Magyar News, 2005. szeptember-december (16. évfolyam, 1-4. szám)

2005-10-01 / 2. szám

The ‘56 Museum in Kiskunmajsa yard with relics of the Corvin köz and a tank

ent, and of calling this outstanding character our friend and comrade. He and József Cardinal Mindszenty are the two greatest Hungarian leaders of courageous opposition to Communism.

With the exception of Marika, Simon of South America and Anna who remained in Transylvania, the other six brothers - Ödön, Ernő, Kristóf (Bandi), Gergely , Bálint and András - took part in the Revolution. Papa and Mama Pongrátz had raised outstanding children. Through them, we will attempt to introduce the entire nation, whose sons joined the Revolution and Freedom Fight with similar enthusiasm. At that time, there were few cowards, and even fewer traitors. For this reason, we will briefly describe how the Pongrátz brothers started out to fulfill this great task.

On the 23rd, Andris called his mother, telling her how he saw the university students' appeal in a wall poster, which led him to the Stalin statue. We put a long wire around his neck and pulled him down." In the evening, Ernő calls his mother too: "We're here in Parliament, and there are

200,000 people on the square." The crowd swept Ernő with it to the gate. They knocked on the gate, but only two people were admitted to represent the crowd. One of them was Ernő. They demanded the relighting of the street lights, the turning off of the red star on the top of the building, and the hoisting of the flag without the Communist coat of arms. Then they brought Imre Nagy to the Parliament, because the people kept demanding him. Imre Nagy asked: "What shall I tell the crowd?" Ernő said, "Anything, but 'comrades'." Nevertheless, that's what he started with, he was roundly booed. Then he spoke again, and called the people "my Hungarian brothers". This form of address was greeted by thunderous applause. In Soroksár, Ödön and Bandi were listening to these news with their mother. Then Ödön said, "Up, up, Magyar, your country calls!" to which Bandi replied: "The time has come!" (These are the beginning lines of Petőfi's "National Song", which sparked the Revolution of 1848. trans.) They immediately started out towards Erzsébet.

There they saw a few young people with guns in front of the lamp factory, who wanted to go into the factory for weapons. Bandi had the guard open the gate and there, with the help of a young girl who was familiar with the factory's layout, they found the hidden weapons and much ammunition. The rest is history.

At dawn on October 24th, Ödön and Bandi wanted to hold up the Russian tanks which were

proceeding towards the heart of Budapest by way of Fehérvári út, but their attempt was unsuccessful. By the 25th, the Soviet tanks were not as fortunate at the Corvin- Köz. The fighters were throwing bottles filled with gasoline on the tanks, but they did not always explode. Then Ödön told them to dip a rag in gasoline, stick one end in the bottle, push in the cork, light the other end and quickly throw it on the tank. That's how the Molotov cocktail was bom.

We have mentioned the brothers, because if Gergely was with us now, he would talk only about the kids of Budapest. Gergely was the pure moral standard of the Revolution, and forbade any lynching. At the Radio, the Party headquarters, the Parliament, Köztársaságtér and many other centers in Budapest, at Magyaróvár, Miskolc and many rural cities, thousands of lives were lost, and innumerable unarmed citizens were wounded as a result of the ÁVÓ's reprisals, yet only 31 secret service agents lost their lives. This can be understood only by those who have seen 13-year olds, their bodies full of gunshots, writhing on the cobbles, with neither the mother nor the crowd being able to stop the boy from bleeding to death.

The pictures shown in the Western press must have aroused mixed feelings, since they did not show what had happened before, and the barbaric, inhuman activities of the 11-year terror that had preceded it. Also considered of no interest were the underhand practices carried on behind the scenes by those Communists who held power. Neither did it matter that the radios still in Communist hands were playing nationalistic and exhilarating songs and Ernő Gerő's speech opened the gate to the spirit of rebellion. The main point is that the whole country, united, joined the people's great movement and repudiated Communist state capitalism as much as every form and type of extreme capitalism which abuse man and decency.

With youngsters, in the museum holding a Molotov-coctail.

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