On the east-west border

PEOPLE OF THE EAST. Recently, especially in the last two years, we have witnessed a remarkable phenomenon in all areas of Hungarian intellectual life. Our interest is eager to turn to the characteristic features of eternal, unchanging Hungarianness. The greedy interest in history and the curious examination of the nature of eternal Hungarianness are closely connected. It’s as if we look into the deep sea of the story not only to see the buildings of the sunken Atlantean world, to hear its ringing bell, but also to watch our reflective faces, to get to know ourselves. However, this is not only a Hungarian phenomenon, although its reasons stem from the external and internal situation of the Hungarians, from the instinctive preparation of the breed for a great effort. Among the peoples of the Soviet Union - Tartars, Kyrgyz, Mongols, Mordovians, Mariks, and even a handful of Dalits and Voguls - the study of the historical past and racial characteristics is penetrating deeper and deeper. Immeasurable sums of money are spent on excavations, an army of scientists is researching the characteristic cultural treasures of the varieties, and art presenting the character of the varieties is gaining more and more ground in literature, music, stage, architecture and fine arts. And if this is the case in the Marxist-coordinated Soviet Union, how much more so it must have been in Finland, in the Baltic states, which have ready to bring their developed racial culture into the Soviet Republic, how much it must have been in the tragic Poland. Little Slovakia is scraping its folk culture with a convulsive effort to awaken self-awareness Croatia is now beginning to explore the shallow layers of its history. And so on. Outlines of large continental units are drawn, but within these outlines in white; the glowing fires of the self-conscious awakening of the varieties ignite with glowing tension.