Hungarian Review March 2014 [antikvár]

EDITORIAL NOTE John O'Sullivan Some years ago Simon Green, the English cultural critic, wrote a paper on the evolution of war monuments in Britain. Earlier monuments tended to be local and narrow in their ambit of concern. They memorialised the men of the village who had fought and died. And that was it. Over time, however, monuments were designed to express wider sympathies geographically and socially. Initially it was the men of the nation or the Empire who were commemorated. Even today it is moving for an English visitor to see the war monuments in small south Australian towns listing the names of those who died far away under the words: "They answered the Empire's call". More recently women have joined the ranks of the departed, as they are also joining the ranks of fighting soldiers. Individual women had already received such recognition. There is a statue in Charing Cross Road in London, just above Trafalgar Square, to Nurse Edith Cavell who was executed by the German occupation authorities in Belgium in the First World War for helping allied soldiers to escape. On it are inscribed her most famous words: "Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone". A similar sentiment, but one going even beyond that, is expressed on one of the most famous war memorials: that erected above the bay of Gallipoli commemorating both the Turkish and Allied dead, the latter mainly Australians and New Zealanders in the ANZAC force. Written by Kemal Ataturk who had commanded the victorious Turks, it seeks to comfort the mothers of the fallen: Wipe away your tears, your sons are now lying in our bosoms and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they become our sons as well. This generosity succeeded to the degree that Australia has erected an ANZAC monument with the same words (also incorporating a bust of Ataturk) in its capital Canberra, and New Zealand has placed its own monument inscribed with Ataturk's tribute above a local bay with a likeness to Gallipoli. In the 1980s the Turkish government renamed Gallipoli "ANZAC Bay". Ataturk's magnanimity has forged a remarkable (and rare) bond between Turkey, Austraha and New Zealand.