Speech #870013853

This pattern of chairs. a tradition from Beethoven to Bernstein. is the seating arrangement for a symphony orchestra. These seats are for musicians who. 5 years ago. played with the Budapest Symphony and other fine orchestras in Hungary. Then. in October 1956. there was an uprising in Hungarythousands were dead. and there were 200.000 more refugees and displaced persons in the world. This year. the people of the city of Marl. in the rich German Ruhr. asked the Hungarian musicians. who had banded together into a displaced persons symphony. to make Marl their home. Something more than civic significance was expressed by the mayor of Marl. who with one eye on culture. one on German history. welcomed them. When I. as a German from Germany at this time. talk about this problem. I am aware that our own very special. historical past should make us remember. History also will judge us one dayaccording to how we carried out our own responsibility with the beginning and solution of the refugee problem. You have before you a group. which tonight becomes your orchestra. The Philharmonia Hungarica. As you know. for 3 years they wandered all over the worldas refugees. as musicians. as human beings. What united them was their love of freedom and a love of music. Tonight. their wandering ends because you. the people of Marl. have given them a home. I know it will serve as a shining example to communities all over the world of the very spirit of the World Refugee Year as it was proclaimed by the United Nations. And now let me read you the preamble to the United Nations Charter. "We. the people of the United Nations. determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind. and to reaffirm faith and fundamental human rights. and the dignity and worth of the human person. and the equal rights of men and women. and nations. large and small. and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained. and to promote social progress and better standards of life and larger freedom. and for these ends to practice tolerance and live together In peace with one another as good neighbors. and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security. and to insure. by the acceptance of principles and the Institution of methods that armed force shall not be used save in the common interest. and to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all people. have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims." That preamble to the United Nations Charter is as eloquent as anything that man has ever put down on paper. but the echo of the words "to promote social progress and better standards and larger freedom." spoken against the orchestra. makes one suddenly conscious that all the problems "created by the scourge of two wars in one lifetime" have not been solved as quickly or dramatically as those of that orchestra. When the United Nations was formed in 1945. there were 30 million displaced personsrefugees.