The story of the events of 1956, which flung the heroes of Hungary and the evils of the Soviet regime onto the world stage but ended in tragedy, begins in the aftermath of World War II, following the Soviet “liberation” of Hungary.
By 1948, a communist regime had been “democratically” elected. In quick succession, a one-party system was announced, a brutal state security force called the ÁVH was established, upper-middle class intellectuals, as the enemy of the party and the people, were deported to the countryside by the tens of thousands, and many were imprisoned and executed, creating an atmosphere of fear and forcing cooperation by citizens.
Then, after the death of Stalin in 1953, the oppressed and embittered crowds started to feel that “reforms” such as the removal of much-despised Party Chief Mátyás Rákosi weren’t enough. By this time it was clear that whoever was in power was a Soviet puppet.
The spark igniting the revolution of October 23, 1956 was a protest by Hungarian engineering students against the brutal striking-down of demonstrators in Poznan (Poland). Civilian protesters took to the streets of Budapest, becoming freedom fighters and successfully resisting the local and the occupying Soviet army. Political prisoners were set free, an independent government was formed, multi-party rule was re-established and withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact was announced. There was an attack launched against all relics of the Communist regime: cutting out the Soviet-influenced coat of arms from the Hungarian flag and ripping down the omnipresent Red Stars. The infuriated crowds didn’t stop there, hunting down members of the security forces and showing no mercy to the ones they found.
The Soviet-controlled leadership viewed the insurrection as an anti-revolution; in Budapest and other cities they simply shot into the crowd, escalating the revolt. In the capital, freedom fighters successfully struggled against tanks rolling in from neighboring barracks, but freedom lasted for less than two weeks.
The arrival of 150,000 Soviet troops and 6,000 tanks spelled quick defeat for the resistance as they razed the buildings where would-be revolutionaries shot from windows or tossed Molotov cocktails, causing some 5,000 Hungarian deaths. Hardly before the dust had settled, the Soviets took their revenge, executing about 300 rebels and sympathizers (among them the legally-elected Prime Minister, Imre Nagy) and imprisoning another 12,000. More than 200,000 people fled to the West.
Historically, the effect of the revolution of ’56 – even if it was suppressed – can be felt to this day, and Hungarians are very proud that this was the first armed uprising in the Eastern Bloc. It proved that the terror itself cannot suppress the notion of freedom. A slow and steady process that achieved its goal of democratic empowerment in 1989 started here, 52 years ago, in October.
Films about 1956
Freedom’s Fury
is a 2005 documentary by Lucy Liu and Quentin Tarantino depicting the bloody water polo match between the Hungarians and Soviets in the 1956 Olympics, just weeks after the uprising was crushed.
Szabadság, szerelem (Children of Glory)
is a semi-fictional 2006 film by Hungarian director Kriszta Goda on the same water-polo match. Available for rental with English subtitles.
A Temetetlen halott (The Unburied Man) is a 2004 Hungarian film that doesn’t focus on the events of 1956, but rather on Hungary’s prime minister at the time, Imre Nagy. Based on his diaries, it focuses on the last year and a half of his life, his humanism and his struggle to bring freedom to Hungary. Available for rental with English subtitles.
Museums relating to 1956:
House of Terror Museum: This museum documents the bloody eras of totalitarian communism and Nazism in the building that served as the headquarters of Hungary’s Nazi sympathizer party and of the State Security Police of the communist party, and hundreds were interrogated, imprisoned, tortured and killed here.
1062 Budapest, Andrássy út 60. Closed Mondays.
Memento Park: See the remains of the communist dictatorship at this park displaying the massive sculptures of the communist era, including a photo and document exhibition about 1956.
1220 Budapest, corner of Balatoni út and Szabadkai utca. Open daily 10am-sunset.
See Funzine’s Sights to Be Seen section for memorials throughout Budapest where you can learn more about the events of 1956.
Official commemorative events
October 23
-Flag-raising at Kossuth tér
-Silent memorial at Vértanúk tér opposite Parliament in front of the statue of Imre Nagy
-Wreath-laying and memorial at Square of the 1956 Revolutionists
-Military honor guard lights the Revolutionary Flame in the evening, to be extinguished on the National Day of Mourning, November 4
October 24-26
-Open-air exhibition, street festival and an open film studio, daily 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. at the Square of the 1956 Revolutionists
-Open-air photo exhibition called 1956 Around the World, on Szabadság tér.
