Hungary commemorates martyred 1956 PM Imre Nagy
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President János Áder laid flowers of commemoration at the tomb of Imre Nagy, Hungary’s former prime minister and other martyrs of the communist retaliation after the failed anti-Soviet revolt of 1956, at the Rákoskeresztúr cemetery on Saturday.
Nagy, Hungary’s legitimate head of government in 1956, was executed on this day 60 years ago. Pál Maléter, defence minister in 1956, journalist Miklós Gimes, and József Szilágyi, the head of the prime minister’s secretariat, were also executed. Géza Losonczy, minister of state at the time, died in prison in 1957.
Nagy and the other martyrs, buried in unmarked graves after their death, were reburied on June 16, 1989.
Socialists, Párbeszéd commemorate martyred 1956 PM
Leaders of the opposition Socialist and Párbeszéd parties commemorated Nagy marking the 60th anniversary of his execution.
Socialist board head István Hiller and Párbeszéd co-leader Gergely Karácsony laid wreaths at the martyred prime minister’s monument in central Budapest.
Karácsony, in his address, referred to the “re-awakening forces of tyranny” and said that “the republic and freedom must again be defended against those powers”. He accused ruling Fidesz of plans to remove Nagy’s statue from the vicinity of Parliament and said that it would be equal to “removing his spirit”.
