to overshadow the 50th anniversary of the crushed Hungarian Revolution against Soviet rule. Amid a backdrop of political tensions, Christians remembered religious persecution under the Moscow-backed government and the churches’ involvement in the Revolution.
Cardinal Peter Erdo, head of the Hungarian Roman Catholic Church, handed over a portrait of Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty to the US Embassy in Budapest, which offered him safe haven after the 1956 Revolution was defeated.
15 YEARS CONFINED
Mindszenty spent 15 years confined to the embassy before the Communist regime reached an agreement with the Vatican and allowed him to leave Hungary in 1971. He died in exile in Vienna.
Erdo said that "with the approach of the 50th anniversary of the 1956 revolution and freedom fight, it is time that I voice my gratitude in my own name and in that of the Hungarian Catholic community for the protection and hospitality you offered Cardinal Mindszenty. I also want to thank the United States for receiving Hungarian refugees.”
In remarks published by Hungarian News Agency MTI, Ambassador April Foley said she had special respect for Mindszenty because he was an outspoken advocate of freedom of speech and freedom of religion. She added that she would hang the painting in the ambassador’s office.
Mindszenty’s confinement also came to symbolize the revolution, which began October 23, with demonstrators and workers demanding change.
SHOOTING STILL REMEMBERED
Many elderly Hungarians still remember shots that reverberated through the streets — and were heard on the airwaves — as fighting broke out near the radio station in central Budapest. Freedom fighters tried to keep control of the station by holding off the much better
armed Communist forces.
The radio station was a crucial information tool during the 1956 Revolution against Soviet rule and Hungary’s Moscow-backed government with an announcer shouting “help, help, help” to the outside world.
But the Western help never came. The struggle for freedom that began October 23, 1956 was crushed less than two weeks later by Soviet forces. At least 2,500 Hungarians died in the fighting and 200-thousand others fled to the West.
Now 50 years later, Hungary is free, the Soviet Union is an ever-fading memory, and yet tensions are again high in the country, this time sparked by the anniversary celebrations.
BOYCOTTING AWARDS CEREMONY
On Sunday, October 22, during an awards ceremony in the parliament building, several former freedom fighters refused to shake hands with Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany. He was born five years after the revolution, but he was a leader of Hungary’s Communist youth movement in the 1980’s, and recently admitted he lied to voters about the economy to win re-election. Outside the parliament building people shouted for his resignation.
With tensions rising, president, prime ministers and royals were quickly whisked away for a gala concert at the Hungarian State Opera.
Just before the performance began, Austrian President Heinz Fischer, urged Hungarians to overcome their divisions and to celebrate the lasting importance of the revolution 50 years ago. He also denied suggestions that the ideals of 1956 have not been realized.
1956 DREAMS REALIZED?
"One thing is clear, the freedom fight of 1956 was not in vain as it showed the courage of the Hungarian people," he told his audience. He added that the Soviet military was in fact the moral loser. “What was bloodily crushed in 1956, was achieved peacefully in 1989, Fischer said.
His Hungarian counterpart, Laszlo Solyom agreed. He expressed regret that the largest righting opposition party, Fidesz, has announced it will boycott some official ceremonies were the prime minister is present because he represents the main governing Socialist party that succeeded the Communist party after the transition to democracy in 1989.
"To be selective with the past has become standard since 1989. (Politicians) are not only celebrating apart, they are celebrating different things," Solyom said. "They say there are many 1956s and with this the value and significance of 1956 is devalued. I however say: there is only one revolution of 1956," he added, greeted by applause.
Ceremonies Monday, October 23, to mark the anniversary include the unveiling of a new A monument in Budapest’s Heroes’ Square to honor those who died in the uprising fifty years ago. (With BosNewsLife Reporting and BosNewsLife Research).
