Minister of Human Capacities Zoltán Balog was presented with one of Germany’s most prestigious human rights awards, the Rainer Hildebrandt Medal, on Wednesday in Berlin. The Medal was also posthumously awarded to Pál Maléter, Minister of Defence in the Imre Nagy Government in 1956, who was executed following the crushing of the Revolution.

The Rainer Hildebrandt Medal is awarded annually in recognition of “extraordinary, non-violent commitment to human rights”, on the birthday of anti-communist human rights activist Rainer Hildebrandt to mark International Human Rights Day.

Mr. Balog was primarily awarded the accolade in recognition his work with relation to the social inclusion of Hungary’s Roma minority and his role in counselling refugees from the GDR in 1989.

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Pál Maláter was posthumously awarded the Medal for his role in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution; the award was accepted by his widow, Judith Gyenes.

Vice-President of the German Bundestag Johannes Singhammer (CSU) gave a speech praising Mr. Balog, while CSU Member of Parliament Michael Stübgen spoke in recognition of Pál Maléter.

In his speech, Minister Balog first spoke about the importance of human rights, calling them a unique treasure. “In life I have learned that these are inseparable from two other unique treasures: freedom and social justice”, he declared. He pointed out that Hungary had achieved that freedom sixty years ago, with reference to which he said it was a great honour to receive the award together with Pál Maléter, whose name he had already learned in childhood, although it was not permitted to say his name out loud for thirty years. “Until, with the winning of our freedom, the hour of justice arrived”, he stressed.

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The Minister recalled that he had had the opportunity to study evangelic theology in the German Democratic Republic as part of his studies, and said that he had been lucky enough to become acquainted with wonderful East German civil rights activists such as the later GDR Foreign Minister Markus Meckel. He recalled the events leading up to the opening of the border by Hungary in 1989, which enabled tens of thousands of people from East Germany to leave the country for the West.

“It is often difficult to understand many things that go on in today’s world if we are not aware of what people at the time had to live through in the Baltic States, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and the southern part of the Balkans”, the Minister stressed. “These experiences are also mirrored in today’s political and cultural decisions”, he added.

Mr. Balog highlighted the importance of social justice. “There exists a forgotten people in Europe, the Roma”, he stated. We are talking about eight million people, European citizens, who “live under the level of the third world” in Central and Eastern Europe. “We cannot talk about human rights without providing social justice for these people”, he stressed.

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With reference to the speech by Vice-President of the German Bundestag Johannes Singhammer, Mr. Balog said: Today Europe is in a difficult position, there are many disagreements and many disputes between countries, and “the Hungarian Government is part of that debate”, adding that he hoped the award expressed the belief that we all have common foundations.

“Debate is only fruitful if the foundations – democracy, freedom and justice – are common”, he added, noting that he had become familiar with these terms through the  heritage of Christianity and calling attention to the fact that without this heritage “we cannot make Europe better “ than the state it is in today.

In a statement to a reported from Hungarian M1 television following the award ceremony, the Minister of Human Capacities explained: The award also sends a current political message. According to Mr. Balog, these day it requires “quite some courage” to recognise a Hungarian Minister in Berlin, because the media and some politicians are trying to “stamp” a negative stereotype on the Hungarian administration. “The award also indicates the transformation that is currently going on in Germany: more and more people are recognising the fact that the Hungarians are right with relation to the method of handling immigration”, he explained.

The Award was established in 2004 by Alexandra Hildebrandt following the death of her husband. The award is presented every year on 14 December, the birthday of Rainer Hildebrandt, in Berlin’s Mauermuseum, which Hildebrandt founded, and which is located at Checkpoint Charlie, the most famous crossing point between East and West Berlin.

The international committee that decided on this year’s awards included German President Joachim Gauck, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher, who died earlier this year, Scottish conservative politician James Douglas-Hamilton, former Israeli diplomat Avi Primor and political scientist Sergei Khrushchev, son of former Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev.

Previous recipients of the Award include Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (posthumous), Suzanne Mubarak, wife of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Cuban human rights activist Oscar Elias Biscet González, Polish anti-communist resistance fighter and later Chairman of the Polish Senate Bodgan Borusevicz, former Hungarian Minister of State Imre Pozsgay and Yoko Ono, wife of Beatles co-founder John Lennon.

Zoltán Balog had previously received the second most prestigious German state award, the Grand Cross of Merit with Star and Shoulder-Sash, which was presented in 2013 by Joachim Gauck in recognition of his efforts to further German-Hungarian relations and his activities within the field of protecting human rights and minorities.

(MTI)