The 60th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution

1956 – Leftist opposition urges unity, change of government

Budapest (MTI) – Leftist opposition parties urged cross-party cooperation to oust the government and achieve a “new change of regime” at a demonstration and commemoration of Hungary’s anti-Soviet uprising of 1956 in Budapest on Sunday.

Referring to the ruling parties, Socialist Party leader Gyula Molnár said those claiming to be the heirs of the 1956 revolutionaries “desecrate” the ideals of the revolution. “They are not the heirs of Imre Nagy, but more like those of [former communist dictator] Matyas Rakosi,” Molnár said. He said the words of martyred PM Nagy, that a dictatorship must be destroyed and not reformed, still rang true today. Molnar said his party had “never thought” that “a time would come” when the demands of 1956 “would once again sound exactly as they did sixty years ago”. These demands, he said, included bringing an end to oppression, the establishment of a free media and a call for Russia not to “interfere” in Hungarian politics.

Molnár said it was possible to oust the Orbán government, adding that such a feat would “simply” require winning a majority in 106 constituencies and among the votes cast for national party lists.

Democratic Coalition leader Ferenc Gyurcsány said it was not simply the governance of the ruling parties that was “bad” in Hungary today, but rather the “system” altogether and voiced agreement with those calling for a new change of regime. He said that although the leftist parties deserved criticism for their failed joint election campaign of 2014, without them joining forces at the time the situation in Hungary would be “even worse” today. He said the leftist opposition must now draw the necessary conclusions from that campaign and enter into talks with opposition players who, although may not have many supporters, are honest and “want the same thing” as the bigger parties.

“There is no middle ground,” Gyurcsány insisted. “Those who are not against Orbán are with him,” the former prime minister said. “I am against Orbán and we will defeat him and create a new Hungary,” he added.

Gergely Karácsony, co-leader of the Dialogue Party, also called for a change of regime and said that a new republic should be established in Hungary. But in order to achieve this, the opposition parties will have to reach a compromise on how to work together, he said, adding that the parties will start talks on a potential cooperation in the 2018 general election as early as next week. He said October 23 should be a day of celebrating the heroes of 1956 but the opposition had to “come out and protest” because the freedom that the Hungarian heroes had risked their lives for sixty years ago was “waning” once again.

Karácsony said the republic was “dead”. The country’s leaders only care about using their power to get rich and their money to amass “even more power”, he insisted. He described the prime minister as “the first tyrant” in the history of Hungary to be kept in power not by the soldiers of a foreign power but by the apathy of his own people. Referring to the revolution’s 50th anniversary, whose commemorations had been held amid violent anti-government protests and police actions in 2006, Karácsony said that similar incidents, namely that “half the country feels that the police can’t tell the difference between the street mobs and citizens exercising their right of assembly”, could not happen in the future “new” Hungarian republic. Karácsony said he was “sorry” for the events of 2006.

Lajos Bokros, head of the conservative MoMa party, said that once a “democratic power” is elected, they should “request a 500-day mandate” to “restore the constitutional rule of law” and democracy in Hungary.

Photo: MTI

October 24, 2016

Polish president Andrzej Duda marks 1956 anniversary in Budapest

Budapest, October 23 (MTI) – Hungarians “have always been friends” and they can always rely on Poland, “even in difficult moments of the future”, Polish President Andrzej Duda said in his address at a commemoration of the 1956 revolution in front of Parliament on Sunday.

Referring to the Poznan uprising, which preceded developments in Budapest, Duda said that Polish revolutionaries wanted the same things as Hungarians: “a decent living and freedom, all that communism had taken away”. Hungarians, however, went even further: they demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops, independence for the country, self-determination and a multi-party system, the Polish president said.

Poland is “proud and grateful” that it was able to provide aid to the Hungarian revolution, Duda said, and noted that his people had sent 44 tonnes of medicine and medical equipment as well as 800 litres of blood to Hungary shortly after the uprising broke out. “Poles are proud that the grandchildren of 1956 heroes have, symbolically, Polish blood in their veins”, the president said.

In Hungary’s freedom fight “thousands died, but after some decades, finally, you recovered your freedom through much suffering and sacrifice,” Duda said. He also voiced his conviction that “through hard work both Poles and Hungarians will achieve the living standards of western societies”.

Concerning the traditional freedom between the two countries, Duda said that they together “carry on the thousand-year-old Christian tradition in Europe”, and insisted that those traditions were just as important as freedom.

“God bless Poland and Hungary, glory to the heroes of the Hungarian revolution,” Duda said concluding his address.

Photo: MTI

October 23, 2016

1956 – Jobbik: ‘No bargaining’ over independence or freedom

Budapest, October 23 (MTI) – The country’s independence and the freedom of its people are “not for sale”, Gábor Vona, head of the Jobbik party, said at a commemoration of the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising at Budapest’s Corvin Cinema, a shrine of the revolution, on Sunday.

In his address, Vona paid tribute to the revolutionaries, and urged that the list of communist-era informers should be made public. He also urged that perpetrators of violent acts during anti-government demonstrations on the same day in 2006 should be punished.

Gábor Vona, president of Jobbik, photo: MTI

On another subject, Vona said that all his party’s deputies had signed a declaration that they would not support the government’s constitutional amendment bill unless the government dropped its residency bond scheme.

Photo: MTI

October 23, 2016

1956 – Anti-govt protestors demonstrate during state celebrations:

Budapest, October 23 (MTI) – Anti-government demonstrators gathered near Budapest’s Kossuth Square to try to disturb state celebrations marking Hungary’s anti-Soviet uprising of 1956 on Sunday afternoon in Budapest.

The protesters used referee whistles, horns and rattlers to express their disapproval of the government and got louder when Prime Minister Viktor Orbán went up on stage to deliver his speech.

The protesters mainly consisted of supporters of the opposition Együtt party and members of the Civil Opposition Roundtable and the Democratic Resistance civil groups.

Several scuffles broke out between demonstrators and those who were there for the celebrations.

[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/today-60th-anniversary-1956-hungarian-revolution/” color=”green” newwindow=”yes”] Related article: TODAY – THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1956 HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION[/button]

Photo: MTI

October 23, 2016

1956, state commemoration – Orbán: October 23 a ‘day to be proud’

Budapest, October 23 (MTI) – October 23 is a day on which Hungarians should be proud, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at the state commemoration of Hungary’s anti-Soviet uprising of 1956 at Budapest’s Kossuth Square in front of Parliament on Sunday.

Even after 60 years, October 23 is still a day that “lifts up and cleanses us”, the prime minister said, calling the national holiday a “shared heritage” of the Hungarian people.

He said Hungarians can be thankful to the heroes of 1956 that Hungarians had much to be proud of even in “the darkest years of Hungary’s history”.

At the beginning of his speech, Orbán greeted Polish President Andrzej Duda, the guest of honour at this year’s celebrations. Orbán described Hungarian-Polish relations as a one thousand-year-old friendship of two “courageous” nations.

Hungarians will always fight for freedom and will achieve it “even in the most hopeless of situations,” Orbán insisted. “We, Hungarians, have a talent for freedom, we have always known how to use it. He warned that freedom is “not a final state but a way of existence; just like swimming: you stop doing it and you will sink”. The question is always this simple: whether we decide on our own fate or other people,” he added.

Concerning the European Union, Orbán said that “freedom-loving peoples of Europe must save Brussels from Sovietisation”. He argued that the EU must not be turned into a “modern-age empire”; the community must not be replaced by a “United States of Europe”. “We, Hungarians, want to remain a European nation, rather than become an ethnic minority in Europe,” Orban insisted. “It is only our national independence that can save us from being devoured by an empire,” Orbán said, and argued that it was that very “national idea” that had saved Hungary from being integrated into the Soviet Union.

As descendants of 1956, Hungarians “cannot let Europe cut the roots that had once made it great and also helped us survive communist oppression,” Orbán said.

He added that Europe could not be “free, strong, and respectable without the revitalising power of nations and two thousand years of Christian wisdom”, Orbán said.

History puts Hungary in the mainstream of disputes on the future of Europe every 30 years, the prime minister said. He argued that in 1956 Hungary attempted to “shift the Iron Curtain east of our borders”, then in 1989 the country opened its western borders “so that Germans could find a way to Germans”, while recently Hungary “had to close its borders to stop the influx of migrants from the south”.

Hungary will not falter “even if those whom we are trying to protect attack us from behind”; we have “the courage to face injustice… and Europe can always rely on us,” Orbán said. “We cannot allow terrorists, profit hunters that dispatch hundreds of thousands in the hopes of a better life to Europe, or the naive who have no idea what fatal jeopardy they will toss Europe and themselves into to gain ground,” Orbán said.

Hungary chose “the hard way” when it “preferred children of its own to immigrants, work to speculation, earning a living to becoming a slave of indebtedness, and protecting borders to surrendering”, Orbán said.

Concluding his speech, Orbán urged a “spiritual awakening” and argued that despite “political power, parliamentary majority or a new constitution” victory was not possible without “elevating the hearts” of the people. “For major things we need unity; for other things we need freedom, and love for all things,” he said.

Photo: MTI

October 23, 2016

1956 – Gyurcsány: Current PM in contrast with spirit of revolution

Budapest, October 23 (MTI) – The current prime minister is sharply in contrast with the spirit of Hungary’s martyred PM Imre Nagy and the anti-Sovet revolution of 1956, opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) leader Ferenc Gyurcsány said on Sunday.

Gyurcsány said at a party event in Budapest commemorating 1956 that the current prime minister has gained fame for “ravaging freedom and democracy”.

“If the revolution of Imre Nagy was the revolution of freedom and democracy then the current prime minister is the leader of a counter-revolution”, he said.

“Only the current democratic opposition parties, movements, supporters and voters are entitled to honourably talk about Imre Nagy and his fellow martyrs”, he added.

After the event, Gyurcsány and other DK politicians laid wreaths at a memorial on 1956-ers Square.

October 23, 2016

1956 – Martyred PM Imre Nagy hero of ‘progressive left’, say Socialists

Budapest, October 23 (MTI) – Hungary’s right wants to re-write the history of 1956, the leader of the opposition Socialist party said at commemorations of the anti-Soviet uprising on Sunday.

Hungary’s “progressive left” looks upon Imre Nagy as their “biggest hero”, Gyula Molnár said. The notions of 1956 on ending oppression, creating freedom of speech and press and stopping Russian influence on Hungarian domestic policies are again timely, Molnar said at an event held on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the October 23 revolution by the Imre Nagy memorial house in Budapest.

Imre Nagy, a former communist prime minister, had the courage to take Hungary onto the path of freedom and democracy, Molnár said. The most important message of the martyred prime minister was that “a dictatorship should not be reformed, but changed,” he said. One of the “most beautiful messages of 1956 was that then a real national bloc was created, uniting people for freedom and democracy”, he said. In contrast, today 3.2 million voters are being declared the “new national bloc”, which means that ruling Fidesz is the “party of the new minority”, he added referring to the turnout at Hungary’s recent referendum on migrant quotas. The majority in Hungary today wants freedom of the press and adequate health-care services and education for all, while helping those in need and creating jobs with sufficient income to live on, Molnár said.

“A year and a half before 1956 the majority of people thought that power was eternal, and many think the same today, but the Socialists believe that the government can be toppled,” he said.

Photo: MTI

October 23, 2016

1956 – Flag hoisted at Parliament building to commemorate Oct 23 uprising – PHOTOS

Budapest, October 23 (MTI) – Hungary’s national flag was hoisted in front of the Parliament building on Sunday, in a state commemoration marking the 60th anniversary of the anti-Soviet uprising which started on October 23, 1956.

The ceremony was attended by President János Áder, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, House Speaker László Kövér, Tibor Benkő, chief of staff of the Hungarian military, and diplomats.

A series of commemorations and programmes will be held across the country during the day to pay tribute to heroes of the failed revolution and freedom fight.

To mark the anniversary, the government set up a memorial committee and declared 2016 the Year of Hungarian Freedom. The chief patron of the memorial year is Köver and its patron is Mária Wittner, a former lawmaker of the ruling Fidesz party who received a death sentence after 1956.

Hungary’s national flag was hoisted in front of the Parliament building

Photo: MTI

October 23, 2016

Today – The 60th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution

According to the government’s official website, on 23 October 1956, the revolt against Soviet occupation and Communist repression began as a demonstration of university students in Budapest.

After the student demonstrations, hundreds of thousands outside the Parliament listened to Imre Nagy’s speech in which he promised reforms. A bloody fusillade was shot into the unarmed crowd at the building of the Hungarian Radio, which resulted in an armed uprising by the evening. The protesters tore down the Stalin Monument – the symbol of the Communist dictatorship – on the Dózsa György Road, and occupied the building of the Hungarian Radio by dawn.

Although in the following days the legally formed government of Imre Nagy took the first steps towards democratic transition, and the negotiations over the withdrawal of Soviet forces also commenced, on the 4th November the Russian tanks started to advance in the direction of the capital without any declaration of war. By about November 10 the much more significant soviet force defeated the resisting armed civilian insurgents. Fearing reprisal, hundreds of thousands fled the country, but even so, the Kádár regime imprisoned thousands of people, and several hundred freedom fighters were executed.

[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/tag/the-60th-anniversary-of-the-1956-revolution/” color=”green” newwindow=”yes”] Read more about THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1956 REVOLUTION[/button]

After the crushing of the revolution it was forbidden to commemorate 23 October, or even mention it. According to the official Communist position, a “counter-revolution” took place, organized by “reactionaries” and “common criminals”. It was only those who emigrated abroad who openly kept alive the memory of 23 October.

In Hungary, in parallel with the weakening of the regime at the end of the 1980s, the true story of 1956 began to get publicity. October 23 became a symbol, as attested by the fact that it was on the 23rd October 1989 when Mátyás Szűrös, the acting president, proclaimed the Third Hungarian Republic in front of a crowd of hundreds of thousands gathered outside the Parliament.

By Act VIII (1991), the new, democratically elected National Assembly declared 23rd October an official national holiday, and the Fundamental Law of Hungary (2012) also confirmed its status.

By tradition, after raising the national flag of Hungary on the Memorial Day, the heroes and victims of 1956 are commemorated at designated sites of the Revolution (the Budapest University of Technology, the Bem statue, the building of the Hungarian Radio, and the sites of the clashes in Budapest).

Copy editor: bm

October 23, 2016

1956 – Commemorative torchlight march held in Budapest – Photos

Budapest, October 22 (MTI) – A torchlight march to commemorate Hungary’s 1956 anti-Soviet uprising was held in Budapest on Saturday evening.

A crowd of several thousand people, many carrying national flags, set out from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, the site from where revolutionary marchers departed on October 22 in 1956.

[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/1956-october-23-start-of-the-hungarian-revolution/” color=”red” newwindow=”yes”] Related article: 1956, OCTOBER 23 – START OF THE HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION[/button]

The marchers stopped at the 1956 Eternal Flame memorial at Nagy Imre Square where Budapest Mayor István Tarlós addressed the crowd.

1956 - Commemorative torchlight march held in Budapest — 1956 – Commemorative torchlight march held in Budapest

“The flame of the revolution must be preserved by us, the heirs of the glorious revolutionaries,” Tarlós said.

“In 1956 Hungarians barely had any weapons other than their love for freedom. And as long as it is fuelled by the passion for freedom, hope never dies,” the mayor added.

The march concluded in front of the József Bem statue at Bem József Square.

Photo: MTI

October 22, 2016

Commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the 1956 revolution in Zurich

Zurich, October 22 (MTI) – The Hungarian and Swiss nations are linked by their shared European heritage and the key role played by freedom in their history, Zoltán Balog, Hungary’s human resources minister, told MTI after giving a speech at a commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the 1956 revolution in Zurich on Friday.

The minister spoke in front of hundreds of people commemorating the revolution about the shared intellectual, spiritual and cultural basis that linked Hungary and Switzerland in 1956, pointing out that this was what had allowed Hungarians to integrate into their new home in Switzerland.

Balog said the difference between Europe’s current migration crisis and the exodus of some 200,000 Hungarians 60 years ago was that Hungarians and the nations that took them in shared a European cultural, intellectual and historic heritage, which he said allowed them to enrich one another in their coexistence in the same country, while those arriving in Europe today come from a distant foreign culture. If they were all admitted, they would change the historic and cultural face of the continent, he said.

The commemoration, where former member of the Swiss Federal Council Cristoph Blocher also gave a speech, ended with a performance by the Hungarian Radio Symphonic Orchestra, conducted by Tamás Vasary.

After the event, Balog also met with leaders of Hungarian organisations operating in Switzerland, commending their intensive ecclesiastic and cultural activity.

October 22, 2016

Hungarian defence minister marks 1956 anniversary in Vienna

Vienna (MTI) – István Simicskó, Hungary’s defence minister, attended a ceremony marking the upcoming 60th anniversary of the 1956 anti-Soviet revolution at the Hungarian embassy in Vienna on Friday.

Hungarians paid the price of their freedom and they want to protect and preserve that freedom, Simicskó said.

The lesson to be learned from 1956 is that freedom “is not something we can be gifted”. Hungarians — like the Austrians — want to have control over the fate of their own homeland and families, Simicskó added.

The minister said the “secret” of 1956 was “heartfelt patriotism and a love for freedom”.

Simicskó thanked the people of Austria for taking in nearly 200,000 Hungarian refugees who had fled communist retaliation for the revolution, many of whom, he noted, eventually found homes there.

The minister told MTI that it was wrong to draw parallels between the current migration wave and the refugees of the 1956 revolution.

Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil said at the event that the uprising had demonstrated the Hungarian people’s courage and desire for freedom. He expressed hope that Hungary and Austria can maintain their good relations.

October 22, 2016

Justice minister marks 1956 anniversary in Poland

Warsaw, October 21 (MTI) – Justice Minister László Trócsányi attended a ceremonial reception marking the upcoming anniversary of the 1956 revolution, at the Hungarian embassy in Warsaw on Friday.

In his address, Trócsányi said that Hungary and Poland “always showed sympathy for each other’s freedom fights”. He said that the two nations were linked through “a thousand ways”, one of the links being a desire for freedom.

After the reception, the minister saw the world premiere of Andor Szilágyi’s Ilonka Tóth, a play about a 1956 martyr, presented by the Hungarian National Theatre at the Teatr Polski.

In his address before the performance, Trócsányi said that “Europe could not have been free without a free Poland and free Hungary”. He also said that “we belong to an integrating Europe whose institutions we may even have disputes with” and added that “we want to and are able to participate in the life of this Europe as equal partners”.

Poland and Hungary used to be allies in their freedom fights and “we are now peers in freedom”, Trócsányi added.

October 22, 2016

The events on 23 October are about heroism, tribute and freedom

At a press conference, MoD Parliamentary State Secretary Tamás Vargha stated that heroism, tribute and freedom will be the central ideas of the commemoration organized for the 60th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution and Freedom Fight.

The state secretary remarked that the struggles of the Hungarian nation were not over at the end of the Second World War, as “one occupation was followed by another”. October 1956 called for heroism and self-sacrifice. He added that those average young people who went to the streets in 1956 wrote history and sacrificed their lives without hesitation for Hungary’s freedom and independence.

In 1956, the Hungarians stood up for the nation, independence and freedom with “an elementary force”, the state secretary said. Speaking of the central programs, he emphasized that on Sunday, 23 October, the National Day of Hungarian Freedom, all Hungarians are expected to gather at 15:00 in the afternoon outside the House of Parliament in Kossuth Square, where speeches will be delivered by Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán and President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda.

In answer to a question, Tamás Vargha said that the most important thing is to guarantee the safety of participants, foreign guests and celebrators. The terror threat of the country has not changed, so the level of security measures for 23 October will be similar to that of the 20 August celebrations.

MoD Program Manager László Szabó told the press that the programs will be coordinated by the 1956 Memorial Committee. As usual, the Operations Unit will be responsible for the security of the events, in cooperation with representatives of the police, the disaster management, the ambulance service, the meteorological service and the Centre for Budapest Transport (BKK).

Saturday, 22 October

The central events already start on Saturday, 22 October. On that day, from 10:00 to 18:00, visitors can see the Holy Crown inside the House of Parliament. In the afternoon, former Prime Minister Péter Boross, President of the Public Foundation for Freedom Fighters delivers a speech at the 1956 memorial of the Budapest University of Technology (BME). At 15:00 in the afternoon, the traditional commemoration ceremony “The people made history” begins at BME, with speakers including Mária Schmidt, Government Commissioner in charge of the 1956 Memorial Year.

Following the BME commemoration ceremony, a torchlight procession sets off from BME to Józef Bem’s statue. At 17:30, the Flame of Revolution rises in Nagy Imre Square, where Mayor of Budapest István Tarlós delivers a speech. At 18:00 in the evening, a wreath-laying ceremony takes place at the Bem statue, where President of the Rákóczi Association József Halzl gives a speech.

Sunday, 23 Ocober

On Sunday, 23 October the central programs start in Kossuth Square, where, in the presence of President of Hungary János Áder, the flag of Hungary is raised with military honors at 09:00 in the morning. At 15:00, a ceremony entitled “For a Free Hungary” starts in Kossuth Square, after which, at 19:00 in the evening, the Freedom Concert begins in the László Papp Budapest Sports Arena.

László Szabó also noted that on 4 November there will be a period tram service on the tramlines 4 and 6, and newsboys will hand out 1956 news digests at the stops of trams 6 and 49.

Due to the weekend events, tram 2 will be running on a shortened route. On Saturday evening at 10:00, Vértanúk tere will be closed down, just like the lower quay on the Pest side on Sunday.

A detailed description of the central events organized for the 60th anniversary of the Revolution can be found on the website oktober23.kormany.hu.

The new, democratically elected National Assembly declared 23 October an official national holiday in 1991, which was later confirmed by the Fundamental Law of Hungary in 2012.

Photo: MTI

October 21, 2016

1956 through eyes of western diplomats exhibition opens in Budapest

Budapest (MTI) – An exhibition and associated website presenting Hungary’s 1956 revolution from the perspective of western diplomats opened at the British embassy on Thursday.

Britain’s ambassador Iain Lindsay said at a related press event that the job of the British diplomats and their Hungarian and British colleagues had been to observe and document the events taking place on the street at the time. The personal observations and reports were important for British diplomats in such organisations as the United Nations Security Council, he said.

The ambassador paid tribute to Hungarian colleagues working at the embassy in 1956 who had taken great risks in the course of their duty.

[button link=”https://dailynewshungary.com/hungarian-foreign-minister-marks-1956-anniversary-ceremony-london/” color=”lightblue” newwindow=”yes”] Related article: HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER MARKS 1956 ANNIVERSARY AT CEREMONY IN LONDON[/button]

The events of October and November 1956 can be glimpsed through the material of the British embassy’s reports, which are now unshrouded from secrecy, as well as the personal recollections of erstwhile British and Hungary employees at the exhibition and at www.1956nezopontok.hu.

October 21, 2016

Government official calls for ‘peaceful’ commemorations on October 23

Budapest (MTI) – State secretary Csaba Dömötör has called on politicians to mark the upcoming anniversary of the 1956 revolution in a “peaceful and dignified” manner.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Dömötör said that those attending October 23 commemorations should “set aside political considerations at least for one day”.

“1956 is not a party political cause but a national affair; we owe it to the heroes of the revolution to show that Hungary is undivided when it comes to our most important values,” he said.

Referring to anti-government demonstrations on the same day in 2006, Dömötör said that the then Socialist government had “destroyed a peaceful holiday”.

Christian Democrat lawmaker István Hollik, at another press conference, accused the left wing of hiring provocateurs to disrupt the commemorations.

“While decent people would like to commemorate the heroes and their brave quest for freedom, some signs suggest . that the left is preparing to disrupt the holiday,” he said.

On Tuesday, Gergely Gulyás, deputy leader of ruling Fidesz, addressed a similar call to participants. “Nobody should be afraid to express their opinion or exercise their right of assembly, but we think appropriate behaviour can be expected from the whole of Hungary’s political community”, he said.

Photo: MTI

October 21, 2016

Busts of philosopher Hannah Arendt, poet Zbigniew Herbert inaugurated in Budapest

Budapest, October 20 (MTI) – Busts dedicated to German-American philosopher Hannah Arendt and Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert were inaugurated in Budapest’s 15th district on Thursday as part of the October 23 anniversary memorial events.

Local mayor László Hajdu, of the opposition Democratic Coalition party, said that the anti-Soviet revolution of 1956 drew attention to Hungary from all over the world, which also made it an event of historic importance for the country.

The statue park in Széchenyi Square dedicated to 1956 was opened two years ago and the first statue put on display was of French philosopher and author Albert Camus.

US Ambassador Colleen Bell told the inauguration ceremony that the writings and ideas of Arendt and Herbert are still the subject of discourse. She cited a letter written by Arendt about the 1956 revolution, in which she said

“In any case, Hungary is the best thing that has happened for a long time”. Commenting on Herbert, she said the Communist regime silenced him several times but he was still fighting against repression with his poems. They both used their knowledge to educate and inspire young people, Bell added.

Germany’s First Counsellor in Hungary, Claudia Walpuski, said the events of 1956 showed that people could stand up for democracy in many different ways: some by going out on to the streets and others by using pen and paper.

Poland’s charge d’affaires ad interim Michal Andrukonis said that 1956 was a very important event in Hungarian-Polish friendship, showing that freedom is the foundation of the two nations’ firm friendship.

Photo: MTI

October 20, 2016

Hungarian foreign minister marks 1956 anniversary at ceremony in London

London, October 19 (MTI) – Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, attended a ceremony marking the upcoming 60th anniversary of the 1956 anti-Soviet revolution with his British counterpart, Boris Johnson, at The Guildhall in London on Wednesday.

The ceremony was attended by several hundred members of Britain’s Hungarian community.

Addressing the event, Szijjártó said Hungary had always fought for freedom and the right to self-determination, even when it was severely overpowered. One glance at Hungary’s history will reveal that Hungarians are a people of freedom fighters, Szijjártó said. In 1956 it again became clear that dictatorship could not take root in Hungary, the minister added.

He said 1956 was the “first step” towards Hungarians regaining their freedom in 1990.

October 20, 2016