Oldal 26 [26]
VIKTOR ZOLTÁN KAZAI
K. B.: The whole thing started with a telegram I received in 1984, yes, indeed,
we used the telegraph at the time. I was offered a short-term consultancy gig at
the UN headquarters in Vienna. It was a remarkable opportunity at the time. As
it turned out, they wanted me to help prepare the UN Secretary-General’s report
that he presented at the 1985 Milan Congress on Crime Prevention. I think they
picked me for the job because I had met the sender of the telegram a year earlier
in Helsinki, he had probably heard my presentation.
Of course, at the time, it wasn’t easy to get to Vienna. I had to make an
appointment at the Department of International Organizations of the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs (aka the UN Department). To my utter surprise they were very
pleased at the ministry that I had received this assignment. I asked if [had to turn
in the salary I was to receive in Vienna. I was told to take this as a scholarship of
sorts. The point is: I got the permit and went to Vienna.
Even though I had two assistants at the UN headquarters, I worked hard. One of
my assistants was a lady from Costa Rica and the other, a young man from Austria.
This self-styled Austrian philosopher was into Heidegger and completely useless
for the task at hand. However, he was a wonderful football player, so we got on
really well and played regularly. It turned out we were both members of a team.
We immediately decided to bring our two teams together for a friendly match.
We figured we’d ask the university for an official letter of invitation for scientific
research that would allow us to travel abroad. Tamas Foldesi was dean at the time
and also our right back player, so it wasn’t difficult to obtain the letter. Thirty
years on I think I can admit that the program had no scientific goal whatsoever,
instead, we played football, went to the cinema, shopping and out for a glass of
wine together.
This Austrian team was a mixed bag. They had a doctor, a philosopher, and even
Friedrich Koncilia, the goalie of the Austrian national team, who was so nice as
to take on the position of field player. We played each other for about four or five
years. When we organized a meeting in Budapest, some of the Austrian players
slept at my place, while the rest of the team were housed in the university dorm.
V. Z. K.: Having mentioned the Viennese ‘exchange program’, I read somewhere
in your CV that you went abroad several times in the eighties for longer and shorter
stretches of time for research and work. For example, you went on a study trip to
London, worked for the UN in Vienna and the HEUNI in Helsinki. It’s surprising
that one could build an international career at a time when the borders were still
closed. To what degree could Hungarian lecturers and researchers join the world
of international research, and under what conditions did the state allow them
outside the Iron Curtain?
K. B.: It wasn’t typical for lecturers or researchers to go abroad back then. I was
lucky, because my grandmother was an English teacher and had taught me and my
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