Darwin Emeritus Fellow, the poet and writer George Gömöri, has been recognised in his native Budapest for his role in the Hungarian Revolution, which marks its 70th anniversary this year.
In 1956, George, then a student at Eötvös Loránd University, was one of the organising members of a march which saw thousands of students demonstrate in solidarity with Poland, then struggling for independence from the Soviet Union.
“I was at that time a fourth year student of Hungarian and Polish and was well informed about the dramatic events unfolding in Poland,” George explains.
“And so it was I who initiated the solidarity march, managing to get the motion for it passed at that afternoon’s previously planned Faculty meeting, that is in the afternoon of 22nd October.”
Following the uprising, George fled to the UK. He has published sixteen books of poetry in Hungarian, four in English and one in Polish, as well as numerous critical works on Polish and Hungarian literature, and taught Polish and Hungarian Literature at Cambridge from 1969 until his retirement in 2001.
Last month he and his wife Mari returned to Budapest at the invitation of the Mayor, Gergely Karácsony, to speak at City Hall on his recollections of the Revolution. This week George was informed that his participation will be recognised with the “For Budapest Award”, an official municipal honour which he will receive next month.
Meanwhile, George’s contribution to the promotion of Polish culture has this week been acknowledged through the award of the Bene Merito honorary distinction, conferred by the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs.
