Russian Embassy on textbook scandal: 1956 is a complex issue

In Russia, Vladimir Putin has written a new history book on 1956, when rebellious radicals, former soldiers of fascist Hungary, took up arms and committed mass murder. The textbook concludes that the Russian withdrawal from Hungary was a mistake.

Russian embassy says no problem

“Modern Russia has an unchanging respect for the historical memory of the Hungarian people and recognises that there are complex issues in our common history, including the events of 1956. Therefore, we have always approached the issue with great caution and care, not allowing it to be used for political purposes and to examine the events of the past from today’s perspective, out of historical context,” the Russian Embassy in Budapest commented on the textbook scandal.

Eleventh-graders in Russia can learn history from a new textbook produced under the supervision of Vladimir Putin’s adviser Vladimir Medinsky. The book has several problems for Hungarians. Stalin is being rehabilitated and Putin is being portrayed as the saviour of the country, writes 444.hu.

In a Facebook post, the Russian embassy labels Meduza, who first wrote about the content of the textbook, a liar. According to them, the newspaper “specialises in the production and dissemination of anti-Russian fake news, for which it is rightly considered a foreign agent in Russia“.

Hungarians are outraged

The book has caused outrage in Hungary. Opposition parties reacted to the case and even the Foreign Ministry expressed its views.

Áron Máthé, deputy chairman of the National Remembrance Committee (NEB), told InfoRadio that what is written in the Russian history textbook is undoubtedly a falsification of history from a Hungarian point of view.

Hungarian freedom, as the 1990 Memorial Act makes clear, was born from the blood of the martyrs of 1956. “It’s like when we didn’t let go of ’48, we didn’t let go of ’56. It is such a bedrock. Our whole 20th century revolves around ’56, that’s the axis!”

The director of the Petőfi Literary Museum also finds it outrageous. “Inhuman dictatorships are still inhuman and remain dictatorships if someone starts to cosmeticise them afterwards. 1956 has already been called a counter-revolution (by Hungarians, no less), and that too was a desecration of our heroes,” said Szilárd Demeter.

“Russia still sees itself as an empire, and Central and Eastern Europe as its own sphere of interest,” said Ildikó Repárdszky, vice-president of the Association of History Teachers.

The Democratic Coalition accused the author of the textbook of falsifying history, while the president of Momentum wrote a letter to Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, writes napi.hu.

Jobbik is also calling on the Foreign Minister to ask the Russian Ambassador to the EU. “We will not tolerate anyone talking about the 1956 revolution and its heroes in a humiliating way.”