Brüsszeli díjátadó - Kitüntették Budapest XIII. kerületét is |  |
Július 7-én, a belga parlament épületében tartották az Ellenálók Nemzetközi Szövetsége (FIR) a korábbi elnökéről, Michel Vanderborght-ról elnevezett díj átadását, amelyen méltató beszédet tartott a belga parlament elnöke is, aki napjaink nemzetközi antifasiszta harcának jelentőségét hangsúlyozta.
A FIR jelenlegi elnöke, Hanti Vilmos pedig kiemelte, hogy boldog lehet Belgium népe, hogy a parlamenti elnöke tevékenységével jelentősen hozzájárul az újfasizmus elleni fellépéshez. A díjazottaknak azt kívanta, hogy továbbra is legyenek a humanizmus és a béke nagykövetei. Díjat kapott hét ország képviselője, köztük az antifasiszta hagyományokat méltón ápoló Budapest XIII. kerületi önkormányzata és lakossága is, amelyet nevükben Tóth József polgármester vett át a mai brüsszeli ünnepségen.
MEASZ titkársága
Winner of the Michel Vanderborght Award 2013
Belgien:
Marie-Louise Vanderborght-Veldemann honoring Michel Vanderborght She is the widow of Michel Vanderborght and has been his wife for decades. She supported him and they fought together for the common ideas and tasks. Handing over the price to her is also post-hum honoring the work of Michel Vanderborght as it had been mentioned before.
He was a partisan, long-time representative of the youth-movement also on international level, fighter against colonialism, social injustice and the danger of war. In the last decade until he died he was very successful for renewing the FIR.
Institut des Vétérans Since 2006 FIR and the Institute are connected in common work-projects. Initiated by our former President Michel Vanderborght – he has been co-chairman of the Institute for several years – we prepared very successful common activities for the tasks of FIR. First I want to mention the International Youth-meeting in Buchenwald 2008, when more than 1000 young people, half of these from Belgium, commemorated the day of self-liberation together with the former prisoner of the camp. Then we started together with the Institute and the Auschwitz-Foundation the preparation of the “Train of 1000” to Auschwitz that could be realized in May 2012. It was an impressive event for all participants from various countries of Europe. The Belgian Premier-minister di Rupo honored this event with his presence. And as a last example of our common work one can see the results – panels of the new exhibition “European resistance fight”. The price is given to the Institute and especially to the Administrateur General Michel Jaupart, who as an adviser promoted and supported all these common projects.
Bulgarien:
Prof. Velko Valkanov scientist Prof. Valkanov is a well-known scientist for political and historical subjects. He is since decades connected with the tasks of our anti-fascist movement. First I met him at an international conference commemorating Georgii Dimitroff. Later I followed his publication not only in Bulgaria but in several European countries. His main subject is defending the historical truth about the anti-fascist fight in Bulgaria beginning with the third-decade of the last century. He always underlines the fact that the political fight in Bulgaria was an antifascist fight because of the political character of the regime. Now he explains the combination from anti-communist attempts and the danger of fascist development.
Deutschland:
KONTAKTE/ KONTAKTY, Eberhard Radczuweit We honor in this case an initiative and a person who is long-time connected with this work. Since about 20 years Eberhard Radczuweit and the initiative KONTAKTE support on financial, social and political level former slave-workers and prisoners of war from the countries of the former Soviet-union. The result of this work can be documented in numbers. In 2012 the initiative spend more than 300.000 € as financial support. But the social and humanitarian impact of this work is also very important. Thus they have been “forgotten” for decades, also in the former Soviet-union, find now a social acceptance, get the signal that their biography will be mentioned as important and they will be honored. In that case KONTAKTE publishes since six years by electronic post so called “Friday letters”. In these letters you find the answers of thus they got financial help. Most of then use the possibility to say some words about their biography and historical experiences. These are very impressive and emotional documents of life.
Griechenland:
Giorgos Farsakidis veteran and painter
When our Greek comrades proposed him for the award I must say that I did not heard about him before. Today I got a book with paintings of Farsakidis and I am ashamed not mentioned him before, because he integrated in his biography two important aspects of anti-fascism and the tasks of FIR. First he has been an active fighter of the resistance movement in Greece. He fought in the ranks of the ELAS against the fascist occupation; he has been wounded and later imprisoned in the camp Makronisos, that mentioned as Greek Dachau. Beginning in this time he started painting. And this is the second aspect of his life. He made and still makes his historical experience to the subject of his pictures. Not only by telling his story again and again, but by integration the historical truth in various aspects of his work.
For that he is very famous in Greece and he reaches with his pictures and paintings not only the veterans but the today’s generations too.
Israel:
Baruch Shub veteran and active for commemoration
We honor Baruch Shub not only as a long-time president of the Israeli “Organization of Partisans, Underground fighters and Ghetto rebels”, but for a specific initiative he took in the past and works for it until today. He initiated, promoted and supported for a long time – and until today – a memorial project in Latrun near by Jerusalem. There exists a nation-wide memorial of Israeli soldiers. Baruch Shub reached that now will build there also a memorial for Jewish resistance fighter, partisans and Jewish soldiers in the ranks of the Anti-Hitler-Coalition as a specific kind of resistance. Long time Jewish people have been mentioned only as victims, punished and killed by mass-murdering. The new memorial will show the active part of Jewish resistance fight. So this memorial is a fantastic initiative for defending history and giving the experiences to the coming generations. Last year our president got the opportunity to see with his own eyes the state of the art of this project.
Italien:
Filippo Guiffrida antifascist journalist
As an important task of FIR we see it to strengthen the contact to the media. That is why we chose also a journalist for this award. And looking for a candidate we found Filippo Guiffrida who add in his person both sides of our tasks – the principal anti-fascism and the good journalism.
First he lives for long time in Brussels and reports about the problems and developments of the EU. In his view are the real problems of the people, the social segregation and the democratic development. Especially the actual economic crisis and the social consequences he brings on the floor.
Second he is an activist of the Italian antifascist organization ANPI as an international representative at the European Parliament and for all Italian in Belgium. And in this function he made good contacts for the international branch of the Festival of ANPI or for the cooperation with the Institute des Veterans and FIR by organization of the Italian delegation for the “Train of 1000” to Auschwitz 2012.
Ungarn:
13th district of Budapest institution
It is a little bit unusual to honor a political region, a state district and not a person or initiative. But in this case we need to make an exception.
This district and the political representatives, in the first line its major, give us an impressive example what can be done in a political region to with-draw the right-wing political mainstream. You know the political reality in Hungary. But this district gives in different meanings a counter-signal against the political tendencies.
The major and the majority in the regional parliament try to give a direction against social segregation, against neo-liberal economic policy.
There will be help for families and poor ones; there will be places for children and for cultural initiatives. The responsible try to create better living conditions for all and to integrate all who are living in this district.
And – and that is also important for our Hungarian member-federation MEASZ – the district gave and still give support when the political majority in the Hungarian Parliament (FIDESZ) canceled the opportunity to do the ceremony of the Andras Radnöky Award in these rooms, as it has been done before.
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Die Internationale Föderation der Widerstandskämpfer (FIR) verleiht Michel-Vanderborght-Preis
In einer eindrucksvollen Feierstunde wurde am zweiten Juli-Wochenende im Festsaal des Belgischen Parlaments in Brüssel an acht Persönlichkeiten und Initiativen der Michel-Vanderborght-Preis der Internationalen Föderation der Widerstandskämpfer (FIR) – Bund der Antifaschisten verliehen. Mit diesem Preis, der den Namen des belgischen Partisans und letzten Präsidenten der FIR trägt, sollen diejenigen ausgezeichnet werden, die sich im Sinne der Ideale des antifaschistischen Widerstandes für die Bewahrung der historischen Erinnerung, für die sozialen und politischen Interessen der Überlebenden und für die Fortsetzung des antifaschistischen Vermächtnisses durch besonderes Engagement gegen alte und neue Nazis ausgezeichnet haben.
Zur Eröffnung der Zeremonie sprach André Flahaut, Präsident des belgischen Parlaments. Er würdigte die Verdienste von Michel Vanderborght und betonte, wie wichtig heute der gemeinsame demokratische und antifaschistische Widerstand gegen extreme Rechte und rechtspopulistische Bewegungen in verschiedenen Ländern Europas sei. Er betonte, die Erinnerung an den Widerstand sei nicht allein eine historische Aufgabe, sondern eine Verantwortung für die zukünftigen Generationen, um die Ideale der Demokratie, der Freiheit und des Humanismus zu bewahren.
Nach einer kurzen Ansprache des Präsidenten der FIR Vilmos Hanti, der noch einmal die Intention des Preises erläuterte, wurden die Auszeichnungen an die Geehrten übergeben. Es waren ein belgisches staatliches Institut, das sich besonders um die Geschichtsvermittlung verdient gemacht hat, ein bulgarischer Historiker, der sich seit vielen Jahren gegen den politischen Mainstream die Bewahrung der Erinnerung an den Widerstand zur Aufgabe gemacht hat, eine deutsche Initiative, die finanzielle und moralische Unterstützung für ehemalige Zwangsarbeiter organisiert, ein griechischer Maler, dessen Werke die Erfahrungen des antifaschistischen Kampfes zum Ausdruck bringen, ein israelischer Partisan, der sich insbesondere für die Erinnerung an die jüdischen Kämpfer einsetzt, ein antifaschistisch engagierter Journalist aus Italien und – als politische Besonderheit – die Vertreter des 13. Stadtbezirks von Budapest, die sich dem rechten Mainstream von FIDESZ und JOBBIK in Ungarn engagiert entgegenstellen. In seiner Dankesrede betonte der Bürgermeister dieses Distriks, wie wichtig für seine aktuelle politische Arbeit diese Anerkennung der FIR sei.
Mit dem Michel-Vanderborght-Preis der FIR wurde diesen Initiativen und Engagierten Dank und Anerkennung der internationalen antifaschistischen Bewegung ausgesprochen. In welcher Tradition die Organisation und die von ihr Ausgezeichneten stehen, dokumentierten das Institut des Vétérans und die FIR, als sie im Rahmen der Veranstaltung einige Ausstellungstafeln der ersten umfassenden Ausstellung über den antifaschistischen Widerstandskampf in Europa, die wenig später in den Räumen des Europaparlament der Öffentlichkeit vorgestellt wurde, den Gästen präsentieren konnten.
Ulrich Schneider
2013. július 7.
