The Hungarian uprising of 1956 was a spontaneous rebellion by a nation
against the rule from Moscow - against the faceless, indifferent,
incompetent functionaries (the 'funkies' David Irving calls them, adapting
the Hungarian word funkcionáriusok) who in little more than a decade had
turned their country into a pit of Marxist misery.
But this fluttering of a national spirit was brief: the Soviet Union
crushed the uprising with a brutality that shocked the western
world.
against the rule from Moscow - against the faceless, indifferent,
incompetent functionaries (the 'funkies' David Irving calls them, adapting
the Hungarian word funkcionáriusok) who in little more than a decade had
turned their country into a pit of Marxist misery.
But this fluttering of a national spirit was brief: the Soviet Union
crushed the uprising with a brutality that shocked the western
world.
This year we are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the
1956 Hungarian Uprising. It was on that day in the afternoon that huge
demonstrations, initiated by students, wound their way across central
Budapest heading for the statue of Polish general József Bem, not far
from Margaret Bridge on the Buda side. The demonstrators were
expressing solidarity with reforms underway in Poland, but they were also
demanding changes at home.
In the early evening further crowds gathered in Kossuth tér by
parliament, demanding the appearance of Imre Nagy, a former reform-
minded prime minister who at that moment was out of power. Nagy
addressed the crowd at 9:00 p.m. with a lack-lustre speech. One hour
earlier, hard-line Party secretary Ernő Gerő had gone on the radio and
denounced the demonstrators in harsh language.
Across the city, on today’s Dózsa György út, workers were struggling with
industrial blow-torch cutters, steel wires and lorries, trying to bring down
the huge statue of Joseph Stalin, which had stood by the City Park since
1951. It came crashing down at around 9.30 p.m. It was dragged to Blaha
Lujza tér and smashed to pieces. The size of the statue can be gauged
from its huge hand, which today can be seen in the National Museum.
Also throughout the evening a crowd demonstrated in front of the Radio
Building in Bródy Sándor utca. It was here that shots were first fired and
violence erupted in Budapest. Overnight there were clashes at various
points in the city and Soviet tanks, called from their bases in provincial
Hungary, appeared on the streets of the capital.
The events of 23 October 1956 were not foreseen. On the very morning
of that day almost the entire leadership of the ruling party had just
returned from an eight-day visit to Yugoslavia. They got off the train at
the Western Railway Station and found themselves facing a social
explosion.
The day was warm – exceptionally warm. The morning edition of the
trade union newspaper Népszava had predicted temperatures of up to
21 degrees and had commented on the extraordinary and unusually
warm weather conditions the country was experiencing for an autumn.
Did the newspaper’s editors, typesetters and proofreaders realise that
those words could have applied to the political temperature as well?
Source: Bob Dent, author of 'Budapest 1956 - Locations of Drama'
(Európa Publishers, Budapest, 2006)
1956 Hungarian Uprising. It was on that day in the afternoon that huge
demonstrations, initiated by students, wound their way across central
Budapest heading for the statue of Polish general József Bem, not far
from Margaret Bridge on the Buda side. The demonstrators were
expressing solidarity with reforms underway in Poland, but they were also
demanding changes at home.
In the early evening further crowds gathered in Kossuth tér by
parliament, demanding the appearance of Imre Nagy, a former reform-
minded prime minister who at that moment was out of power. Nagy
addressed the crowd at 9:00 p.m. with a lack-lustre speech. One hour
earlier, hard-line Party secretary Ernő Gerő had gone on the radio and
denounced the demonstrators in harsh language.
Across the city, on today’s Dózsa György út, workers were struggling with
industrial blow-torch cutters, steel wires and lorries, trying to bring down
the huge statue of Joseph Stalin, which had stood by the City Park since
1951. It came crashing down at around 9.30 p.m. It was dragged to Blaha
Lujza tér and smashed to pieces. The size of the statue can be gauged
from its huge hand, which today can be seen in the National Museum.
Also throughout the evening a crowd demonstrated in front of the Radio
Building in Bródy Sándor utca. It was here that shots were first fired and
violence erupted in Budapest. Overnight there were clashes at various
points in the city and Soviet tanks, called from their bases in provincial
Hungary, appeared on the streets of the capital.
The events of 23 October 1956 were not foreseen. On the very morning
of that day almost the entire leadership of the ruling party had just
returned from an eight-day visit to Yugoslavia. They got off the train at
the Western Railway Station and found themselves facing a social
explosion.
The day was warm – exceptionally warm. The morning edition of the
trade union newspaper Népszava had predicted temperatures of up to
21 degrees and had commented on the extraordinary and unusually
warm weather conditions the country was experiencing for an autumn.
Did the newspaper’s editors, typesetters and proofreaders realise that
those words could have applied to the political temperature as well?
Source: Bob Dent, author of 'Budapest 1956 - Locations of Drama'
(Európa Publishers, Budapest, 2006)
Streets in Budapest after
the Soviet invasion.
the Soviet invasion.
| A film about Imre Nagy and the 1956 events called ‘A Temetetlen Halott’ (The Unburied Corpse), by the noted director Márta Mészáros has been released on 21 October, 2004. A version with English sub- titles is available in dvd- rental shops. |
Soviet tanks in Budapest, Hungary
in 1956. Radio Free Europe
broadcasts encouraged the
Hungarians to battle on in the false
understanding that they would
receive reinforcements from
the West.
in 1956. Radio Free Europe
broadcasts encouraged the
Hungarians to battle on in the false
understanding that they would
receive reinforcements from
the West.
Read a short appetizer to Hungarian History here.
| Hungarian history, historical, October1956, Hungarian uprising, Iron Curtain, Russian tanks, freedom, communist, Stalin, Eastern Bloc, Communist Party, revolution, October 23, October 23rd, National Radio Station, demonstration, withdrawal of Russian troops, Hungarian secret police, AVH, communist star, freedom fighters, Stalin statue, Imre Nagy, Cardinal Mindszenthy, Warsaw pact, Russian intervention, offense, November 4, November 4th, attack on Budapest, Suez Canal crisis, crushing, Hungarian revolution, arrest, execution, executed, Hungarian diaspora, soft communism, end of communism in 1989, Soviet soldiers left Hungary in 1991, free Hungary, commemorating events in Budapest |
For a brief moment it appeared that
Hungary might be able to break
away from the Soviet block, but the
Soviet army put an end to all such
hopes.
Hungary might be able to break
away from the Soviet block, but the
Soviet army put an end to all such
hopes.
October 23, 1956
Budapest, Hungary
Budapest, Hungary
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Hungarian
Culture, Language & Relocation Resources
Culture, Language & Relocation Resources
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