#4172 - "A Hungarian Rhapsody"
....by John Clennan
When I first became counsel to the Hungarian Cultural Association, I had been forewarned by Professor Mawk, whose shortened name gave a more fearsome sound than his gentility would allow of the many important cultural differences between Hungarians and their American hosts. "When I came here to teach, I opened my class in an academic robe like in Europe. The students thought I was clowning around. And for that reason I have enjoyed good rapport with students ever since."
Today, the robes were on someone else, Judge Julius, a menacing little man, who I swore needed a telephone book to keep his seat on the bench. At the bar of the courtroom, Professor Mawk and Mr. Krewleigh assisted Anna Imre, who stumbled at the bar of the court.
"Problem counsel?" Judge Julius glowered as the overhead lighting gave a glow to his bald head.
"One second." I turned to see if all the defendants were in order.
Professor Mawk, in all my encounters with him, had that sly duplicit sense of humor, which goes with dual allegiance. When Mawk first told me of the charges, I teased Mawk. "In some places, hear tell an expression: Never hanker with a hunkie on a point of honor; you will be humbled."
The Professor forced a smile. "We are quiet people, whose contribution may not always be understood."
"The charge:" Judge Julius peered over moon rim glasses, "Noise Disturbance in a residential neighborhood." The Judge waived is gavel. "A problem with the client?" A snarl curled on his lips. "Do they want to plead guilty?"
Beforehand, Professor Mawk told me that answer. "Never. We played a violin for St. Stephen's Day, the founding of Hungary as a European state, as Hungarians have done on Hungarian Hill for the past one hundred years." The Professor showed me faded photographs, "when the complainer's land was nothing more than some scrub brush in a pine forest."
"We," the Judge declared in an empathetic voice, "need control over the situation so that the community can have some rest."
Professor Mawk's said of the local Hungarians that they came under different political labels, running from different crisis at home, but together had built "the magnificent town you see today. And all we ask for is one day to play the violin."
"Does your client," Judge Julius looked at his file, "Anna Imre want to plead guilty and get it over with?" The Judge's voice turned deceptively friendly.
Mr. Krewleigh spoke to Mrs. Imre in a soft foreign tongue. Professor Mawk on one of his visits had brought Mr. Krewleigh to my office. Tall with an oval belly, Krewleigh had few words but held himself like a boxer ready to pounce.
"Sorry Judge," Mr. Krewleigh responded. Krewleigh held himself with a forbidding bearing. "Mrs. Imre was confused. She thought she was being hauled before a communist people's tribunal." The entire courtroom burst out in laughter. Even the prosecutor joined in.
"Sometimes I wonder what's the difference." I added.
"The community is incensed," the Judge snorted with nostrils flaring.
Professor Mawk confided in me in our many discussions. "Sweet gypsy music one day a year is hardly the imposition of the discarded beer cans and fireworks of Independence Day!"
"Judge, everyone here knows," I replied. "That any policeman who broke up St. Pat's Day would face unbolted lug nuts on his patrol car, a gun glued to his holster and no-back-up on a dangerous call."
The crowd of people with tickets of similar import to the Hungarians clapped.
After banging the gavel for order, the Judge leveled the gavel at me. "You counselor think yourself pretty tough. Do you realize I can throw these people in jail for fifteen days?"
The audience was hushed by the Judge's words. "Customarily we do await the out come of fair and proper trial." I paused. "Yet I do not think myself particularly tough, Judge, but I have brought with me people who do inspire me. Tell the Judge about jail." I ordered the defendants.
In a deep gravely foreign voice, Professor Mawk responded. "Two years in internment in Germany awaiting immigration - eh deportation to the U.S. or Canada."
Mr. Krewleigh answered. "Two years for anti-Soviet agitation. In the '56 uprising, I hopped the fence."
Mrs. Imre balancing her arms against the table retorted, "In '56 I was caught on the fence. Two years for taking part in the uprising."
The audience was hushed. "I've hear it said," I added, "that one cannot expect to bully a Hungarian on a matter of principle."
Afterward: Despite the histrionics, Judge Julius did not try the case. Instead, the case against the Hungarians was referred to Judge Dolan. After trial, Judge Dolan agreed that whatever inconvenience suffered by neighbors did not rank with either St Patrick's Day or Independence Day and acquitted the Hungarians. Professor Mawk received the Hungarian Medal of Freedom from the new democratic government of Hungary for valor in defense of freedom.
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