WORLD : Hungary to Pay Former Prisoners, Erase Communist Party Symbols
Hungary’s reform-minded government said today it will compensate thousands of former political prisoners and remove Communist Party red stars from all public buildings.
Council of Ministers spokesman Zsolt Bajnok said the government hopes to replace the stars either with a national flag or the Hungarian coat of arms by the end of the year.
“This change creates no legal problem, because there was no legislation on the use of party symbols,” he told a news conference.
Bajnok also announced pension bonuses for people interned or exiled in Stalinist purges during the 1940s and 1950s.
An estimated 23,000 survivors of about 98,000 people interned or exiled to rural areas between 1945 and 1953 will get an extra $9 a month in pension starting Nov. 1.
They will also be allowed to include years spent in detention in the period of work assessed for pension payments.
“The average time of exile was 27 months, but the suffering because of torture and other illegal procedures cannot be measured by time or by other means,” Bajnok said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
