Obelisk commemorating political prisoners deported to Soviet Union ready by year-end

Budapest, February 7 (MTI) – Plans are to erect by the end of November an obelisk in memory of political prisoners deported to the Soviet Union. The site will be Oktober 6 Street in Budapest’s fifth district, the daily Magyar Idők reported on Tuesday.

Ruling Fidesz lawmaker Erzsébet Menczer told the paper that stylistic elements of the 14-metre-high granite monument will recall barbed wire and contain inscriptions in Hungarian, English, German and Russian “In memory of the victims of Soviet occupation”. Besides commemorating 800,000 people who were deported to the gulag, the memorial will also be dedicated to the Hungarian victims of the Soviet dictatorship both within and beyond the country’s borders.

Leading up to the unveiling of the monument costing 451 million forints (EUR 1.45m) will be roundtable discussions with historians, public figures, artists and church representatives taking part. She said in the course of debates, the majority agreed that setting up the monument was an indispensable act.

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Source: MTI/ Magyar Idők