On October 23, 1956, a student march in Budapest sparked an uprising against Soviet occupation and communist oppression.
After the student marches, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in front of the Parliament to listen to Prime Minister Imre Nagy’s speech promising reforms. The bloody volley of shots fired at the unarmed crowd near the Radio building sparked an armed uprising by evening. The demonstrators tore down the statue of Stalin on central Budapest Dózsa György Road, a symbol of the communist dictatorship, and by dawn they had occupied the Hungarian Radio building.
“Russians go home!” – written by protesters Photo: Fortepan / Virány László
Although Imre Nagy’s legally formed government took the first steps toward democratic transformation in the days that followed, and negotiations for the withdrawal of Soviet troops began, Russian tanks moved against the capital without a declaration of war on November 4. Around November 10, the superior forces overwhelmed the resistance of the armed civilian insurgents. Hundreds of thousands fled the country to escape reprisals, but the subsequent Kádár regime still imprisoned thousands and executed hundreds of revolutionaries.
Fact
The period of Hungary from 1956 to 1989, known as the Kádár era or Kádár regime, was a period of the communist Hungarian People’s Republic after the fall of the revolution of 1956. The Kádár era was named after János Kádár, who was chosen by the Soviets to be the leader of the Hungarian Socialist Workers’ Party (MSZMP) and led the country until May 1988.After the revolution was crushed, it was forbidden to commemorate October 23, or even to mention it. The official communist position, a “counterrevolution” had taken place, organized by “reactionary” and “common law elements.” Only those who had emigrated abroad were able to openly preserve the memory of October 23.
In Hungary, in the late 1980s, as the regime weakened, the true story of 1956 began to be made public. The fact that October 23 became a symbol is marked by the fact that on October 23, 1989, the then acting head of state, Mátyás Szűrös, proclaimed the Third Hungarian Republic in front of a crowd of hundreds of thousands gathered at the Parliament.
Young fighters of Pest Photo by Fortepan/ETH Zürich/Comet Photo AG/Jack Metzger
The new, democratically elected National Assembly declared October 23 an official national holiday based on Act VIII of 1991, which was confirmed by the 2012 Fundamental Law.
On this day of remembrance, after the raising of the national flag, the heroes and victims of 1956 are traditionally commemorated at key locations of the revolution (the University of Technology and Economics, the Statue of József Bem, the Hungarian Radio building, and the sites of the clashes in Budapest).
Via kormány.hu; Featured image: Fortepan/Album079
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