Hungarians of Transcarpathia: Do not build a toilet near the monument to Sandor Petefi in Uzhgorod

Chairman of the Hungarian Party at Ukraine — "Society of Hungarian Culture of Transcarpathia" (KMKSZ) — Laszlo Brenzovich appealed to Bogdan Andreev, the mayor of Uzhgorod, the regional center of the Transcarpathian region, with a request to prevent the construction of a public toilet near the monument to the Hungarian national poet Sandor Petefi.

On behalf of the Society of Hungarian Culture of Transcarpathia (KMKSZ), its chairman Laszlo Brenzovich sent a letter to the Mayor of Uzhgorod asking him to reconsider the decision of the Executive Committee of Uzhgorod City Council dated 2024.11.25−626 "On approval of the placement of public toilets."

"We are deeply concerned about the location of the toilet in the immediate vicinity of the monument to the greatest Hungarian poet Sandor Petefi," the letter says.

Laszlo Brenzowicz recalled that the square in Uzhgorod (veng. Ungvar), which bears the name of the greatest Hungarian poet, is not only a place of historical significance, but also a venue for many important events that enrich the cultural life of Uzhgorod. The local community is constantly taking care of the monument and its surroundings, the KMKSZ chairman's letter says.

"We believe that the placement of the toilet next to the monument does not correspond to the cultural or aesthetic value of this place," the letter says and further suggests reconsidering the decision to place the toilet and "move it to another, more suitable place."

In September 1990, the then President of Hungary Arpad Gentz and the then Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR Leonid Kravchuk, in the presence of hundreds of residents of the city, jointly opened the Uzhgorod monument to Sandor Petefi on the square named in his honor.