Folia historica 25

II. Közlemények - Gedai István: Svájci gyermeklevelek 1956-ból

Swiss child-letters from 1956 Summary Beside the documents from the revolution and war of independence of 1956, the letters that 7-8 year old Swiss children wrote to their Hungarian companions remain as colorful and moving mementos. In 1956, the international public opinion unified to stand up beside our revolution and war of independence. This is shown by the call of Swiss teachers (probably supported by the parents and the whole Swiss society) that children prepare gift parcels for Hungarian children. The Swiss children placed letters written on notebook sheets in the parcels and sometimes even made drawings. These packages only arrived after 4 November, thus the Hungarian children never actually received them. The armed squads ordered women working in health service (nurses and assistants) to open the parcels and destroy the letters. A district nurse from the 1 st district of Budapest managed to smuggle out some, out of which 6 letters remained. 290