Szili noted that the conference was made possible only because of Hungary's transformation into a multi-party democracy in 1989. It was then that the country's constitution was amended to guarantee all Hungarian citizens the same rights, regardless of ethnicity.
"I trusted that the moment would come when we could talk this out and...bow our heads to those who lived through this," Szili said.
Ferenc Glatz, who heads the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' Historical Studies Institute, told the conference that the expulsion of the ethnic Germans in Hungary must be discussed, because, if it is not, "we can not free ourselves of the feeling of collective responsibility."
The writer György Konrád said in a presentation that both Germans and Hungarians had to offer each other their "collective trust".
Bundestag president Norbert Lammert also spoke at the conference.
An exhibition of 50 works examining the expulsion by the graphic artist Róbert König was timed to coincide with the conference. The works offer a complex rendering of the events of 60 years ago and are complemented by photographs from the archives of the Hungarian News Agency and documents from the Library of Parliament. The photographs show families leaving, the belongings they left behind and the Hungarians who moved into their homes.
János Schuth, who chairs Hungary's Ethnic German Association of Writers and Artists, praised König's reflection of the historical experiences of his people, which he called "the low point for ethnic Germans living in Hungary".
The expulsion of ethnic Germans from Hungary took place between January 1946 and September 1948. While 180,000-200,000 Hungarians said they were ethnic Germans in the 1941 census, just 23,000 said the same in the 1949 census.
Source: Múlt-kor / Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
