Anniversary of the Order of Malta's Support of East German refugees in Hungary

'Budapest, 21/08/2014

Hungary and the Order of Malta celebrate the Order’s key role in supporting East German refugees. Messages of Angela Merkel and Fra’ Matthew Festing.

On August 14, 1989, the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta set up in the garden of Zugliget parish church in Budapest the first refugee camp to deal with the tens of thousands of East German refugees fleeing into Hungary. For an intense period of over three months the Service cared for almost 47,000 refugees. The event, known as the Day of Welcoming, is marked every year.

In opening the 25th anniversary celebrations Father Imre Kozma, founding president of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, recalled receiving with Baroness Csilla von Boeselager the request of the West German Embassy that they take care of the East German refugees. He remarked, “Hungary evoked the admiration of the world in 1989; the Hungarian people had leaders with the courage to take risks, and their decisions meant the only glimmer of hope for refugees”.

http://www.orderofmalta.int/news/74567/hungary-the-day-the-fall-of-the-iron-curtain-changed-history/?lang=en