli sings in the Opera House. New elections are held. The Social Democrats are defeated.
The Christian People’s Party forms the new government with the Smallholders. This collation governs in the next forty years.
1954
In the Football World Cup the Hungarian team defeats the German team 4:1. A national celebration is held in Hungary. Statues are erected in honour of the ‘Golden Team’ near Heroes’ Square. Di Stefano is signed up
to play for the MTK team for the next five years.
1956
The Suez War starts. The Hungarian Government sends friendly messages to the Soviet Union, the United States, to Egypt, to Israel, to France and to Great Britain. When the prime minister is asked why he has sent such
messages to the protagonists he replies: ‘at last, we have been left out of this one’. Katalin Karády returns from Paris to give a gala concert in the Opera House where she sings My great love has been blown away by
the wind. The shops are packed as Christmas comes. It takes only four Hungarian Forints to buy a Deutchmark.
1958
Albert Szentgyörgyi, the Noble Laureate, returns to Szeged where with the help of the Rockefeller Foundation he establishes a biochemical research laboratory. The same year the Swiss Geigi and the American
Merck companies also set up their own biochemical laboratories near the town thus Szeged becomes the biochemical research center in Europe.
1962
Pope John XXIII. visits Hungary. He holds an open air mass where two million kneel bowing their heads, the rest of the country watches the event on television. Pope John admonishes the faithful: hate poisons the
soul, it can send you to hell. On hearing this several hundred thousand faint in the open air and at home.
1964
A young physicist of genius, David Schulhoff, publishes a pioneering paper. This proposes an anti-quantum mechanics theory, which could lead to the development of an anti-atom bomb device.
1966
David Schulhoff is awarded two Noble Prizes, one for physics and the other peace. Before receiving his prizes he works out an anti-gravity theory and construct an anti-gravity machine. He tracks up to Gellért Hill
in Budapest where he jumps out to prove his theory but while falling he realises that he made a mistake in his calculations. He ends up impaled on St Gellért’s cross dying a terrible death. Two hundred of relatives claim
inheritance of his Noble prize awards.
1970
In the upper region of the Tisza River two gypsies searching for gold nuggets in the riverbed come across a lead box. They ask the local teacher, Ferenc Szabolcsi, what would it be worth melted down. They
take the teacher to the scene, on seeing it he immediately contacts his professor in Budapest. He pays the gypsies 150 forints for the box and with his friends digs it out in the middle of the night. The box weighs a
ton. They transported it to Budapest. An international sensation ensues, Attila’s coffin has been found! Attended by archaeologists, pathologists and doctors they expect to find one coffin inside another. There is huge
excitement. First, the lead coffin is opened, inside it is another in silver. Next should be a gold coffin but instead there are only broken bones and a note saying: I was here, Sergei.
Quickly they put everything back and in a ceremony broadcast worldwide the coffin is interned in Heroes’ Square under a glass panel where it can be seen to this day.
1980 and 1990 decades
The Hungarian economy continues on its upward pass, by 1985 it surpasses that of Belgium. Hungarian investors buy the Palace Hotel in St Moritz.
1994
Amongst the members of the Social Democratic Party a short, ambitious speaker comes to attention, his name is Viktor Orbán. Within two years he becomes the leader, his Party wins the next election.
1998
The European Union asks Hungary if she would be willing to enter into negotiations to join. The Hungarian Government sets strict conditions demanding ethical, economic and democratic improvements amongst the
member states.
2002
After four years of intense negotiations the Hungarian Parliament agrees to membership. Romania sends a delegation to Budapest to ask for Hungarian support for their application. Victor Orbán, the prime minster,
states that as a condition Romania should let Transylvania become an independent state. The Romanian delegation flying back disappears in the wilds of the Transylvanian mountains.
31 December 2002, evening
The guard in the Parliament building makes his regular security rounds. As he does every night he looks into the room where the sacred fist of Saint Stephen is kept. The guard is faced by an incredible sight: the fist
holds a pen writing on a parchment – ‘Come on you, boys!’