Magyar Monday: Nemzetközi Kapcsolataink or, ‘International Relations’ of Soviet Controlled Hungary
Hungary in 1959 being, of course, at the height of its international openness.
This image comes from an interesting historical and cultural artifact: a book of infographics and illustrations showing the multitude of improvements in Hungary since the Soviet occupation. The book, published in 1958 and found on Opapa’s bookshelf 50 years later, depicts optimistic statistics with cheerful drawings. The figures (both illustrated and numerical) in these pages should be taken with a grain chunk of salt.
The Author puzzled over the flag portion of ‘International Relations’. Did the Artist deliberately include flags from Bolivia, France, Guatemala and the Brazilian state of Paraíba? The Author thinks not. The multitudes of red, however, aren’t a surprise.
Excellent demonstration of the Author’s flag-recognition skills. This Reader is impressed. And longs for the days of Hungary’s cultural openness.
When I visited Hungary last year, a most intelligent Hungarian woman pointed out that at the end of World War II, when Hungary was liberated from the Nazis, the people were so grateful. They didn’t realize yet that they’d be substituting one form of oppression for Communism.