“Oppressed People Can Triumph Over Their Tyrant”

"We are standing on a historic site. On November 4, 1956, at dawn, at 4 o’clock, the Soviet Red Army’s operation codename Whirlwind had begun. The attack caught Hungary, that was living its newly earned freedom, unprepared. The only place where our soldiers triumphed over the intervention in a battle was here, at the Juta Hill. Our soldiers who occupied a gun station at the Juta Hill, and the national guards of Soroksár prevented the Soviet and the ÁVH (State Security Authority) convoy from reaching their destination. The victorious clash did not remain revengeless: upon Soviet request, eleven Hungarian soldiers who participated in the Juta Hill battle were sentenced to death in 1958. It is them we are remembering now!" – it was said at the event held on November 4, attended by Péter Harrach, Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Major General József Kovács, the Deputy Commander of the HDF Joint Forces Command, Brigadier General Ferenc Palásti, the Head of the Military Department of the Office of the President of the Republic, and Ferenc Geiger, the mayor of Soroksár.

The even began with Orsolya Kálóczi, the actress of the Honvéd Theatre reading aloud the writing of posthumous general Pál Maléter, the martyr defence minister, dated November 2, 1956, addressed to the Hungarian people and published in Magyar Honvéd (Hungarian Soldier), then Péter Harrach delivered a speech.

The deputy speaker of the National Assembly underlined: if we wanted to sum up in just one sentence what the heroes of the Juta Hill had fought and died for, then this sentence would be national sovereignty. This sovereignty meant a world where freedom, patriotism, and national unity were realized.

– There are a lot of us who lived in that period. They lived the oppressive world of the Rákosi system. I also remember that when I went to school, all the depressing experiences of that world, of that mad idea came pouring onto me. And many struggled through this period as adults – said Péter Harrach, who also noted that for the Hungarians of today freedom can truly be experienced only if we manage to realize it within the framework of order. And if we take a look around in the modern world, we will see that we live in a disorganized world. But to be really free we have to put things in order around us.

The deputy speaker of the National Assembly added: those who took part in the events of 1956 did not have to be taught what patriotism means. But for the people of today it is a big task to take this concept back to the schools, so that children can experience what it means to belong to a nation. The message of national unity is one of the very important messages of 1956 for us – said Péter Harrach.

In his speech commemorating the events, Major General József Kovács emphasized: on the Juta Hill there have been many people who paid tribute in many ways to those heroic soldiers of our country who were not considered heroes, or even soldiers for a long time, for more than three decades, undeservedly. During the retaliation following the suppression of the revolution and freedom fight of 1956, 24 Hungarian soldiers were executed. Eight of them had fought here, in the area of Soroksár still called Juta Hill, even though it has lost its hills since then. Back then the eight of them, and three of their comrades who were sentenced to life, were the soldiers of the 51st anti-aircraft artillery class and a Hungarian anti-aircraft artillery unit. They were soldiers, whose only sin was what they had sworn on, what they had adhered to: they defended the country, defended Soroksár, defended the patch of soil they were commanded to.

– Actually, they had another sin… Maybe a much greater one, for which revenge was taken, for which they were stricken down by the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth principle… Since not only did they take up fight against the approaching Soviet motorized column, not only did they defend themselves against the well-armed State Security Authority and the Soviet troops, but they also won – said General Kovács, also mentioning that the soldiers who fought here and the national guards who joined them, later emigrated, were sent to prison, or before the firing squad.

The deputy commander of the HDF Joint Forces Command added: the memorial erected on the Juta Hill and maintained by the Military Branch of the Committee for Historical Justice, and the automatic anti-aircraft gun behind it are a worthy memorial! The cannon without the personnel who operated it preserves the memory here, in the outskirts of Budapest. It shows us that oppressed people can triumph over their tyrant, if their regular, well-organized and trained army, which may even be smaller than that of the enemy, belive they are right! The lack of the operational staff also reminds us that victory had its sacrifices. Victory had heroes, martyrs. The faith in military honour, the oath taken in a time of peace, and the calm period of training concentrated in just a single second, after the sound of the first shot, into an enormous and difficult task. The private who had only worn his weapon but not used it until then, became a real soldier.

– We, who are now remembering the event that took place 53 years ago here, on the Juta Hill, already know and say: our enemy was cruel to us, but their country has not forgotten them – emphasized Major General József Kovács.

The event continued with a wreath-laying ceremony, and floral tributes were laid on the marble column of the heroic soldiers who fell in 1956 by the National Assembly, the Office of the President of the Republic, the Ministry of Defence, the Hungarian Defence Forces, the Committee for Historical Justice, the municipality of Soroksár, the 1956 organizations, and the social organizations cooperating with the Hungarian Defence Forces.

The event finished with the march of the guards of honour and the tunes of Il Silenzio.