Magyar News, 1997. szeptember-1998. augusztus (8. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1997-10-01 / 2. szám
Clean and respectful moral of the Revolution by Dr. Zoltán Kovács It is commonly known that the victor is the one who writes history.This happened when the Kádár government wrote the "White Books". Four books describe our revolution as monstrosity filled with sadistic mass murders. There are graphic pictures of lynching, people hanging by their legs, suggesting the horror of the “counter revolution." Multiple shots from different angles try to give the impression that there were many of these events. The third of the White Books lists 165 names of those who were tormented and murdered. Personal data are listed, but there is no mention of where and when these took place, where did the lynchings happen. The list is about dead people, but not necessarily about victims. In one of the books there is a true list of those who were violently murdered during this time. Still there are a few exceptions like Sándor Szilái, in Budakeszi, who in a domestic conflict shot his father-inlaw. Lajos Kiss, then shot himself. Eva Kally in her panic jumped out from the third floor window at the Party Headquarters in the Köztársaság Square. Imre Mező at the same place was gunned down from behind by his camarades as he was walking out of the building. József Kalmár, a sniper, was silenced as he was shooting at people from his apartment window in Csepel. All these "martyrs" were given place into eternity by naming a street of each by the Kádár regime, in Budapest. This action fits the image of the traitor Kádár. The information that the world received about the revolution was just as lopsided. The media was full of the atrocities committed by lynchings performed by uncontrolled crowds. They were also dramatic pictures of murders suggesting massacre throughout the land. The reports were concentrating on the actions of destructive groups, their terror and bloodshed. The subscribers want to see sensational events, the publisher wants a good business, and the media, as in every conflict, wants a "well deserved" fame and profit. The LIFE magazine had a reporter at the scene, but the Dutch De Spiegel had a WWII portrait out of a Serbian commando and showed it as a Hungarian Freedom Fighter. It is easy to be tempted by wild sensationalism, but it is difficult to present peaceful happenings, and it is more difficult to make pictures of it. The famous French existentialist philosopher. Albert Camus’ nobel words were:”...only we identify with our Revolution, we, the defeated, keep it in memoiy, even when the world forgot it and probably had never understood the 1956 Revolution.” The 12 glorious autumn days were the euforic meeting between the Hungarians and freedom. The beauty of these days were shadowed by only 28 murders. These were committed by outraged people of the streets, accompanied by thugs, and not by any organized revolutionary group. After all the atrocities the Hungarian people suffered from the ruling Communist. 28 rages do not blemish the whole population. A fully armed dictatorship fell apart in a few days, it was swept away by the anger of the oppressed people. The unfortunate victims of the peoples’ rage happened in three cities. The Kadar historians do not elaborate on the fact that in close to three thousand cities, towns and villages nobody was murdered. In those areas every secretary of the Communist Party, heads of the Councils were left alive. Nowhere in the world have it ever happened this way at any revolution. Some people analyzing the Revolution seemed to come to the conclusion that all the events took place in Budapest and the countryside slept. Well it is true that the Government and Party abolishment was most effective in the Capitol. In the modem age the first goal is to take over the means of communications, the radio and television, In our case the first shots rang out at the radio station on the evening of October 23. These shots were fired by the Government troops at the demonstrating youth. The Soviet tanks were excelling in bringing dow n public buildings and apartment houses. The official report shows that 78% of the casualties of the fighting were in Budapest. One cannot discount the revolutionary activity of the villages and limit it to having the peasants supplying Freedom Fighters of the city with food. They fought their fight their own way. They did it without bloodshed. This went beyond county seats through to the villages. After the Soviets put down the Revolutioa thousands of people were gathered in Kistarcsa and sentenced for their participa-People from the villages help out Budapest with food. Page 3 On the torn-up streets one could see demonstrators, and no looting
