Our way to Hungary
By Tom J. Wellbrock
The decision to emigrate to Hungary came at the beginning of 2020, we just didn’t know it at the time. When the Corona madness started, I expected a short shock wave that no one would talk about after three weeks. As was well known, I was completely wrong. The man at my favorite restaurant had more foresight than I did, shaking his head when I told him this story would be over in a few weeks. Somehow he doesn’t believe that, he said. The rest is history.
The beginning of pressure
I remember many scenes that were frightening. However, it was not so much the bans, some of which were downright scandalous, but rather the executive state power, that is, the police, that concerned me. Even worse, however, were the many supporters who undoubtedly supported the craziest measures and were willing to denounce them and take action.
Can it get any worse? Yes, somehow. Because in the aftermath of the Corona episode I have also experienced many fallen heroes. I was born in 1967 and grew up with “Kristallnacht” by BAP, “Now or Never” by Grönemeyer and “Freiheit” by Westernhagen. These ‘heroes’ turned out to be willing helpers of a totalitarian policy; they participated, promoted the measures, excluded those unwilling to be vaccinated and dismantled themselves before my eyes.
Conversations in both digital and analogue life became more and more difficult, I lost old friends because a few weeks or months (I don’t remember exactly) after the start of what they called the ‘pandemic’ I became increasingly critical and the policies of measures became more worrying by the day.
At some point it became clear that I was a ‘lateral thinker’, a ‘cusser’, an ‘anti-vaxxer’ and somehow also an ‘anti-Semite’. My personal story disappeared before my eyes. For as long as I can remember I have been left-wing, I have been politicized by people who were communists, socialists, social democrats, a colorful mix, and I also had a positive attitude towards anarchism for a while.
To this day all this has remained only in my inner perception; externally, I am on the margins of society to which I have never felt I belonged. And while I used to be in the best and friendly company, now it has become lonely around me.
Pressure from Ukraine
There is no such thing as a reappraisal of the Corona atrocities, and that is no wonder, since this episode had so many perpetrators who do not want to be exposed as such. Instead of coming to terms with it, people fell into the next perversion: Russophobia and warmongering.
After February 24, 2022, nothing was the same. According to the story, Russia had attacked ‘poor Ukraine’ without any provocation, and while this lie was being rephrased every day and spread among the people as pure propaganda, I have experienced time and time again that people have been led around like rag dolls without a spark. of their own lives.
Once again, what was served on a silver platter was regurgitated – thoughtlessly, uncritically and with childish naivety. I was very interested in the conflict in Ukraine, and the deeper I delved into the subject, the angrier I became. This war was anything but ‘unprovoked’; he had been preparing for years, decades, to bring NATO closer to Russia and portray Putin as the personification of evil.
Digital and analog – the conversations I had were the same, and each time it became more tiring. I lost friends again and things around me became lonelier again. Together with my wife, I had already thought about emigrating during the Corona episode. But for us it was not an option. Not yet.
The thought grows
We, my wife and I, were always convinced that we would live in Germany until we died. I was born in this country, met my first love, had my first experiences with alcohol, was socialized and politicized in this country, this Germany. I had always been a socially critical person, but it was still my country where I grew up, whose language I spoke, where all my personal memories were.
These romantic memories came with a certain challenge. No, we told ourselves, we will not allow ourselves to be deported. This is also our country and we have the right to live our lives in a way that matches our beliefs. But this supposed strength has become increasingly vulnerable over the past three years. Recently I was denied a press pass, potential customers who had Googled my name dropped out, and things around us became lonelier again. The fear that an account would be blocked or something similar grew; I had seen plenty of other examples, some in my personal environment, where things really affected me. We didn’t want to wait that long.
In our minds we have been to several countries in recent years: Italy, Spain, Mexico, Denmark, Sweden and Russia are some of them. We went back and forth and always came to the conclusion that we wanted to stay in Germany for the reasons stated. But in mid-2023 a point was reached where the idea of leaving grew, became concrete and took shape. During this period we started doing business with Hungary. Russia was problematic because of the Western sanctions, because I depend on continuing to work with my previous (loyal) customers; that would have been difficult with Russia. But I would like to confess at this point: I love the Russian soul, I got to know it and met people who greatly enriched my life.
Now we are in the country of the ‘EU villain’ Victor Orbán, and we feel good, very good. Germany seems far away to us, it has become a stranger to us. The strangeness in which we once saw the light of day. We sleep better, we watch the news from Germany more relaxed and I simply feel safer as a journalist. I have already received offers for interviews that will further my professional activities in Hungary.
Final note
At the moment I am not writing anything (yet) about the arrival in Hungary, about life, the adjustments, the language barriers and many other things you have to deal with as an emigrant. Maybe I’ll come back to it later, when I’ve had some time. But I can say that leaving your home country is less romantic than you think. It is a logistical and organizational challenge, but the psyche is also severely tested. Yet we do not regret our step; In the end it was – to put it in typical German terms – “there was no alternative”.
I don’t have a good prognosis to offer for Germany, I’m afraid things will get much worse, politicians and the media are crazy, blinded by their own delusions of grandeur and deeply dependent on the American commanders who show them the way.
But I mean it seriously when I write that I wish everyone living in Germany was wrong, just like I was wrong when I saw Corona as an accident that would be over after a few weeks. My mistake at the time turned out to be fatal and far-reaching. Maybe I’m wrong again, and this time it’s going in a more positive direction.
I wish this to everyone who reads these lines.
Tom J. Wellbrock is a journalist, speaker, copywriter, podcaster, moderator and co-editor of the blog NeulandRebels.
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