On 23 October hundreds of thousands of people peacefully commemorated the 56th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution and Freedom Fight in Budapest, across the country and beyond the borders. State events in Budapest were held in several locations, and had a family atmosphere. Four hundred thousand people heard Prime Minister Viktor Orbán give a speech in front of Parliament.

Just as at the demonstration in January, hundreds of thousands of people stood by the Government in an event organised by members of civil society.  Around 400,000 people listened to the Prime Minister’s speech in front of Parliament in Kossuth tér, where in 1956 peaceful protesters were shot and killed on orders from the Communist powers.

The Prime Minister said that this celebration is sacred, as it was consecrated with the blood of Hungarians, and that now every freedom-loving Hungarian is with us in spirit from Kolozsvár through Budapest to Los Angeles.

Tens of thousands took part in cultural events at Parliament, in the Terror House Museum and the Opera House. Commemoration events were held in almost every settlement in the country and every Hungarian community around the world. Minister of Public Administration and Justice Tibor Navracsics took part in a commemorative event organised in Szabadka (Subotica) by the Alliance of Hungarians in Vajdaság/Vojvodina (VMSZ), and Deputy Minister of State for Hungarian Communities Abroad Zsuzsanna Répás attended events with Hungarian communities in Latin America.

The 1956 Revolution was one of the most important events in the history of the Hungarian people. It broke out in opposition to Soviet communist oppression and occupation, beginning with a peaceful demonstration by university students and ending in bloody street fighting. Thousands of Hungarian citizens were killed, the Freedom Fight was crushed and communist dictatorship and Soviet occupation remained, becoming even more brutal. Right up until the political transition of 1989 it was forbidden to speak of the Revolution, and the subject was not taught in schools. During the transition, as a mark of respect for 1956, the Third Hungarian Republic was declared on 23 October, 1989.

(Prime Minister’s Office)