Published: 19.3.2024
„To be Hungarian is difficult, but not hopeless”, writer and adventurous world traveller Gábor Molnár once said. Many things are contained in this single sentence: our constant struggle, our continuous search for our path and our never-ending love for our homeland. It is indeed not always easy to be Hungarian, but despite the obstacles that we regularly face, we always carry our destiny with pride and with our backs always upright. Our Hungarianness is a value that never fades and a measure that can never be questioned. To be patriotic is to weave the bond stronger and thicker, not to weaken it in an exclusionary way.
Four years ago, we established the „Rendületlenül (Unbroken) Award”, which has been awarded every year since then, in conjunction with our national holiday of the 15th of March, to Hungarian public figures who, at a greater or lesser distance from Hungary, preserve and even strengthen Hungarian values and the bond between Hungarians in an exemplary manner in their own communities. In recent years, three people have been honoured with the Rendületlenül Award: Ildikó „Indy” Mair, a tireless leader of the Hungarian community in Scotland; Attila Gáspárik, director of the National Theatre in Târgu Mures (Marosvásárhely); and Viktor Traski, associate professor at the National University of Uzhhorod (Ungvár), a Hungarian father from Transcarpathia who volunteered for military service on the Ukrainian front.
The Community of Chance has decided to award this year’s prize to a man who has set an example for many of us not only as an outstanding financial expert, a visiting professor at the Central European University, a member of the Board of Studies of the Hungarian College of Bratislava (Pozsony), but also as the first Hungarian Prime Minister of Slovakia. Lajos Ódor remained sensitive to social problems as an expert head of government and sought to strengthen the Hungarian community in the Uplands, rather than divide it further. We hope that the spirit of the Rendületlenül Award will help him to maintain these values in his future work in the European Parliament.
Lajos Ódor said that he was honoured to receive the Rendületlenül Award. „I am happy if my work can help the situation of the ethnic minority in Slovakia. This was also an important aspect for me as prime minister,” he said.
Budapest – 17/03/2024