1956 Hungarian Revolution News
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1956 Hungarian Revolution News |
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 9/10/2005
- BY INVITATION ONLY: AHF 1956 Commemoration Congressional Reception set for 6:30 pm, October 19th, 2005! AHF cordially invites you to a Congressional Reception
honoring the heroes of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. AHF is kicking off
a year of events devoted to making sure Congress and the world remember
Hungary's sacrifices for freedom. We will be awarding our Kovats Mihaly
Medal of Freedom to Congressmen and private-sector AHF and member filmmakers Imre and Zsuzsa Toth produced a mini-documentary of the 1956 revolution (seen here) which will be shown at the event and given as a free gift to all who donate at least $56.00. Imre Toth was one of revolutionary Prime Minister Imre Nagy's last cabinet members to escape Hungary with his life. In addition, we will have a 1956 book display featuring the works of internationally renowned members such as Prof. Peter Hargitai, Prof. Beverly James, Prof. Johanna Granville, Dr. Paul Szilagyi, Csaba Teglas, Bela Liptak, Hugo Tischler, and Gabe Kubichek. The event takes place on October 19th at 6:30 pm in the Rayburn Building Dining Room on Capitol Hill. To help defray our costs, AHF is asking for a minimum donation of $56.00: the 1956 mini-documentary is a free gift at this level. Those giving at the Patron level ($195.60) and Kovats Circle ($1,956.00) receive special recognition. Directions and additional details can be found on the [downloadable form].
OR [download the form] and mail it in!
“By attending the commemoration of that historical event that made the Kremlin tremble, the United States would affirm its recognition of the tremendous sacrifice of Hungarians and other Central and Eastern European nations in restoring their freedom and independence and of their serving as models for new democracies elsewhere in the world today,” said Frank Koszorus, Jr., one of the authors of the letter. The document was signed by AHF National, AHF of Washington, D.C., the
William Penn Association, the Hungarian Reformed Federation, the Hungarian
Club of Colorado, and Eva Szorenyi of the Freedom Fighter's Federation.
Get involved - we need your HELP! [join / donate] [< back to all AHF news] 5/23/2005 - AHF's 1956 Commemoration Committee meets at its Washington, DC Headquarters at the National Press Building to finalize plans for year of events leading up to the 50th Anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. AHF plans to kick off the year in October 2006 with a Congressional commemoration in the Capitol Rotunda and gala dinner where distinguished nominees will receive AHF's Mihaly Kovats Medal of Freedom for Lifetime Achievements. This event will mark the beginning of a year-long effort at raising awareness, funds, and membership to support the 2006 commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution that was brutally crushed by Soviet tanks. AHF is creating a mini-documentary film to be shown at the commemoration event and shared with member organizations across the country and partners around the world. Some of the other activities include:
Get involved - we need your HELP! [join / donate] [< back to all AHF news]
AHF's work regarding the tragic events nearly 50 years ago, dates back to the early days of the revolution and thereafter assisting tens of thousands of refugees. In 1956 the American Hungarian Federation activated the second Hungarian Relief program for the refugees of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, providing $512,560.00. With the support of the American Hungarian Federation, over 65,000 refugees arrived in the USA. For its inaugural meeting, the Taskforce outlined a number of initiatives aimed at creating a lasting memory of Hungary's heroic fight for freedom. One of the first initiatives was to petition the US Postal Service to issue a 2006 stamp dedicated to the 1956 revolution. See the "Downloads" section on the right to read the letter. |
Member organizations receive publicity on the AHF Website and eNewsletters. Importantly, AHF can serve as a central information resource for all. All are invited to help both local organizations and AHF in its own efforts at commemorating 1956 in the Nation's Capital! AHF needs volunteers and funds to make our bold
(You do not need to become a member to donate. The American Hungarian Federation is a tax-exempt 501c(3) organization.)
In Memoriam
Pongratz suffered a heart attack on Wednesday in the southern Hungarian town of Kiskunmajsa where he lived, said Dezso Abraham, secretary general of the World Council of Hungarian 56ers revolutionary veterans group. During the revolution, Pongratz was commander of one of the key resistance groups fighting the Soviet army. [read more]. --------------
Jeno Andras Szeredas, Hungarian political activist and Senator, 1956 Freedom Fighter, Founder of the Freedom Fighters Federation in the United States, poet and artist of rare talent died quietly in his sleep at his daughter's home in Connecticut on November 30. He had just celebrated his 90th birthday. Born in Iglo, Hungary (now Slovakia) in 1914, Mr. Szeredas was both witness to and active participant in the turmoil sweeping over Europe for the balance of the 20th century. [more]
Downloads: Memorials Dedicated to 1956 "October 23, 1956, is a day that will live forever in the annals
of free men and nations. It was a day of courage, conscience and triumph.
No other day since history began has shown more clearly the eternal unquenchability
of man's desire to be free, whatever the odds against success, whatever
the sacrifice required."- President John
F. Kennedy,
"The Blood of the Hungarians" I am not one of those who wish to see the people of Hungary take up arms again in a rising certain to be crushed, under the eyes of the nations of the world, who would spare them neither applause nor pious tears, but who would go back at one to their slippers by the fireside like a football crowd on a Sunday evening after a cup final. There are already too many dead on the field, and we cannot be generous with any but our own blood. The blood of Hungary has re-emerged too precious to Europe and to freedom for us not to be jealous of it to the last drop. But I am not one of those who think that there can be a compromise, even one made with resignation, even provisional, with a regime of terror which has as much right to call itself socialist as the executioners of the Inquisition had to call themselves Christians. And on this anniversary of liberty, I hope with all my heart that the silent resistance of the people of Hungary will endure, will grow stronger, and, reinforced by all the voices which we can raise on their behalf, will induce unanimous international opinion to boycott their oppressors. And if world opinion is too feeble or egoistical to do justice to a martyred people, and if our voices also are too weak, I hope that Hungary’s resistance will endure until the counter-revolutionary State collapses everywhere in the East under the weight of its lies and contradictions. Hungary conquered and in chains has done more for freedom and justice than any people for twenty years. But for this lesson to get through and convince those in the West who shut their eyes and ears, it was necessary, and it can be no comfort to us, for the people of Hungary to shed so much blood which is already drying in our memories. In Europe’s isolation today, we have only one way of being true to Hungary, and that is never to betray, among ourselves and everywhere, what the Hungarian heroes died for, never to condone, among ourselves and everywhere, even indirectly, those who killed them. It would indeed be difficult for us to be worthy of such sacrifices. But we can try to be so, in uniting Europe at last, in forgetting our quarrels, in correcting our own errors, in increasing our creativeness, and our solidarity. We have faith that there is on the march in the world, parallel with the forces of oppression and death which are darkening our history, a force of conviction and life, an immense movement of emancipation which is culture and which is born of freedom to create and of freedom to work. Those Hungarian workers and intellectuals, beside whom we stand today with such impotent sorrow, understood this and have made us the better understand it. That is why, if their distress is ours, their hope is ours also. In spite of their misery, their chains, their exile, they have left us a glorious heritage which we must deserve: freedom, which they did not win, but which in one single day they gave back to us. (October 23, 1957) AHF dedicates this work - Read this in German, Hungarian, French, and Spanish on this AHF member site, the [American Hungarian Museum] Contribute or join online!
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7/28/2005
- AHF and member organizations spearhead letter urging
president Bush to visit Budapest for commemoration of 1956 Hungarian revolution...The
letter sent to President Bush suggested that the President consider traveling
to Budapest next year to participate in commemoration of the 50th anniversary
of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
AHF
is calling for volunteers to assist with 2005 plans in Washington, DC.
Please 
10/10/2004
- AHF Supporting the "Lyukas Zaszlo" / "Torn
from the Flag" project, a documentary film about the 1956
Hungarian Revolution. AHF donated $1000.00 to the project at its November
meeting in New Brunswick, NJ. [
3/5/2004
- 1956 Commemoration Task Force planning for major events
to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution brutally
crushed by Soviet tanks. We need volunteers and donations to make this
a success. [
5/19/2005
- Gergely "Bajusz" Pongratz, a leader
and hero of Hungary's anti-communist revolution of 1956, has died at age
73.
12/10/2004
- JENO SZEREDAS,
90, Hungarian Freedom Fighter Federation Founder, AHF Member, and Noted
Artist Dies...
Denver,
Colo - statue and square
North
Olmstead , Ohio - Plaque and cemetery (Thanks to Dobolyi Arpad &
Juhasz Ferenc AHF VP)
Mindszenty
statue and square
Albert
Camus' Stirring Letter to the World:
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up for the AHF mailing list.