Október 23

Posted 3 days ago

Today, Republic Day is celebrated in Hungary. It is one of three national holidays that Hungarians celebrate. Republic Day commemorates two important events in Hungary history.

The first is the 1956 revolution when the Hungarians stood up to the Soviet Union for 18 days. The day also celebrates the first free parliamentary elections in 1989 that led to the declaration of Hungary as a free republic. The two are related in that the aspirations of Hungarians in 1956 were finally realized in 1989.

My personal interest

I took a personal interest in Hungarian history after my first trip there in 1990. It was an exciting time as Hungary was still emerging as a free nation. The moment was not lost on me.

I took an interest in the 1956 revolution because I knew that the seeds of freedom were sown through those days. The Bridge of Andau by James Michener was my introduction to the subject. I cannot remember if I read the book before or after my first summer in Hungary.

A year later, I took an Eastern European history class and wrote a paper about the failed revolution. I read several other sources over the years including a juvenile book based on the events. I also met several of those who lived through it. My wife and I met a couple in Manhattan, Kansas and he had escaped Hungary after the revolution.

I reread The Bridge of Andau when I traveled to Hungary in 2000. I was part of a small group of Christians on a vision trip. One of the gentleman in the group had escaped Hungary after the revolution. This was his first visit back to his home country. I remember him telling us some stories when we were at the Citadella one day. There was a prison in the Citadella that he was held in. During the revolution, he was freed and told to escape. It was a very emotional moment for him. I thought of him two years ago when I visited Budapest and was at the Citadella with my son. I cannot remember the man’s name but he left quite an impression on me.

My thoughts today are more sober. I think about two experiences that I had in 2024 that have caused me to be more reflective.

The 1956 memorial at Kossuth Square

First, I visited the 1956 memorial in Kossuth Square. This memorial focuses on one of the bloodiest events of the revolution. On the night of October 25, a crowd had gathered in front of the Parliament building. At some point, either Hungarian secret police and/or Soviet soldiers began firing on the peaceful crowd. Hundreds died that night.

Part of the memorial has video testimonials of eyewitnesses who described the terrifying night. One man was with his father and they sought shelter behind columns in a building across from the Parliament. His father knew that the soldiers would have to reload so they made their way from column to column until they could escape. You emerge from the experience with a different perspective of the square as you consider that a majority of the people killed were situated near one of the statues.

The House of Terror

Later that day, we visited the House of Terror. he building housed the Arrow Cross (the Hungarian fascist militia) and later the Hungarian secret police. The exhibits are a blend of pictures, videos, and memorabilia which includes some paintings and statues from the Communist era.

One of the exhibits video from the trial of Imre Nagy, who was the political leader that declared Hungary free in the midst of the revolution. He was later arrested and was executed along with several others. The combination of media and memorabilia at the museum did a great job of telling the story of this building and the terror that the Hungarian citizens faced both during World War II and under Communism before the 1956 Revolution.

In the basement, you could visit the different cells that they would keep prisoners in. Some of the cells were only wide enough to stand straight up. Another cell had a low ceiling and another they could fill with water to torture the prisoners. On the elevator from the first floor to the basement, they played a video that explained the different cells and how they executed prisoners. There was a re-creation of a room where they would execute prisoners by hanging. Those executions happened elsewhere.

Both of these exhibits brought to life so much of what I had read about in the past. It is sobering as I consider on this day.

I thought about the memorial exhibit and the stories from those who witnessed the horror when I watched the Andor episode about the massacre on Gorman. Seeing something similar just brought those true events more to life for me.

Szabadság, Szerelem (Children of Glory)

Several years ago, I watched a Hungarian film made in 2006 called Szabadság, Szerelem (Children of Glory) about the Hungarian Revolution. The fictional film based on true events was another vehicle that gave me a different perspective about the events I had read about in many different places. There is something about film that put you in the events like nothing else. Well except for hearing those dreadful stories I watched and heard while at the memorial at Kossuth Square.

Pictures and final reflections

One of the missed opportunities that I wished I would have taken was to participate in a walking tour about the 1956 revolution when I visited Budapest in 2007. I would enjoyed seeing several of the key locations associated with the revolution. And I think I would have enjoyed the commentary along the way.

I did visit some of the sites or came across them during my visit. I came across a statue/memorial to the children who fought. It is located near the Corvin theater, where the revolutionaries set up a base. The Corvin Passage was a strategic battleground for the revolutionaries and was defended till late in the revolution.

A personal story

I asked my friend Laci about his parents experience of the revolution when I was in Budapest in 2024. He told me that his mother was studying architecture at a university. She did not participate in the events but was affected by it in the years to come.

Her family lived outside of Budapest and when they heard about what was going on, her father drove there. But he could not enter Budapest due to blockades by the revolutionaries. He ended up being able to get in by transporting aid items to the revolutionaries. He just wanted to make sure his daughter was safe.

After the failed revolution, they lost their property. They had been well off before the revolution. Now they were forced to live in an apartment with other families.

The only time that I was living in Hungary at this time of year was in 1997. My team decided to use the holiday to travel to Prague. So I did not get to experience the national holiday while living in Hungary. I have been in country multiple times on March 15, when they celebrate Revolution Day. It was the first day of another failed revolution in Hungary’s history, this time against the Hapsburgs and Austria.

Links

• 1956 memorial website
• House of Terror museum
• The Bridge at Andau by James Michener
• 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.