Former Archbishop of Prague Dominik Duka Awarded the János Esterházy Prize
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Cardinal Dominik Duka (L) with Csongor Csáky (R), President of the Rákóczi Association
János Esterházy connects people of goodwill in Central Europe, said the Minister of the Prime Minister’s Office at a ceremony in Parliament on Friday in memory of the martyred leader of the Hungarian minority in Slovakia.
Gergely Gulyás stressed that János Esterházy’s mission was first and foremost about the Hungarians in Slovakia, but the way he represented their rights and interests, while also proclaiming the centuries-old community of destiny with the Slovak and Czech peoples, is still an example for all of us today. Through the life’s work of János Esterházy, everyone can understand the true nature of communism, its violent, murderous, anti-freedom and anti-justice, godless and inhuman nature. Through his life story, we can also “understand the saving power of faith”, the minister said. He pointed out that priests and pastors who stood up to communism proclaimed faith and hope in an era when it seemed that only hopelessness remained from the River Elbe to Vladivostok.
Minister Gergely Gulyás at the János Esterházy Award. Photo: Hungary Today
Speaking of Cardinal Dominik Duka, retired Archbishop of Prague, who was awarded the Esterházy Prize at the ceremony, the minister said that he was one of the bishops and priests who were faithful to Christ and to the Church. As a church leader, Dominik Duka did much for the Hungarians in Prague and for maintaining fraternal relations between the two peoples. He always stood by the persecuted Hungarian politician, János Esterházy’s legacy.
Cardinal Duka has been and remains a courageous man, now “accepting a prize named after a man who, inexplicably, is still considered a war criminal by official historiography in his country (the Czech Republic),”
the minister said. The case of János Esterházy reminds us that here in Central Europe we still have unresolved issues, “unfinished historical business”.
We have a duty to resolve them because “despite our possible, momentary differences, our destiny and our future here in Central Europe are common”, Gergely Gulyás added.
Cardinal Dominik Duka (R) in conversation with Cardinal Péter Erdő in Parliament during the János Esterházy Award. Photo: Hungary Today
During the ceremony, the Rákóczi Association awarded the Esterházy Prize to Cardinal Dominik Jaroslav Duka, retired Archbishop of Prague, and the Association of Hungarian Large Families of Transcarpathia, represented by its President, József Tarpai.
During his address, Cardinal Péter Erdő, Archbishop of Esztergom and Budapest, said that the retired Archbishop of Prague is not only an outstanding ecclesiastical figure in the Czech Republic, but also a consistent fosterer of Czech-Hungarian relations. From the very beginning, the Czech Primate-Archbishop has openly and publicly supported the cause of the victims of communism, including the memory of János Esterházy, who died as a political prisoner in 1957. In 2011, he blessed the memorial plaque of János Esterházy at the memorial site of the victims of communism in the Motol cemetery in Prague. In recent years, Dominik Duka has shown on numerous occasions that he is a helpful and committed friend of Hungary. His award is an encouragement to “represent with faithfulness and love our common heritage, the Christian faith, which lives on here in Central Europe through the witness of saints and martyrs and is a source of strength for our peoples”, said Péter Erdő.
The János Esterházy Award displayed in Parliament together with the martyred politician’s recently restored prison rosary (top right). Photo: Hungary Today
For his part, Cardinal Dominik Duka stressed that
the beatification of János Esterházy remains an unfinished task, as does his political rehabilitation, which Moscow already did in 1993, but Prague and Bratislava have not yet done.
He also spoke about his personal experience, where he first learned about the name of the martyred Hungarian politician through visiting his own father in prison, and later as a political prisoner himself. After the official program Cardinal Duka blessed the personal rosary of János Esterházy, just recently restored and exhibited in parliament. The fragile rosary, made out of breadcrumbs and cigarette paper, has been the only possession of County Esterházy that was handed over to his family by communist prison officials after his tragic death in 1957.
Cardinal Duka (L) blesses the János Esterházy rosary held by historian Imre Molnár (R). Photo: Hungary Today
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