The Curtain Rises: Eastern Europe, 1989 : VOICES : ‘I Pray Gorbachev Will Stay Alive’
Andras Szilagyi heads the psychiatric department at Tetenyi Hospital in Budapest. He is also a member of the opposition group Hungarian Democratic Forum.
“Every night I get down on my knees and I pray that Gorbachev will stay alive six more months, one more year, so that we can push these reforms through so there is no turning back.”
He also has misgivings about the commitment of his compatriots:
“Hungarians have had a life without any political ideas, and now they’re not interested in politics, they don’t want to speak, they’re just interested in consumer ideas and their standard of living.
“It’s a collective depression. Hungary has lost two world wars, two-thirds of its population. We live in a political system we don’t like, with economic standards that go down step by step.
“The real changes will come when the average man learns to think in political terms and not Frigidaires.”
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