Hungary marked the memorial day of those deported to the Soviet Union on Monday. On November 25, 1953, about 1,500 political prisoners returned from the Gulag to Hungary while as many as 800,000 Hungarians are estimated to have been sent to Soviet forced labour camps after the Second World War and half of them perished there.

Addressing a commemoration at the Gulag memorial, Minister of State for Public Diplomacy and Relations at the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice, Monika Balatoni, said totalitarian regimes, be they communist or fascism, do not differ from one another. “Due to one of the most cruel ideologies mankind has ever known, 60 million people had been sent to Soviet forced labour camps.” Last year Parliament declared November 25 the day of Hungarian political prisoners and forced labourers deported to the Soviet Union.

(Ministry of Public Administration and Justice)