László Gubík’s Memorial Speech Honors the Icon of Slovakia’s Hungarian Community

On the 80^th anniversary of his birth, the memorial to Miklós Duray was unveiled October 8 in Lucenec/Losonc, Slovakia, the town of his birth 

Before the Conscience of a Nation

The Alliance of Hungarians in Slovakia (Magyar Szövetség) paid tribute to one of the most prominent figures of  Slovakia’s largest ethnic minority, Miklós Duray.
At the ceremony – attended by representatives of several domestic and international Hungarian organizations, including the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation (HHRF), László Gubík, the party’s president, delivered a moving and thought-provoking speech.

The event was not only a tribute to a giant of public life but also a call for self-examination:
How can the Hungarian community in Slovakia carry on the legacy of Miklós Duray?

“The homeland could see him only as the misty outline of a statue…”

Gubík opened his speech with the words of writer Mór Jókai, drawing a worthy parallel between Lajos Kossuth and Miklós Duray. The president quoted from Jókai’s 1894 eulogy delivered at Kossuth’s bier – a text that has since become one of the most moving documents of national mourning and reverence.

“The quoted lines could just as well be about Miklós – except that they’re no longer new,” Gubík remarked.
He added that Miklós Duray was the freedom fighter of the Hungarian community in Slovakia, who for decades worked for national self-determination, minority rights, and the preservation of Hungarian identity.

The Hungarian Human Rights Foundation Was Also Present

The event brought together not only figures from  Hungarian public life in Slovakia but also the international supporters of Hungarian communities from around the world.
Among them was the New York–based Hungarian Human Rights Foundation (HHRF), which for decades has advocated for the rights of ethnic Hungarian communities living in the countries of the  Carpathian Basin countries.

The organization stood by Duray from the time of his first imprisonment in 1982 and maintained a deep friendship with him until his death in 2022.
Its presence at the commemoration carried a symbolic message: Miklós Duray’s struggle became, even internationally, a symbol of the defense of freedom, human rights, and national identity.

“We Have Only One Friend: Ourselves”

The president of the Hungarian Alliance closed his speech with these words:
“Let the Hungarians of Felvidek consider that in the whole wide world they have but one true friend: themselves; and but one formidable enemy: themselves. The choice is theirs!”

His words were at once a warning and a declaration of faith:
“Miklós Duray’s legacy is not merely a memory, but a task – the task of national self-examination, unity, and responsible action.”

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