The Cold War was in full swing. The people of Hungary and the rest of Eastern Europe were ruled by a rod of iron by the Soviet Union. Anybody who challenged the rule of Stalin and the Communist Russia paid a very high price.
There was a glimmer of hope, when in 1953, Stalin died. But we soon learned, that it did not at all weaken the grip of Moscow on the people of the satellite countries. Everything remained the same. Rakosi and the Hungarian Communist Party made sure that they followed the official Party line.
In February 1956 the new Russian leader, Khrushchev, attacked the dead Stalin's policies and with it opened a small crack in the Iron Curtain. It needed only a small encouragement for the brewing discontent to boil over! To calm the situation, Rakosi was forced to resign in July.
It was a gesture to the Hungarian people, but everybody expected more. It was a year of bad harvests, fuel shortages, a cold, rainy autumn with a lot of frustrations. The university students were upset with academic conditions and the University's entrance criteria of pushing the so called "Working Class" to enroll first and leaving the leftover spots to the more deserving good students.
The political instability inside the Communist Party fueled the fire and the people of Hungary were ready for a showdown.
October 23,1956 started with a student demonstration. Soon people from factories, offices. stores joined the ever-growing crowd and creating a huge uprising on the streets of Budapest. I was at work. It was early afternoon. First we watched from the windows the movements and soon everybody started to go home.
We could only walk. There were no tramways, or cars. Everything stopped. It took me three hours to get home. Andy was still at his job, organizing the uprising there. He led the crowd to the Communist Party office in the factory, where they chased everybody out and took over.
More than 100.000 people protested, carrying the Hungarian flag with the communist symbol cut out in the center! They issued their Sixteen Points, demands for personal freedom, and the removal of the AVO, (the secret police), to become free from Soviet control.
The intellectuals wanted freedom of speech and freedom of thought. The workers wanted self-management of workplaces, free unions, and better living conditions. Farmers desperately wanted their farms back and demanded the right to own their land. Everybody wanted the removal of Soviet troops, recognition of national symbols, freedom of religion and abolishment of the AVO. The crowd demanded to set free political prisoners, including religious leaders such as Cardinal Mindszenty.
In order to do away with censorship, thousands laid siege to the broadcasting building. They pulled down the Stalin monument, the "Symbol of Dictatorship," and dragged the head all over the City.
Finally the "Red Army" stepped in and the rebellion became bloody. Thousands died during the night until the cease-fire. The very popular Imre Nagy became the Prime Minister and Janos Kadar became Secretary of the Party in hopes of calming down the minds. But the spirit of rebellion went on,and the demands grew louder and louder.
To calm the situation, the Red Army pulled out from the "Iron Curtain," (the borderline between Hungary and Austria), and from Budapest, and retreated to the Carpathian Mountains - still in Hungarian territory. During the second day of the cease-fire it looked as if it was a successful uprising. Prisoners - including Cardinal Mindszenty - were released, the press and the radio changed the tone of the news, workers' councils were formed, and the Red Army was gone (or so we thought).
The people took back the workplaces. On the day after the uprising Andy took it upon himself to go to the Communist Party Office in his factory and chase the Party official out of the premises - his handgun, a German Lueger revolver and souvenir from the war, aimed at him all the way - through the factory, the yard, and to the street. A huge crowd was following him, cheering, celebrating the big victory.
We started to hear rumors that people could freely come and go crossing the border to Austria. The first "refugees" leaving the country were the leading communist officials. Strangely enough, they did not follow the Red Army to the East, they went to Austria instead....
The joy and happiness lasted 14 days. We took back our country, we demonstrated to the whole world what the Hungarian people are capable of doing! The popular sentiment forced the government of Imre Nagy to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact. This action could not be tolerated, so the Soviet Union had to intervene again. Janos Kadar left Imre Nagy's government and established a rival government, supporting the Russians all the way.
On November 4th, 1956, hindreds of Soviet tanks entered the streets of Budapest. Their heavy firepower was no match for the handguns of the youth of Hungary. To restore "order," the Red Army was merciless, killing more than 30,000 people. They suffered losses too, about 5,000 Russian soldiers were killed. The streets of Budapest were again red from the blood of the resistants, littered with dead bodies, buildings burned, and collapsing. Imre Nagy was executed. Janos Kadar was put in charge and ruled the country for many years to come.
News of the fighting, the losses, and the desperate resistance travelled fast. People in Budapest experienced it, took part in it, and were killed on their own streets. The rest of the country knew about it the next day.
During the 10 days of heavy fighting we waited for Europe and America to come and help us fight the communist slavery. We heard a lot of encouragement, telling us to keep fighting, that help is on the way, but nothing happened. They were empty promises. The risk was too big for the Super Powers to intervene. It happened during the height of the Cold War and the USA and the Soviet Union were both nuclear powers. Hungary's geographic location made it impossible to help without risking a war.
Meanwhile the Suez Canal Crisis was also underway and was considered far more important, than helping the suffering Hungarians. So the U.S., Britain and France put all their efforts into solving that crisis.
It took a few weeks after the battle to fully understand how badly we were beaten. Soviet rule was re-established and nothing changed. More than 1200 people were executed, and the AVO started to round up anybody who took part in the uprising.
The Western border was still without too much control. To flee the expected communist reprisal, people started to flee to Austria, leaving all their possessions in Hungary. By the end of the year more than 200,000 left the country and became refugees.
Andy was ready to go as soon as possible. He had an easy choice, he had no living parents, and no brothers or sisters to leave behind. I was also an only child, but I had a very sick father and an overburdened mother to say good-bye to. I tried to delay the decision, hoping for some miracle to happen. We had to decide for Gabe too, he loved his Grandparents, they were a big part of his life, and he spent many hours daily with them.
How would he beable to take the change? How would my parents survive not being with their precious grandson and with me, their only child, whom they loved more than anything in the world.
I can hardly describe my state of mind in those days. I was devastated, full of fear, helpless, I knew what I would have to do, leave just like so many others did, but every inch of my body was telling me: NO!!! These were the most frustrating days and weeks of my life. I was not in control of what would happen to me and my whole family!
The AVO (the hungarian KGB) started to round up members of the "Petofi Circle." Somehow they found the membership list, and we knew that Andy's name would come up shortly! The Communist Party Officials were also looking for people, who were active in the rebellion. Andy's theatrical action chasing the Party Official from his office on the day of the uprising was well known, and now it was just a question of time when they would come and pick him up.
We had very little time to hesitate. The circumstances decided for us what to do! We had no other solution but prepare for our "Great Escape"...
Copyright 2008 - Gabe Dalmath Foundation
