1956: The Hungarian – Polish relationship

Ujkor.hu writes about the historical relationship between Hungary and Poland, which is often praised and proudly discussed, especially because the two nations have backed each other up for a long time. So did they in October 1956, when the Polish society supported the Hungarian insurgents.

The changes provoked and fought for in Poland against the Soviets gave the ultimate push to the university students of Budapest to express their demands in 1956. The Polish gave hope and set an example to Hungarians, who started to believe that they might also carry out the necessary changes, and when the revolution broke out many Polish people correctly regarded it as an Anti-Stalinist uprising and were convinced that the Hungarians can win their freedom.

Wladyslaw Gomulka, Polish activist and politician gave a speech on October 20, 1956, in which he criticised the Stalinist regime, including the personal cult, terror, the centralism of industries and the collectivism of agriculture, and defined the beginning of a new era. He also talked about the events in Poznan in June 1956 and highlighted that the workers there protested against the flaws and not socialism itself.

The speech was published in the Hungarian Szabad Nép, which therefore enabled the people of Hungary to become familiar with Gomulka’s anti-Stalinists thoughts, and that the Polish people wanted more freedom and independence. However, the Soviets wanted to prevent this change. Hence, the students of Budapest marched to the statue of Bem apó to assure the Polish about their solidarity and to express that Hungary wants changes similarly to Poland.

The protesters acknowledged Warsaw’s exemplary position in showing the changes, but still highlighted that their own Hungarian way has to be followed, according to which socialism should be established through taking the national particularities into account instead of basing it on a Soviet example. The crowd of protesters showed a board saying “Solidarity with the Polish people” and a picture of the Polish coat-of-arms. Even their national flag was held during the march. By singing different rhymes Hungarians further expressed their solidarity and friendship with the Polish people, both nations aiming for independence.

Adam Wazyk, Polish poet was also present at the Bem statue. One of his poems meant the beginning of the de-Stalinization and was translated into Hungarian by Béla Horváth and published as Vers felnőtteknek. Wazyk could not present a speech to the crowds on October 23, however, he was inspired by the revolution and thus included it in a poem. Aside him, Zbigniew Herbert, Wiktor Woroszylski, Julian Przybos, Andrey Strumillo, Stefan Zarebski, Tadeusz Sliwak, Tadeusz Kubiak and Jaroslaw Iwaszkiewicz dedicated poems to the Hungarian Revolution.

[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/polish-president-andrzej-duda-marks-1956-anniversary-budapest/” color=”black” newwindow=”yes”] Polish President Adrzej Duda marks the 60th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution in Budapest [/button]

Polish people from all over Poland volunteered to help the Hungarians’ fight for independence. The regional press did not fail to make accounts on conspiracies. The most active participants were the already Budapest-based Polish university students, such as Andrzej Bratkowski, Hanna Linsenmann and Lidia Widajewicz. Widajewicz even fought on the streets of Budapest with a machine gun for which she became the victim of a fatal accident – “contributed to” by the Polish internal security organisations – after going back home.

Moreover, Polish journalists also played a part in the revolution: they reported regularly on the events and encouraged the people to lend a helping hand. The writings of Wiktor Woroszylski (Nowa Kultura), Hanna Adamiecka (Sztandar Mlodych), and Marian Bielicki (Pro Prostu) greatly affected the Polish society. But, October 24 brought a speech by Gomulka stating that the state power will not tolerate any acts against the Polish state interests, and that it was about time to get back to the everyday work and stop the congresses and protests.

Nonetheless, the Polish society still focused on Hungary: the young workers, university students and intellectuals followed the events of Budapest, while Gomulka was constantly reminding them of the awful tragedies of the 1944 uprising of Warsaw in order to prevent a revolution. Therefore, the bloodshed in Hungary came, sort-of, handy for him to prove his right. Everybody seemed to understand that but, nonetheless, their enthusiasm did not seem to stop; they believed that the Hungarians will make it, and that their success will affect Poland.

During his speech, even on the previous day, the crowds held not only the national flag of Poland, but also that of Hungary. Also, in front of the Hungarian Cultural Institute students held the flag, written “Respect to the Hungarian nation” on it. In front of the parliament they put out a poster saying that “The Hungarians are screaming for help”, while others went to the Hungarian Embassy to express their solidarity with the nation.