Hungarian Homeland Defence Day – at NATO SHAPE as well

Led by Major General László Sticz PhD, National Military Representative of Hungary, the Hungarian community held a ceremonial event on the occasion of 21 May, the Hungarian Homeland Defence Day. The event commemorating the recapture of Buda, the apex of the 1849 spring campaign, was also attended by Hungary’s ambassador to Brussels Dr. Iván Tamás Kovács.

At the beginning of the ceremony, the most touching element of the program was a cultural performance by the Hungarian children living at SHAPE, who, led by Renáta Varga Gáborné and Melinda Veres-Frikton, performed authentic Hungarian folk dances to folk music tunes, showing that national identity and togetherness live on in children even during service abroad.

In his welcome speech, Major General László Sticz PhD emphasized that the Hungarian Homeland Defence Day reminds us of our fights in a historical perspective, and at once of the challenges of the present day. In his speech, he pointed out that freedom, national sovereignty, allied loyalty and togetherness are values that define the mission of the Hungarian Defence Forces. The national military representative talked in detail about the comprehensive modernization of the Hungarian Defence Forces, which was launched ten years ago as a military development program. He emphasized that the changed security environment presents new challenges to NATO member states, and Hungary has reacted to them by procuring modern combat vehicles, artillery and air defence systems as well as advanced cyber defence assets – thereby strengthening Hungary’s and NATO’s collective defence.

Major General Sticz also spoke about the role of soldiers and their families. As he said, there’s a human behind each uniform, who has chosen to serve our country, Hungary by assuming many resignations and sacrifices. In closing his speech, he thanked the families for their quiet support, which gives the soldiers strength to tackle the challenges.

The participants of the event saw the international adaptation of First Lieutenant Barna Koncsek’s photo exhibition entitled “Quiet fronts – Mission: peacekeeping”. The travelling exhibition of the soldier of the HDF 5th Territorial Defence Regiment is a selection of photos taken in the Hungarian command year of KFOR in 2021-22 and of EUFOR Operation Althea in 2024-25. The thirty pictures sent to SHAPE capture the peacekeepers’ everyday life, the moments of togetherness, the human aspect of the military profession, as well as sporting events and helicopter-assisted search and rescue tasks.

Speaking about the exhibition on display at SHAPE, First Lieutenant Koncsek said that the moments captured in the photos allow the interested civilians a glimpse into the closed world of soldiers on tour of duty abroad and the everyday challenges they face.