Hungarians have paid the price of freedom

István Simicskó said that the world owes a lot to the Hungarians, as we earned imperishable merits in dismantling the bipolar world in 1989–1990. He added that we would like that this image of Hungarians remain in the international public consciousness.

Referring to the European Union’s efforts to relocate migrants, the minister stated that we have achieved our freedom not for letting others make decisions on our behalf, not for allowing a central power to decide, over our heads, whom we must live together with and how we must raise our children.

According to István Simicskó, the fact that today 1956 is commemorated all around the world shows that the Hungarians made sure that the Hungarians’ name has gone down in world history. As he said, the secret of 1956 was wholehearted patriotism, which was able to take hundreds of thousands to the streets.

The minister also noted that there are some people saying that a revolution should be fought these days too because they don’t like certain decisions. However, in his opinion, drawing such a parallel with 1956 would be wrong and harmful to the life of the Hungarian community, since today there is no dictatorship or foreign oppressive power that a revolution could be directed against.

According to Mayor Tamás Hoffmann (Fidesz-KDNP), the contemporary message of 1956 encourages us to be brave and strong, like the Hungarians were in 1848 or 60 years ago, who risked even death so that the youth of today can live in a free and democratic country.

The mayor said that the citizens of Újbuda can take pride in the fact that the Revolution started in their district in 1956. On 22 October, the young revolutionaries assembled at the University of Technology, and the next day the university students set off from there, leading a peaceful protest that grew into a freedom fight.

He also reminded his audience that 60 years ago, the “Mushroom" building in Móricz Zsigmond körtér – the site of the new memorial – was a bastion of Hungarian freedom, where the occupying Soviet tanks were halted for a while. Today, this building is a meeting place where the monument gives us opportunity to recall the events of 1956 and the “feeling of freedom", he added.

Last year the self-government of Újbuda announced a call for the 60th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution and Freedom Fight. The work made by the winning architects is a concrete ring embedded in the plane of the square around the “Mushroom" in Móricz Zsigmond körtér. When wetted by the rainwater flowing from the top of the building, this concrete ring reveals an excerpt from writer István Örkény’s work “Prayer for Budapest", written on 2 November 1956.

“All around the world, on every map and globe, your name is rewritten today, Budapest. This word no longer designates a city. Today Budapest means that people can fight against a tank with their bare hands. In all languages of the world, Budapest means faithfulness, self-sacrifice, freedom and national honor. All men who love their hometowns wish that they be like Budapest! I also wish that you, Budapest, be forever the way you are today. The home of proud and brave people, the guide of Hungarians to the good path, the starlight of mankind, Budapest! Be the host to all nations of the world, but do not tolerate occupying hordes and foreign flags any more among these sacred walls. Budapest, be like Budapest, and enable us, your unworthy sons, to be worthy of you and of each other", reads the inscription on the monument.

At the inauguration ceremony of the monument, wreaths were laid on the wall of the building, among others, by István Simicskó, Tamás Hoffmann, historian János M. Rainer in the name of the 1956 Institute of the National Széchényi Library as well as by representatives of the Public Foundation for Freedom Fighters, the district organization of the Political Prisoners’ Association (Pofosz), the Committee of National Remembrance and the political parties of the district.

Photos by Veronika Dévényi