The heroes of 1956: The girl, who was already dead when her photo went around the world

On the 13^th of November, 1956, a red-haired, freckled, quilted coated, 15-year-old Hungarian girl looked at the readers of the Danish Billed Bladet from the cover, with proud defiance in her eyes. She held a Russian cartridge-disc rifle in her hands. The photo of Erika Szeles went around world press. According to szeretlekmagyarorszag.hu, many people looked at the photo as the symbol of the Hungarian revolution, the symbol of courage and hope. But no one knew that the girl was already dead when her photo was published on the cover of the Danish newspaper.

The revolutionary girl was shot to death on the 7^th of November, when she was trying to help the injured in a Red Cross armband. The bullet came from a Soviet rifle and hit Erika on her neck. But who was this girl? A Danish man and the fact-finding Hírszerző portal, which doesn’t exist anymore, found out about her life a few years ago.

The photo that went around the world was made by Danish journalists. Paul Raae and his photographer, Vagn Hansen got to Hungary in the autumn of 1956 with a lot of luck as they didn’t have any permission to enter the country. They joined a Red Cross convoy with their small Volkswagen, so they were among the firsts to get to Budapest. The Danish were shocked by what they saw.

Paul Raae reported with aghast astonishment on how the crowd rushed at the State Defence Authority with bare fists. They saw a girl who jumped in front of a Russian tank to stop it. They also took photos of victims, revolutionaries, youngsters and the elderly. They were at the Üllői Road, near the Kilián barrack, and at the Köztársaság Square.

Meanwhile, they met Erika. The famous Danish photographer, asked by Hírszerző, remembered the moment precisely, even decades later. “I accidentally managed to take a photo, which went around the world and became the symbol of the revolution. I saw a beautiful, bloused and armed girl with a serious look on her face, and I convinced her to pose for a few photos.”

This serious looking, beautiful girl was born in the 13^th district of Budapest. Erika was three years old when she lost her father due to the war. She was brought up by her mother. She studied cookery and worked in the Béke Hotel in the autumn of 1956.

She often visited her uncle’s literature club. Endre Bondi was known as a conductor, composer and writer. “The 15-year-old girl joined our word-fencing with surprising maturity. She had an opinion about the debates in the Petőfi Club, and she hoped for a democratic revival with fire in her eyes” wrote journalist Tamás Földes about the girl.

When the revolution broke out, she joined the rebels on the side of her friend, who was 3-4 years older than her. It might have helped in the making of the photo that Erika probably spoke a few words in Danish, because she spent some months in Denmark at the end of the 1940s. She got there with the help of a society called Red Barnet, which helped poor kids after the war.