HUNGARY SIR,—As one who has just returned to London after
ten days in Budapest I would like to use every available means of impressing on the British public the horror of the situation there and the urgency of doing every possible thing to assist the various relief appeals. If the testi- mony of a private individual can add anything to the reports of the professional journalists, 1 would mention that I have spoken to small children who have had no milk for ten days, doctors who are performing ghastly operations without any anesthetics, and mothers who queue from 4 a.m. until about 10 or even later in the hope of buying one loaf of coarse bread to feed the whole family for the whole day. The Hungarians will never give up—they will fight with bullets, strikes, sabotage, and every other means at their disposal—but faced with famine and disease the Trice they are paying is a ghastly one. Even if some of the supplies do not get through to Budapest I know how much it will mean to the people to hear that we have tried to help them. They have lit one of the brightest candles ever to have illuminated this dark world, and they are broken-hearted that we are doing so little while the Russians are busy blowing it out. They know we cannot fight for them, but they must have something more material than our hopes and prayers. The AVH are back at work, and when I say that I have heard them described as making the Gestapo and the NKVD look like school- children you will know what the people can expect from them.—Yours faithfully, NIGEL LEIGH PEMBERTON Cavalry Club, 127 Piccadilly, WI
Previous page
