Október 23 (70 years later)

Posted 4 hours ago

Today, Hungarians remember the events of the 1956 revolution. This year marks the 70th anniversary of those events that started on October 23, 1956. What started as student demonstrations soon turned into a bloody conflict. Hungarians tired of the lies and false promises of the communists wanted something better. They also wanted Russia out of their country.

I am rereading James Michener’s book, The Bridge at Andau, to observe this occasion. This is a journalistic work, unlike most of the fiction that he is known for. He was at the border of Austria and Hungary and interviewed many of those that fled Hungary after the failed revolution. The story of the book is told through a composite of characters based on real people and real stories as they participating in the revolution. The perspective I gained from visiting the 1956 memorial in Kossuth tér and from visiting The House of Terror in 2024 made the stories from the book even more poignant. (You can read more about that in the article I wrote last year.)

I am struck anew with the courage and heroism that these people showed in these events. They lived under an oppressive system where anyone you knew could be a spy and you could be picked up and questioned if someone you knew had escaped the country or was suspected as an enemy of the state. Many of those who fought against the communist forces and Russian army were children, including girls and young women. Many risked their lives to destroy Russian tanks. People stood up against the repressive regime knowing there could be consequences later. Even after the revolution was crushed by the Russians, many valiantly fought on. And then afterwards, around 200,000 fled Hungary and settled in the west. Those that stayed were arrested, imprisoned, or executed.

It is a story that continues to draw me in each time I revisit it. It is a sad story. It is a moving story about the courage of people who against all odds fought back and for a moment, thought they had won. They hoped that the West would come to their rescue only to have their hopes dashed.

As I reflect on these events, I can’t help but think about current events in this world. I feel for the Ukrainian people who have had to endure many years of war. They too want the Russian to leave. And much like those in Hungary in 1956, they see the West turn their backs because of the politics and “economic” interests. I am greatly disappointed in our president’s decision to lift sanctions against Russia and repeated condone Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians fighting against a foreign invader.

Links

• Memory Project – They have captured many of the stories of those who fought in the revolution and those who fled the country after the Russians put it down.
• 1956 memorial website
• House of Terror museum
• The Bridge at Andau by James Michener
• Október 23 – Article I wrote last year that goes more into my personal interest in the 1956 revolution. I share some pictures of modern day Budapest related to the revolution.
• Europe Trip 2024: Day 5 in Budapest – The day we visited the memorial and the House of Terror. I pulled some of the content for this article from that one.
• The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 – The paper I wrote for an Eastern European history class in college.
• Erika Szeles – A fifteen year old freedom fighter whose image graced the covers of many European magazines and became an international symbol of the struggle.