56 izzó ősze volt… Pillanatképek a forradalom napjairól - It was the fervent autumn of ’56. Snapshots on the Days of the Uprising (Budapest, 2006)
BEVEZETŐ
The other significant photo collection was found in the proceedings documents of the trials of István Bálint 2 , and Ottó Szirmai and accomplices 4 . These pictures were mainly taken and collected by students of the Technical University. Beside university students Tibor Beke, Kálmán Kotulán, Sándor Széli, István Karner and Miklós Bedő, however, others also took part in the collecting actions, like Tibor Teuchert producer 4 and Gyula Nagy static editor and designing assistant 5 . We learn about the story of the photos found in the trial of József Novak and accomplices 6 from the confession given by the accused. The photos taken by him mainly show the events that took place in Nagykörút as well as the damaged buildings. Our collection was supplemented by the photos by Erich Lessing 7 , internationally recognized photographer, who was present at the significant events of the uprising from the beginning. He took photos of significant events such as the occupation of the party headquarters in Köztársaság Square, the fights in Corvin Close or burning books in front of the Soviet bookshop "Horizont" in Kossuth Lajos Street. After oppressing the uprising, following the stories of the immigrating Hungarians, he took moving photos in the Austrian refugee lager of Andau also. The rest of the photos in the book were found in the files of 26 further trials 8 . Years ago when we started revealing the photos of '56 already at the very beginning numerous questions turned up. Among others, the question arose: what kind of danger the photos in the court trials meant primarily for the people in the pictures, for the photographers and finally for the dictatorship itself. These photos were undoubtedly dangerous: they were used as evidences against the accused and a lot of people were taken to court later solely because of these photos. During the time of revenge the investigating bodies naturally made use of these photos as well to identify persons and spots. However, the pictures of the uprising, pointing beyond themselves, have become the symbols of the Hungarians' wish for freedom. They represent a world and a system of values whose mere memories were dangerous for the dictatorship; it can be understood that the old-new power strived to demolish them after the suppression of the uprising. This being so during the time of revenge, when hiding the photos esteemed as relics was considered as severe guilt. There were people who were driven to the street by curiosity during the uprising, to preserve those great days in photos. There were some who collected the photos, leaflets, papers and other documents relating to the events in an organised way so that they could compile publications and show the world what happened in Hungary. There were tertiary education institutes like the Technical University of Budapest
