A Grave Matter

Sickening news from Hungary. The remains of Janos Kadar, Hungary's former communist leader have been stolen after his grave was prised open and his coffin broken. His wife's urn is also missing. Graffiti was daubed on the nearby communist workers' pantheon.

Out of all the communist leaders in the Eastern bloc, Kadar was easily the most defensible.

In his 32 years in power, his liberalising reforms made Hungary 'the happiest barracks in the socialist camp' : my wife's Zsuzsanna's personal experiences of what it was like growing up under Kadar's progressive brand of 'goulash communism' can be found here. Zsuzsanna's experiences are by no means unique, a poll conducted last year found that 65% of Hungarians had positive views about the Kadar era.

Grave robbing is wrong whoever's grave is robbed. (it is always a ghoulish and immoral act) But when the grave is that of a man who, under difficult circumstances, did the best for his fellow countrymen and women, and who presided over arguably the freest and most liberal form of communism the world has ever seen, the incident is particularly sad.