Refugees in an Age of Genocide: Global, National and Local Perspectives During the Twentieth Century by Tony Kushner & Katharine Knox

Author:Tony Kushner & Katharine Knox [Kushner, Tony & Knox, Katharine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781136313264
Google: uFR5mSqluXkC
Goodreads: 17016409
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1999-06-30T00:00:00+00:00

THE HUNGARIAN REFUGEE MOVEMENT

In the prevailing political situation in Europe, support for Hungary’s dissenters became a rallying cry for anti–communists and an opportunity in the West to demonise the Soviet Union. In such conditions, it was hardly surprising that the British Conservative government welcomed a large number of the Hungarians who were fleeing to Austria. This welcome was partly a sop to an outraged public, as there was a widespread belief that Britain should have done more to help the Hungarians in their struggle against the Soviet oppressor. This echoed British actions in 1938 when the Nazis took over Czechoslovakia and the government set up the Czech Refugee Fund. The Conservative MP for Eastleigh, David Price, was not alone in calling for a tougher stance on Hungary when he said: ‘Had force been used to meet force it might have meant a third world war, but I would have been prepared to have risked it a little bit more than we have done’.15 A few years later, President Eisenhower suggested why the West failed to do more:

There was no European country, and, indeed, I don’t believe ours, ready to say that we should have gone into this thing at once and tried to liberate Hungary from the Communist influence. I don’t believe, at this time, that we had the support of the UN to go in and make this a full–out war. The thing started in such a way, you know, that everybody was a little bit fooled, I think, and when suddenly the Soviets came in strength with their tank divisions, and it was a fait accompli, it was a great tragedy and disaster.16

Feelings of guilt played a major part in motivating support for the refugees:

The world threw itself to meet these refugees with almost indecent zest and goodwill… After all, they had witnessed the martyrdom of a small nation with tears in their eyes but without swords in their hands. The Hungarians had fought their battles, too, they had died for their cause as well as the cause of Hungary, and the world at large could not, or would not, do more than say: ‘Superb!’ and ‘What a brave nation!’… Now they had a heaven–sent opportunity to forget the more depressing and sinister aspects of the matter in an [ex]cess of generosity to the refugees.17

The initial British government plan to take in only 2,500 refugees was considered insufficient. Conservative MP Peter Kirk of Gravesend stated: In this extreme situation we should have said that the gates of Britain are wide open to any Hungarian who wanted to come.’18 Though R. A. Butler, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, argued that Britain was not an ‘immigrant country’, his views were out of kilter with popular sentiment and the scope of the project was subsequently widened. The government gave grants totalling £50,000 to the British Red Cross to assist the Hungarians and a further £10,000 was given to the British Council for Aid to Refugees, BCAR (now the Refugee Council), alongside funding from the UN Secretary–General.

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