Mr. Göncz a democratic thinker of 20th century Hungary was involved in politics right after the World War II. The communist takeover made it impossible to continue his activity until 1956, when during and after the revolution he played important role in the Hungarian Democratic Independence Movement. In 1957 he was arrested and sentenced life imprisonment and received amnesty in 1963.
He became politically again active during the democratic movements at the end of 1980s and was elected as president of the Republic of Hungary in 1990 and served two terms until 2000. He has been in good relationship with Václav Havel, Lech Walesa and other heroes of the democratic movements in Central and Eastern European countries of the era.
After his retirement he fulfilled honorary posts in several organizations and became also patron of GWP CEE. His personality and his engagements towards environmental protection and sustainable water management made him a perfect patron.
He attended the Prague CEE Regional Water Forum in 2002 and delivered a message to the audience from his far sighted perspective. It was his idea to enlarge the GWP CEE region towards the East and invite Ukraine to join.
On the 10th February 2012 his respecters organized a short and peaceful celebration in front of his residence in Budapest. Several hundred people got together at 4pm in front of his residence and sang a song, which in Hungary is symbolic about democracy and freedom. GWP Hungary was represented at the occasion.
Photo credit: MTI