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
or the ELTE 9 , where teachers and students carried out this collecting work together. There were others who were collecting evidences even then for the revenge after the reconstruction that they hoped for. We believe that the majority of the photographers took the photos preserving these great events with the aim of recording the one-time and unrepeatable moments of the uprising. After the oppression of the uprising they obviously hoped that their hidden photos would not be captured by the authorities. It should not be forgotten that the majority of these photos were taken when people still believed in victory. This enthusiasm and faith in the future can be read in a diary 10 recorded by an unknown university student on 30 October 1956: "Now let's talk about the state of Budapest. It looks horrible, the National Museum is burnt down, the Astoria shot up, the building of the radio shot, the Bargain Department Store burnt down, the wires of the trams torn, walls protruding to the sky in Rákóczi Street and Baross Street, Boráros Square and Kálvin Square crashed, [the] university chemical lab shot up and so on. There is no unbroken window in Üllői Street and József Boulevard, there are wrecks of cars and cannons and collapsed houses in József Boulevard. These didn't look like it during the siege. One can imagine what it can be like when hundreds of tanks fight in the streets. We can start a new life, you, our country, the make of the revolution will get a new face. I can even finish my diary, it's already a week now that the revolutionary flame has broken out of the heart of our youth and nation with elementary power, to throw off the yoke and tyranny of the past years and to put an end to our humiliating slavery. We have won! The hearts are filled with new, freed atmosphere. I have heard poems by Hungarian poets that were born in the fire of the revolution. They were wonderful, coming from the heart. Hungarian people can create. Soon everything will come to the surface that has been suppressed so far. The Hungarian dawn is coming. The flush of dawn is painted with the blood of the fallen heroes. We will remember them forever. 23 October will be a national holiday. Night has covered Budapest. Now the streets are still dark but soon new lights will be lit by our youth and nation to announce the happier future of the free and independent Hungarian nation." As an old Chinese saying goes "a picture tells more than a thousand words." Looking at and questioning these foxed photos we are overwhelmed by a cathartic feeling; time has made these photos icons - for their contents and the tragic fates relating to them. Each photo implies tragedy and the feeling of freedom at the same time. They are important for us because they are part of our "mythic memory" and because they preserve the most glorious events of our history.
