A call for reconciliation between Slovaks and Hungarians

Hungarian commentator Jozsef Szilvassy also comments on the attack against a Hungarian-speaking student in Slovakia. He writes that the hostilities have their roots in the history of the two countries. "Just ten years ago the Slovaks' greatest fear was that the Hungarian minority would insist on a change in the border. Eighty percent of all Slovaks still see themselves as having been oppressed by the Hungarians for thousands of years. Even the young generations are taught this in history classes at school. There was indeed a tragic episode in the history of Slovakia and Hungary, but there have never been such bloody conflicts as those between the Germans and French who, nonetheless, are much further on in the process of reconciliation than we are… We should follow the example of the Catholic bishops of Slovakia and Hungary, who have admitted the injustices their country have done to the other and forgiven each other. However, since the collapse of communism, both the parliament in Budapest and the parliament in Bratislava have been incapable of making such a gesture."

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