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It's interesting to glance at Hungary through familiar eyes - not through ah fourth or fifth hand reports.
In the studio with me this afternoon for a little round-table forum on the subject of Hungary
are two men, who know Hungary as Hungary really is.
In the studio here is a man named - now don't be frightened; Béla Lugosi - the man many of you know - or all of you probably know, as - the Dracula of the screen.
And the - a man who plays the leading role in Arsenic and Old Lace
But Mr. Lugosi is not here as Dracula today. Today he's here as an American Citizen, and an American patriot, a Catholic,
a democrat, and a man who's interested in helping to bring real liberation to his native land, Hungary.
Mr. Lugosi has many social organisations, religious organisations, all tied up with the future welfare of the people.
And he's President of the Hungarian Council for Democracy - to which many leading Americans of Hungarian descent, are active.
Can you tell us - in a sense or two, just what is Hungary?
It is true that to most people, Hungary is a very distant land. A land of good wine, good music, ---- ----,
but to us Americans of Hungarian descent, Hungary has always appeared in a triangular(?) perspective in ----- countries, Hungary of old(?) the nation(?)
The Hungary of Horthy, which was totally unrelated to the people of Hungary?
Yes, I mean exactly that. Although the same picture has been true, throughout most of the history of Hungary.
I'm sure that ----- Roman here, who has been a reporter of central European and Hungarian history for a long time will agree with me.
Now of course you gentlemen look to a great change, isn't that so Mr. Lugosi?
Decidedly. We are convinced - that the inevitable victory of American arms, together with the might of the rest of the United Nations will bring about a change in Hungary.
A change that which I, along with others, have been so deeply concerned.
Our position - I mean - those of us who represent the Hungarian democratic movements in this country.
Our position is that the liberation of the Hungarian people as well as all people who have lived under fascism,
will be a logical outcome of the policies of Roosevelt - that is, our American government - and of the agreements which were born in Teheran.
Would you care to elaborate on that Mr. Lugosi?
I would add perhaps that - that a democratic European continent, you know in the all-embracing sense of the word, is inconcievable without a democratic central Europe.
There can be no democratic central Europe with Hungary remaining feudal(?) and fascist.
By that do you mean to emphasise the strategic position which Hungary occupies in assuring permanent peace and democracy in the old world?
Yes. Precisely.
Well, lets glance for a moment at the real people of Hungary. The --- that hasn't enjoyed very much publicity.
Very few people I'm afraid know that there is a growing underground movement called the Hungarian National Front of Independance.
Uh, Mr. Lugosi, would you care to tell us something about the underground in Hungary?
I'm proudly delighted to Mr. Gilmore.
The Hungarian underground, really crystallises the common denominator of resistance, which binds all the people who have felt the whiplash of fascism.
Like the heroic people of France and Poland and Greece, and Yugoslavia - the people of Hungary - the real Hungary - are fighting.
Is the resistance in Hungary made up of the same cross-section representation politically and socially as the United Fronts of Yugoslavia and France for example?
Definitely, Mr Gilmore. The solid principle of Teheran had been in practice for sometime in Hungary. The battle against fascism from the inside is a coalition battle.
The Hungarian underground is made up of this kind of cross-section.
They are represented - the Small Land Owners Party, The Peasant League, The National Democratic Party, The Kossuth(?) Party, The Communist and Social Democratic Party, The Christian Trade Union Movement.
Sometime ago, the coalition was joined by an influential member of the Board of Hungarian Union of Industrialists.
Well that just about covers all the people, eh - except the fascists, doesn't it Mr. Lugosi?
It certainly does. But besides the uniting factor of patriotism and the yearning for real democracy -
it is my conviction that the plain people of Hungary are united by their faith in a true leader of the people -
long exiled President of the pre-Horthy Hungarian Republic; Count Mihály Károlyi.
It - were the ideas of Károlyi - which rallied the people of his country to organise the resistance in the cities, in the factories, in the mountains and even inside of the Hungarian army.
And now democratic Hungarians all over the world - the United States, South American countries, and England -
all who want to see Hungary liberated, so that the people of Hungary may once more be a free nation among free nations.
Look to Count Károlyi as Hungary's own Abraham Lincoln.
Thank you very much Mr. Lugosi, and I'm sure that our listeners have learned a great deal and -
I'm sure that - that the thousands of people who will gather at Manhatten centre this afternoon to hear your message on -
the new liberated Hungary will find a great deal of inspiration and knowledge in what you have to say.
You have just heard William S. Gallmore, noted columnist and news analyst, presented by the Stumore(?) Baking Company
who bring you those two daily favorites; Stumore's(?) light pumpernickel bread and Stumore's(?) chocolate donuts. Tune in next week at the same time for another quarter hour with William S. Gallmore.