1989. február (számozatlan) / HU_BFL_XIV_47_2
«HVNtAR(AN (§) OCTO»ER» j ll&(5)iSiSr4a^a ©IGÍMl Editor: György Krassó * 24/D Little Russell Street * London, WC1A 2HN * Tel. 01-430 2126 (írom abroad 441-430 2126) 25th February, 1989 Three Statements about 1956 As expected the party debate evaluating 1956 was raanifold and caused shock waves. Does the permission to re-bury those executed in Imre Nagy’s trial alsó mean their political rehabilitation? This question is of crucial importance nőt only to the Hungárián, bút to all East-Central European communist partiés, as a pos- itive answer would mean acknowledging the truth of contemporary reform commun- ists. However Károly Grósz yesterday declared to the Tanjug News Agency in Yugoslavia "Noí This has nothing to do with political rehabilitation bút is about the humanism which is everybody’s right." How many people were executed and imprisoned after 1956? A truthful answer to this question would reveal the true colours of the Kádár régimé. In the Hungárián TeleVision programme "The Week" the histórián Tibor Zinner said yesterday that "Of those who took part in 1956 more than ten thousand were sentenced and three hundred of them were executed". If the revolution in Hungary was a popular uprising, then the Soviet Union acted as an anti-populist force. Both Adriannik Migranjan, the leader of the Moscow Economic Research Institute in the February 23rd edition of Moskovski.i Novostvi. and Sándor Demján, the Director of the Hungárián Credit Bank in an interview in a West Berlin paper, said "Yes, this seems to be the case". It is thus a wise decision to refrain from labelling it and so avoid possible compli- cations in Hungarian-Soviet relations. It is only a few weeks since Károly Grósz reprimanded Imre Pozsgay fór expressing his opinion on 1956, without waiting fór the Central Committee’s statement. The Central Committee have nőt issued a final statement bút in its announcement about the February lOth-llth meeting it established that in 1956 '.'a true uprising, a peoples uprising broke out" and that "the leadership’s incapacity fór renewal led to a political explosion". Is this nőt the rehabilitation of Imre Nagy? Pozsgay’s so called "persona! opinion" was based on a study by the Central Committee’s scientific sub-committee. Therefore Grósz’s personal opinion contradicts both the study and the Central Committee’s statement. Conceming the numbers of those sentenced and executed after 1956 many different statistics have been published. János Berecz said a few years ago that the number of those executed was 70, this number has now quadrupled, according to Zinner, to 300. These neat rounded off figures show just how much humán life is worth in the socialism of the present. Last ,Tune ex-56 prisoners read out a list of 244 names in the Rákoskeresztúr Cemetery. Bút these were only somé of those executed in the Budapest National Prison, it does nőt include those killed in the Fő Street prison, in the country, shot on the spot, in custody, during investigations or those killed anonymously. The number of those impriosned was much greater than ten thpusand. Many thousands were interned in camps without trial and held in* custody fór a year then released without coming before the courts. Finally the question of Soviet responsibility. We can bút agree with the Soviet researcher and the Hungárián bank director. If there was a revolution in Hungary, then the Soviet Union was the counter-revolutionary. There are people who have thought this fór a long time. Ák Subscribers can use or quote the Hungárián October newsletters in totál or in detail as long as the source is acknowledged.
