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In 1952, Tibor Arany was drafted into the Hungarian military. He later attended the officer training academy in the city of Pécs. On charges of refusing to obey orders and insubordination he was condemned to forced labor in 1953. On…
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The fact that my father was a ’56-er – he escaped Hungary in November of that year, at age 21 – is part and parcel of the story of our family and how we got to the U.S. My mother’s…
I was married in September of 1956, so I was very much a newlywed when the revolution broke out. Both my husband and I were counted as „enemies of the people”, who were persecuted – in the words of Mátyás Rákosi –…
On the evening of October 23, 1956, I was having coffee and plum brandy with my mother and her friend Erzsike Sárkány at Ruszwurm Café. The sun had set. The lighting in the coffeehouse was a subdued yellow, and people were…
I was born on July 31, 1944 and grew up in a small town named Buj near Nyíregyháza.
When the Revolution started I was 12 years old and living in Buj with my mother and grandmother. My father, whom I did not…
On the evening of October 23, 1956, I was having coffee and plum brandy with my mother and her friend Erzsike Sárkány at Ruszwurm Café. The sun had set. The lighting in the coffeehouse was a subdued yellow, and people were…
The 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight is the most important event of my life. I did not state “lifetime,” because it occurred 10 years before I was born in Cleveland, Ohio. How could something that occurred 10 years before I was…
The 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight is the most important event of my life. I did not state “lifetime,” because it occurred 10 years before I was born in Cleveland, Ohio. How could something that occurred 10 years before I was…
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On that day the dream of 1200 political prisoners held captive in the infamous Political Prison of Vac came through. I was serving the sixth year of my life imprisonment, which had been commuted from a…
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After 2 and 1/2 years in political prison from 1951 to 1953, I was released on the Imre Nagy government’s amnesty. My husband, whose death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, was in Vac Prison, my parents had been deported…
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Young Heroes of Budapest Our memories are fading like pages from an old diary. Our memories are fading, as fewer and fewer of us are still here to talk about them.
I remember what Marcel Proust wrote in his book,…
NOTE: This submission was created by using the online survey attached to this website. The survey consists of suggested questions to answer or ask family members to create a personal historic record of 1956 and discuss its effects on’56-ers and their family…
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It was a regular school day with a regular class schedule for Tuesday. As I did at the beginning of my schooldays, I wrote the date on my notebook. It was October 23.
In the morning my Mother talked about…
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October 23, 1956, started out like any other day. Andy left for work from the Bukkos Creek of Szentendre in the sleepy hours of pre-dawn dark and arrived to the White Road tram station, another Budapest suburb, about two hours…
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Barely twelve years old, I was still young enough to play hop-scotch; -yet old enough to understand what was happening.
The Revolution had electrified the entire country, young and old alike. On that day in school, on Budapest’s Váci Utca,…
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I was getting ready for school the morning of October 24, 1956, when my Grandmother informed me that school had been canceled due to fighting in the streets. The Hungarian Revolution started the night before. Although I was not sure…
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Summer During the summer of 1956, a Budapest streetcar conductor whose living conditions had been startlingly primitive even by those current-day standards – he lived in a one-room pantry cottage with several children – broke open a store that had…
NOTE: This speech switches back and forth between Hungarian and English. Honorary Consul Koskenalusta, Representative Julie Hámos (my long-lost relative – unfortunately, in name only), ladies and gentleman, esteemed guests, warm personal greetings to all who have assembled here, in the…
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“When Stalin’s Torch lights up the sky, you have to hit the ground,” my father said. “Fall down. It’s a matter of life and death.” My father and I were crammed together with a bunch of strangers in a truck…
Although I’ve been planning to write my memories for years, something always prevented me from doing so. Now that I’m determined to fulfill my plan, I must state up front that I’m not writing history; instead, I am writing the memories of…
I do remember ’56. One must not forget it. Yes, I remember as if it happened today. Yes, I remember when I experienced freedom for the first time. I remember that our joy was second only to our enthusiasm. I remember when we…
Uncle from New Jersey The whole idea to come to the United States actually started in 1941 when my uncle, who had years before emigrated to New Jersey, returned to Budapest on holiday. When he emigrated to the United States in…
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Cegléd – 1956 November 24 to December 1
Our dear Children,
The past few days, and most likely many more days to come, are grief-laden for us. And probably today’s gray sky will never clear up completely for us.
So…
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President Ronald Reagan had a great interest in and knowledge of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and this knowledge helped to shape his world views and contributed to his morally firm statesmanship. Contrary to the conventional wisdom of his time, he…
The Revolution of 1956, because it was so unexpected, because of its sequence of events, because of the triumph of youth guided not by persons or organizations, but by the very spirit of freedom, the collapse of the allegedly invincible Communist power,…
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On October 23, 1956, the Hungarian nation awakened to the most glorious day of its history. The nation – having had enough of decades of slavery, physical and spiritual assaults and terror – shook off its chains and turned against…
In the year of 1956, November 19th was a bright, windy fall day. Day by day, the spirit of the Hungarian Revolution calmed down as more and more Soviet soldiers streamed into my native land and on the street corners, more red…
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Precursor to history For me the Revolution started in 1955, when the members of the choir and the orchestra of the Liszt Academy of Music wanted to perform for the first time Zrinyi’s “Szózat” on the birthday of its composer,…
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I am an ancient Hungarian pagan Thundering along on horseback, with my sword held high With intense devotion to forgiving Mother Earth, Mother Sun I praise the spirit of the Universe I am a disciple of Istvan Thundering along…
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“Star fell, the earth shook, came the year of miracles…” – János Arany January 1956 Budapest was shaken by an earthquake. In October 1956 the whole world was…! Distant and immediate antecedents My Father obtained his high…
In the autumn of 1956, a small nation along the banks of the Danube stood up almost to a man, woman and child and struggled for a breath of freedom.
This story tells of this struggle. But it is not the real…
It all started so innocently on a beautiful sunny October 23rd, back then in 1956. I was a 14 year-old student at the Jozsef Attila Gimnazium in Budapest, whose classmates excitedly whispered the forbidden word “demonstration.” And soon we all set forth…
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Although I always knew that I was Hungarian-my family traveled back to Hungary every two years or so after I was born-I only really came into my Hungarian identity, the true spirit of it, much later in life. It is…
My story is about the journey of a family, the Szabó family; my father Dr. András Szabó, my sister Judy, and my mother Emilia, who during her life went by many names, the most recognized one being Kathy Kapossy, Cleveland’s Hungarian radio…
On September 1, 1956, I was released from the prison of the communists. As I arrived at the train station in Budapest, my friend, Erwin Baktay, was on hand to meet me. From the station I went home to Szentkirályi Street. In…
In January 2005, the Hungarian daily newspaper, Népszabadság, published an article by Katalin Jánosi, Imre Nagy’s granddaughter, who described her reaction to a recent film by Márta Mészáros, “The Unburied Dead.” Katalin Jánosi was a small child when she witnessed the…
Much of Hungary’s twentieth century history – both tragic and inspiring – is reflected in the complex story of the Maléter family. Paul Maléter’s parents, Mária and Pál, came from families who knew each other well in the city of…
My address in Budapest was Petõfi Sándor utca 6. In 1956 I was 14 years old and had just started high school at the Közgazdasági Technikum. On Tuesday, Oct. 23, I got home about 2 pm from school and intended to do…
As the wife of a Hungarian Freedom Fighter, 1956 has had a profound impact on my own life. Since Budapest has been our yearly destination for as long as I can remember, I’ve become more immersed in that event than many others.…
He was a teenager who lived in Budapest during the fateful days of October, 1956. He attended gymnasium in Kispest and studied hard to be a good student. He despised the Communists for their godless ways and their hate of Hungarian…
It has been 50 years since Russian tanks crushed the dream of a free Hungary. But it has not been long enough to forget. I was an artist. My job was to paint larger-than-life portraits of Lenin and Stalin. That…
Liberty, democracy, human rights are like health. Servitude, oppression, discrimination are like sickness. Totalitarian tyranny is death. A revolution that overthrows tyranny and achieves liberty is a resurrection. During the last week of October and the first few days of November, 1956,…
At work operating a drill How October 23rd started I can’t recall but I imagine it must have been like any other. At the time I was employed by the Small Engine and Machinery Factory (Kismotor és Gépgyár) located in Buda. I…
The autumn air in October 1956 was filled with anticipation in the barracks of Unit 4055 of the work battalion in Komló. We had nearly completed our two years of compulsory military service in the coal mines and were eagerly looking forward…
I remember it as if it were happening today. On October 23, I was on my way home from work at Budapest’s Central Physics Research Institute. From the window of the tram I saw many people hurrying along the streets carrying posters…
Tell Your story
Please join us as we ensure the spirit of 1956 is captured through your stories and passed on for future generations. We are looking for your most vivid memories of the 1956 Revolution. The suggested length for submissions is 1-3 pages, if possible.
There are several ways to submit your story. The interview guide (below) is designed for easy online submission and suggests questions for you to answer or to ask family members who participated in those heroic days. If you would like to send a separate document, click on the e-mail button to the left and send us a file directly. And finally, you may download the interview guide to fill in by hand and mail it to us.
Once your submission has been received, you will receive an e-mail confirmation. Thank you for your participation!