1956 committee calls for lighting candle in tribute to martyrs

Budapest, November 3 (MTI) – The 1956 commemoration committee asks all Hungarians to light a candle in tribute to the martyrs of the 1956 anti-Soviet revolution and freedom fight at 7pm on Thursday, Zoltán Balog, the president of the committee, told MTI.

On this day of national mourning, we are paying tribute to both the heroes and the victims, he said.

It was on November 4, 1956 that the Soviet military launched an invasion to quell the revolution, triggering armed resistance by freedom fighters.

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Lighting a candle could serve as a symbolic act for a common cause which is for all Hungarians to commemorate, irrespective of political sympathies, faith or age, all those who fought and sacrificed their lives for Hungary’s freedom 60 years ago, said Balog, who also serves as human resources minister.

From this day on there should come a period of “more intense” commemorations, he said, noting that the invasion was followed by volleys in Budapest and the countryside, as well as trials and brute repression even after 1958.

“After 33 years of forced silence, denial and lies following the revolution, the truth could first be searched for and told only 27 years ago,” he said.

November 4 was declared a national day of mourning by the government in 2013.

Source: MTI