Commemorations of the heroes of the 1956 revolution – photos

Across the country, civilians and politicians commemorated the events of 68 years ago, when Soviet tanks drowned the Hungarian Revolution in blood.

Commemoration for fallen 1956 medics in Budapest

The National Forum and the defence ministry held a commemoration at the memorial of the fallen medics in downtown Budapest.

At the event held on the national day of mourning commemorating the crushing of the 1956 revolution, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Sándor Lezsák, the leader of the National Forum, said the statue was a “permanent source of power, an inexhaustible force field.”

Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said medics would always be needed as long as wars were fought. “We thank them for all they have done for this nation and remember those who saved lives by risking their own,” he said.

Guard of honour at a memorial ceremony in Budapest in honour of the heroic military doctors at the statue of the Hungarian doctor at the National Day of Mourning, 4 November 2024. Photo: MTI/Péter Lakatos

At another event in the 17th district of Budapest, the Prime Minister’s adviser, Katalin Szili, said the anniversary showed that “we must always stand up for Hungary’s freedom and independence”.

On November 4, 1956, Hungary was occupied, she said. In Budapest, 2,045 people died by January 1957, more than 16,000 were injured, and 456 were killed in retaliation, she said.

“The later generations must remember the heroes of 1956 at all times; that’s why parliament needed to declare November 4 a day of national mourning in 2013,” she said.

read also: Fools of ’56? Hungarian researcher sparks controversy over Heroes of the Revolution

Concert in St. Stephen’s Basilica

The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir at a concert in St. Stephen’s Basilica on the 68th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution and Freedom Fight, the national day of mourning, 4 November 2024. Photo: MTI

Tisza Party marks the crushing of the 1956 revolution

Péter Magyar, the leader of the opposition Tisza Party, paid tribute to the heroes of Hungary’s 1956 revolution at a memorial site in Kiskunmajsa, in southern Hungary, on Monday, marking the national day of mourning in remembrance of the crushing of the anti-communist uprising, the party said.

“Remembrance is especially important now that our government openly denies and goes against the most heroic days of our history,” the statement cited Magyar as saying in a speech. “They purposely want to erase those few glorious days of our history when we stood up against our oppressors, when the desire for freedom and patriotism prevailed over tyrannical oppression.”

“The Tisza Party considers the distortion and conscious desecration of the actual narrative to be unworthy of this day, unworthy of our shared national identity and unworthy of the spirit of 1956,” he added.

Magyar visited the Kiskunmajsa memorial site together with the local movement of the Tisza Islands background organisation.

Fiumei Road cemetery

Wreaths were laid at the commemoration ceremony in honour of the heroic dead and victims of the 1956 Revolution in plot 21 of the Fiumei Road cemetery on the 68th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution and Freedom Fight, on the National Day of Mourning, 4 November 2024. Photo: MTI/Attila Kovács

Photo gallery from today: Hungarian national flag flown at half-mast in front of Parliament

Christian Democrats commemoration

The sacrifice of the heroes of the 1956 revolution was what opened the door to Hungary’s transition to democracy, the withdrawal of the Soviets and ultimately the restoration of the country’s sovereignty, Tristan Azbej, deputy leader of the co-ruling Christian Democrats, said at a commemoration of the crushing of the 1956 uprising in Budapest’s 16th district on Monday.

Azbej said the Christian Democrats were paying tribute to two young 1956 martyrs, Peter Mansfeld and Ilonka Toth, who had used different means to fight against tyranny and in defence of Hungarian freedom and sovereignty.

“Peter Mansfeld took the fight to oppressive power, while Ilonka Toth had perhaps an even stronger weapon: healing,” Azbej said. “Ilonka Toth is not just a hero of patriotism, but a hero of the homeland and love.”

He said the sacrifice of the martyrs also called for today’s generation of Hungarians to fight in defence of national sovereignty, although through different means. “This is what our past teaches us, because throughout its history spanning over a millennium, Hungary always had to fight for freedom and survival.”

Azbej said the revolutionaries of 1956 had eventually earned the recognition of the entire world by rising up against one of the world’s strongest armies, adding that the heroes had also experienced what it was like to be left to fend for themselves. “Western Europe and the enlightened world didn’t really acknowledge our struggle,” Azbej said.

He said that though the freedom fight was seemingly crushed on November 4, the deaths of the martyrs had led to “a happier and freer Hungary”. The sacrifice of the revolutionaries had not been in vain, he said, because the Soviet leadership had conceded that Hungarians could not be subjugated through total dictatorship. Azbej said it was the sacrifice of the heroes of 1956 that had eventually led to Hungary’s transition to democracy, the withdrawal of the Russians and ultimately the restoration of the country’s sovereignty.