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INTRODUCTION
Most people would like to know not only about their future, but also about their past. As past contains only concrete happenings, you can be sure that you get authentic information about them. You cannot separate your life and these events beginning from the day you were born. I belong to that group of people who would like to know more about this day. I was born on 28th December 1977 in Komló. As I had no information about the events of that day happening around the world and in Hungary, I looked for some articles, which are the basis of this research paper. The articles can be found in Dunántúli Napló, which is a Hungarian daily.

METHOD
My method was to compare the events that happened on December 28, 1977 with the ones happened in the 90’s and examine them in terms of changes. I approached this day through world and local events. The events are compared on the basis of similarity and on the basis of the degree the world has changed since then.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Foreign Affairs
December 28, 1977. One of the most significant events was a negotiation between two political leaders. One of them was Helmut Schmidt, the chancellor of West Germany and the other one was Sadat, the Prime Minister of Egypt. They held a conference in which they emphasised the importance of peace in the Middle East. Sadat expressed his views optimistically about keeping the peace there. This negotiation was mainly about economic problems. Egypt would have liked to get some help from Germany when making plans of investment, such as the program of building a town in the desert, supporting the energy system at Kattara lowland and discussing plans related to developing the infrastructure. Egypt expressed its hope of getting a considerable amount of credit, too.
(24 óra a nagyvilágban
H: Schmidt tárgyalása; Kairóban)

In 1990 the two Germanys were united. The chancellor is Helmut Kohl, who has been in power for 12 years. That is the longest period a chancellor has ever had in Germany. He does not have much contact with Egypt; he is negotiating about economic problems with Yeltsin, the president of Russia.

While politicians were talking over peace, some unknown extremists shot one of the MSI (Italian New Fascist Movement) activists in Rome. The victim was a 30-year-old man, called Angelo Pistolesi. At the same time with the murder, an infernal machine blew up in one of the New Fascist Party’s room; this explosion smashed the furniture to pieces. In spite of the fact that this action was not taken upon by any of the organisations, it seemed that this terrorist attack was carried out by people of the extreme right and of the extreme left.

(24 óra a nagyvilágban – Róma)

Terrorist attacks played the main role in Bonn, too. But these acts were heard at Stuttgart Court. Verena Becker, accused of being involved in terrorist attacks, was sentenced for life. According to the West German authorities this 25 year-old woman was the most dangerous terrorist. She became famous after blowing up the British Yacht Club in West Berlin. She was imprisoned – as a juvenile – for this action for six years in 1974. But one year later she was released together with her four companions in exchange for a representative, Peter Lorenz. The police caught her six months later next to the Swiss border. She was with Günter Sonnenberg, who was accused of killing Buback, public prosecutor. Becker was found to be guilty in murder and robbery.
The court inflicted the most serious punishment upon her that existed is West Germany at that time.
(24 óra a nagyvilágban –
Elítélték a terrorista Beckert)

Magda Marinko, who is perhaps the best known terrorist all over Europe, was arrested two years ago in Hungary. His trial must have been the most famous one in Europe. He was accused of having killed a family in Szeged. He was declared to be guilty and was sent to prison for life. He is in the prison of Sátoraljaújhely.

Yasser Arafat was one of the most famous Arabian politicians in the 70’s. He was the head of the Palestine Liberation Movement. On December 28th in 1977 he met Yugoslav politicians in Belgrade: Josip Broz Tito, Yugoslav head of state, Vaseline Durahovic, prime minister and Milos Minic, foreign minister. He also met Stane Dolanc, who was the secretary of the Yugoslav Communist Alliance. Faruk Khaddumi, the leader of the political department of Palestine Liberation Movement, was also present at the conference. They discussed the latest. Middle Eastern results and the role of the PLM in solving the crisis fairly.
(24 óra a nagyvilágban – Belgrád)

Yasser Arafat is still alive and still plays an important role in political life. His aim is to get Jerusalem and annex this territory to Arabia

World News
Catastrophe

On December 28th there was an earthquake in Uppsala measuring 6,9 on the Richter scale. According to the scientists the epicentre of the earthquake was the coast of the Red Sea, somewhere between Ethiopia and Sudan.
(Lapzárta)


In the last few months there were several earthquakes at different parts of the world. Most of them were not in Africa but in Turkey or next to it.

Soviet Astronauts in the Space

Two Soviet astronauts, Yuri Romanienco and Georgij Gretsko, were sent to the space to carry out some biological experiments. Their task was to observe how amphibian developed in outer space. That was their third week in the space laboratory, They worked for the Saliut – 6 space station. According to the plans they were to fly over Far East on New Year’s Eve. As part of their task they also checked the equipment and they found everything to be all right.
(Szilveszter a világûrben)

There is no Soviet Union any more, but Russia continues investing money in space exploration. As Russians have no enough money, they cooperate with the Americans. In this way they gain not only better apparatus, but also useful information. In spite of this co-operation there is still some rivalry between them.

Charlie Chaplin’s Funeral
It was published on December 28th that Charlie Chaplin, on of the most outstanding actors, had been buried on December 28th in the cemetery of Corsier-Sur-Vevey.
Not only his relatives and his friends were present, but also John Wraight, the Ambassador of Switzerland, who came on behalf of the Queen of England. Out of his eight children only Geraldine Chaplin stayed away who was shooting a film in Spain.
(24 óra a nagyvilágban)

Chaplin’s films are still popular and can be seen on the television quite often. Chaplin’s daughter became a famous actress she managed to prove that she is also good at acting, not just her father.

HUNGARY

The number of births is increasing

The article dealing with this topic was published on 28th December when I was born. According to the article the number of abortions is gradually decreasing and the number of births is increasing. The aim of the demographic policy is to have healthy babies. Pregnant women were given special sheets of paper so that doctors could gain information related to their health and working circumstances. In order to make their work easier, some of the factories set up some machines where working was not exhausting.

The most essential program is the one that deals with preparing mothers for the mental and physical difficulty of giving birth.

Setting up crèches made women’s situation better. More children were taken after in crèches in Pécs in 1976.
(Évrõl évre emelkedik a születések száma)

A lot of babies were born in 1977 and 1978, but the number of births decreased in the 80’s. This tendency can be discovered in the 90’s, too. One reason for this may be the change of regime. Everyone had some job in the communism and couples had enough money to bring up a child. After the change of regime the rate of the unemployment increased.
This is still a problem, a lot of people are afraid of losing their jobs. They do not dare to have babies because they have neither flat nor money. They can hardly make both ends meet.

Anniversary

The China Factory is 200 years old in Hollóháza.

The factory celebrated its 200th anniversary in 1977. The glass house was founded in 1772. This glass house developed into a china factory and soon became famous. The factory achieved the first great results in 1855 in an exhibition in Budapest. The china products were also displayed in Paris and in Milan
(200 éves a Hollóházi Porcelángyár)

The factory still works and produces beautiful and expensive China. Besides Zsolnay it is the most famous type of porcelain in Hungary. It is not only popular in Hungary, but also all over the world.


New Stamps

On December 28th new stamps were put in circulation as the last stamps of the year. These stamps represent the transcontinental waterways of Europe: the Danube, the Rhine and the Maine. Eleven stamps make up this collection. The whole collection costs 22 Ft, but one stamp costs only 2 Ft. 71300 stamps are numbered and jagged and 17300 stamps are numbered but not jagged. The setting is the same on each stamp, just the figure is different. The countries represented on them are the following: Austria, Bulgaria, Czecho-Slovakia, France, the Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Hungary, West Germany, Romania, Switzerland and the Soviet Union. Under the flags different types of ships were printed. (Új bélyegblokk)

The biggest difference between the stamps that are now in circulation and the ones, which were made in 1977, is the price. Today a stamp costs about 27 Ft and the price of a collection is even higher.

KOMLÓ
The Midwife

Huber Ferencné worked as a midwife for 50 years. She worked in the hospital of Komló, too, where I vas born. She was 76 years old in. 1977 and still was working. Her reason for this was the happiness that she felt when she caught sight of the baby. After having graduated she moved to Csurgó where she grew up. In 1952 she moved to Komló where the new hospital was opened. She could not image herself doing nothing. She intended to work as long as she could. (A bábanéni)

Huber Ferencné died at the age of 83. She was the last midwife in the hospital of Komló. Now there are only professional obstetricians working there.

Weather
On 28th December the weather was unusually mild. Warm and humid air was blown to Hungary from the Western part of Europe. This current made the cold air disappear. The weather was just as nice as in the spring. This can be felt in the whole Carpathian basin. The temperature was 3 degree centigrade in Pécs, the average temperature in the daytime was a bit higher.
(Tavasz a télben)
The sun rose at about the same time when I was born: 7.30 a.m. It set at 4 p.m. (Hírek)

CONCLUSION
These two decades brought several changes. The world changed a lot. Nevertheless, there are some actions and events that could have happened (or actually happened) in 1997, too, e.g.: terrorist attacks, catastrophes and space research. Some politicians who played an important role throughout the 70’s are still alive and still have the power, e.g.: Yasser Arafat. There are new discoveries in space research doe to better technology and co-operation. Terrorist attacks seem to occur more often in 1997. than in 1977. Terrorists have better weapons and they would do anything to reach their goals. As for catastrophes, there are more disasters in Hungary, too, especially flood and storm.
All in all, there is not much difference. There is only one change which is significant: the development of technology.