Mosbach – Meeting of 5 twin cities in 2000
After the 150 years’ Turkish (Ottoman) occupation of Hungary many German settler-groups
arrived in our country in order to colonize the ruined villages around Buda. The
first German colonists arrived to Hidegkút at the beginning of the 17th century
from the environs of the Black Forrest (Schwarzwald). And nearly 250 years later
the Germans from Hidegkút were removed to West-Germany in two groups, based on
the Decision of Potsdam passed by the Allies. In this way the Swabians got back
to their early home. The majority of them live today in the Valley of Neckar River,
in the surroundings of Heidelberg and Mosbach. The Motherland Society of Hidegkút
has been founded for the sake of the cultivation of Hungarian roots. They held
every year the Pilgrimage of Hidegkút, by turns in the motherland and in the new
homeland.
The delegation of Local Government of II District and that of German minority
together with many inhabitants of Pesthidegkút arrived in the evening hours to
Mosbach, on the 6th of July, 2000. This wonderful small German town of Badenwürttemberg
gave place to the first international ceremony to which 5 twin-cities of Mosbach
had been invited. Thus the large delegates of the French Chateau-Thierry, the
former East-German Pösneck, the English Lymington, the Turkish Finike and Pesthidegkút
could meet each other, having a good opportunity to strengthen the twin-city relations,
cultivate the old acquaintances and find new friends.
The three-day lasting ceremony also meant the beginning of the summer festival-sequence
of Mosbach. Besides the hospitality of the local people the visitors have been
welcome by numerous cultural and entertaining programs. The twin-cities prepared
themselves with different musical and dancing performances revealing the traditions
of their countries. The delegation of Pesthidegkút was represented by the students
of Ecumenical Primary School of Máriaremete-Hidegkút.
Dried throats and rumbling stomachs could be cured along the “street of tastes”,
where different inland and foreign gastronomic specialities can be found, one
of them more tasty than the other.
There was a continuous bustle on the two huge stages put up in the city centre.
Games, music, theatre and dance amused those who showed interest.
The visit to the Town Hall of Mosbach, the professional negotiation of the delegations,
the toast of mayors, the ecumenical service and the flying of doves of peace were
the part of the official program.
www.mosbach.de
Zoliborz district of our twin-city, Warsaw - 2008
Zsolt Láng, Mayor of II District and Janusz Warakomski, Mayor of Zoliborz district
of Warsaw signed the twin-city agreement on 14th of March. The cooperation will
be developed in the future mainly on the field of culture and education. It was
not accidental that the guests timed their visit on our national holiday, since
the Hungarian and Polish history had been interwoven with each other in the past
centuries.
The Polish delegation was accompanied by Witold Sielewicz deputy mayor. The contacting
between the two districts has been initiated by the Local Government of Polish
minority.
From the words of Mária Felföldi, chairwoman of Local Government of Minority
came to light that there are many similarities between the two regions. Zoliborz
– the term means pretty small town – is a garden suburb of Warsaw, with many green
parks and family houses. The number of graduated, older people is very high, such
as in our district.
Marcin Sokolowski, Polish consul general of Hungary also took part on the ceremonial
signing of twin-city cooperation; he told us that he has been in this position
for one and a half year, being present on many other similar events up to now.
In his greeting words prior to the ceremonial signing Zsolt Láng expressed his
happiness having reached an agreement /cooperation as a result of a many years’
organizing work. This could strengthen further the close Hungarian-Polish friendship
arching above centuries.
Janusz Warakomski, the mayor leading Zoliborz district for one and a half year
won the elections as candidate of Law and Truth Party.
— The two districts of the two capitals are of same structure, with same problems.
The present agreement serves for the intensifying of the traditionally good Hungarian-Polish
relationship and I hope we will fill it up with real content.
Relating about Zoliborz the mayor has pointed out, that this district belongs
to such parts of Warsaw, where the inhabitants are proud of their local identity,
considering themselves first of all citizens of Zoliborz and not of Warsaw. The
district is special from the point of view that delegates of the local civil communities
also found their place in the body leading the Local Government, not only those
delegated by parties. Before he chose the political carrier, he had worked as
lawyer. He already came to a conference in Budapest several years ago, but then
had no occasion to visit the places of interest of our capital. He would like
to achieve a stronger binding of relations between schools and cultural institutes
of the two districts. He and his companion will be glad to visit the programme
series of the District’s Day held in June.
Zoliborz is one of the eighteen districts of Warsaw, which is situated on the
left bank of Vistula River, Northwards from the old city. In the XVIII century
the Piarists’ local monastery had a landed property here; they contributed to
the establishment of many settlements on this area. One of these settlements was
started to be named in French style “jolie bord” meaning pretty small town. The
Polish form of this naming would indicate the whole district soon. After the suppression
of the revolt in year 1830 the Russian invading forces built up here the citadel
controlling Warsaw. One cornerstone of the building was placed by the newly-fledged
governor, Ivan Paskievics field-marshal known from the Hungarian history as well.
Following the Second World War Poland won its independence and Warsaw started
to extend quickly. Zoliborz became a district of the capital in 1920, where as
a result of a conscious town planning large parks and wide promenades were made.
One characteristic of the district is given by the houses built in modern style
between the two World Wars, the atmosphere of which recalls the spirit of the
villas of Pasarét. They survived due to the fact that after the suppression of
the revolt against the Nazis in 1944, the suppressors spared Zoliborz, contrary
to the other quarters of the town which were destroyed to the ground.
http://www.zoliborz.org.pl/
Our third twin-city, Finike – 2008
Zsolt Láng and Nail Dülgeroglu signed the twin-city agreement between the II
District and Finike city from Turkey, so besides Mosbach and Zoliborz district
of Warsaw we could develop closer cooperation with a further town. Oya Tuzcuoglu,
the recently appointed Hungarian ambassador of Turkey and Tibor Szalai notary
took part on the ceremonial event held on the 19th of May in Town Hall.
For the signing of the twin-city agreement the delegation of Finike city – situated
on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, not far from Antalya – arrived for a several-day
visit into our district. The delegation has entered into negotiations with Virág
Dankó, deputy mayor responsible for twin-city relations. They also had discussions
about the extension of the relationship between the two settlements with the leaders
of the educational, cultural and sport sector of the II District.
The signing of the agreement was preceded by the visit of the II District’s leaders
made last August in Turkey. The fact that the previous twin-city of the District,
Mosbach from Germany has cultivated a close friendship for a long time with the
Turkish settlement, also contributes to the development of this good relationship.
Nail Dülgeroglu has been directed Finike for twenty years and as he told, he
has always wished to develop a relation with a Hungarian town.
– The present agreement would bring many positive facts to Budapest and Finike.
It serves for the cooperation of the two countries which becomes stronger day
after day, mainly on the field of culture, education and sport, which binds together
the friendship of Hungarian and Turkish people with more and more clamps.
On this event Mayor Zsolt Láng emphasized that our district was the first region
in the capital, which found out a Turkish twin-city. He mentioned that in the
future the district would make all the best to tighten this relation, not limited
to the common history and memorial from the Turkish age found in II District.
He also pointed out, that in the life of these two settlements a real partnership
hides many other opportunities.
During its stay the delegation of Finike visited not only memorials from Turkish-age,
but got to Szentendre and viewed many places of interest of the Capital as well.
They also visited the Klebelsberg Cultural Centre and that of Marczibányi Square,
moreover they took a walk in the market-place of Fény street. The delegation spent
five days in Budapest, then the visitors travelled to Mosbach, to the common,
German twin-city.
http://www.finike.com.tr/
