INTRODUCTION
Fifty-seven years ago yesterday, Hungarians from all walks of life rose up against insurmountable odds to fight the brutal Soviet-installed Communist government. Thousands died fighting, tens of thousands were wounded and imprisoned, others – men, women, and children - tortured and executed, while 200,000 fled their homeland.

Their enormous sacrifice may have seemed futile then, but today it is universally recognized as having contributed to the ultimate demise of Soviet domination of Central and Eastern Europe and the restoration of constitutional democracy and independence in Hungary and the region.

We must never forget the heroes of 1956 – the students, the intellectuals, the workers, the farmers, left and right, indeed the cross-section of the entire Hungarian nation -- who were prepared to realize their dreams at great personal sacrifice.  They fought and died for freedom, a multi-party democracy and independence from the barbarism of the Soviet Union.

John F. Kennedy, on the first anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution remarked: "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."

What is striking about the words of President Kennedy and all presidents since, is what they do NOT address – the US failure to actively respond to Hungarian pleas for help.

Today, I’d like to examine not just the political events leading up the 1956 Revolution, but what led up to the fateful events of October. To add perspective, I will also examine what makes a people rise up against impossible odds, sacrificing everything in the name of freedom.

Why Hungary?
In thinking about the state-sponsored brutality in the 1950’s Eastern Bloc and the revolt against it, this question has always intrigued me.

If one can characterize a nation, there can be no doubt that Hungarians not only give lip service to the vaunted principles of democracy and national independence, but also, as their history so eloquently and repeatedly demonstrates, sacrifice life and treasure to achieve them.

After losing 2/3 of her thousand-year-old territory, 1/3 of her Hungarian speaking population, 90% of her natural resources and railroads after WWI, Hungary was now a tiny, weak nation surrounded by enemies on three sides in the heart of Central Europe. Why Hungary? Why not much larger and powerful nations in the Eastern Bloc? What was it in the Hungarian character that would give Freedom Fighters the courage to take up arms and defy one of the most brutal superpowers in world history? The answer lies in its history.

1456 - 1687... The Hungarians would fight the Ottoman Turks for over 200 years, losing millions of men in the fight. Church bells ring at noon around the world marking the first victory against the Ottomans at Nándorfehérvár (today’s Belgrade) by Janos Hunyadi and San Juan Capistrano in 1456. The “Saviors of Christianity,” a moniker given them by the Pope, finally drove out the Ottomans, but soon elect the House of Hapsburg to the throne.

1703… The Kuruc Rebellion. With the Hapsburgs embroiled in Spain, Ferenc Rákóczi II, Prince of Transylvania, led an unsuccessful revolt against the Austrians and was forced into exile. The brave Kuruc troops laid down their arms in 1711. But the discontent under Hapsburg rule would continue.

1779... Hussar Col. Michael Kovats offered his sword to Benjamin Franklin and US Congress saying “Golden Freedom cannot be purchased with yellow Gold.” He was asked by his friend Col. Tadeusz Kościuszko, to recruit, train, organize, and lead into battle the first ever American cavalry. Kovats died a hero’s death at the battle for Charleston, S.C. in 1779. He is immortalized at the Citadel and is known as a founding father of the US Cavalry. He is the first known Hungarian to give his life for American freedom and independence, but not the last. “The Col. Commandant Michael Kovats Medal of Freedom” is AHF’s highest award. “The best cavalry the Rebels ever had,” said British Brigade Major Skelly in describing Kovats’ American Hussar Brigade.

1852... “All for the People and All by the People; Nothing About the People Without the People - That is Democracy!” These are the words of Hungarian patriot Louis Kossuth, leader of the 1848 democratic revolution, spoken before the Ohio State Legislature… 11 years before Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. Kossuth would go on to speak before half the US population, spawn a fashion craze (top hat and moustache-less beard), and be called “the foremost soldier of freedom in this age” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. A gift of AHF to the people of the United States, his statue now sits proudly in the US Capitol - it reads, "Father of Hungarian Democracy."

Col. Ferenc Koszorus asks Regent Horthy for orders to deploy his First Armored Division into action against pro-Nazi forces in July 1944, preventing the deportation of hundreds of thousands of Jews from Budapest. This unparalleled action was the only case known in which an Axis power used military force for the purpose of preventing deportations. The action gave away Hungarian troop positions, but delayed the Nazi takeover for 3.5 months, and permitted Raoul Wallenberg to coordinate his successful rescue mission.

1945… Despite Soviet occupation and intimidation, Hungarians resoundingly rejected the Communist Party and elected the Smallholders Party. But history was again not on Hungary’s side. A few short years later, she was forced to accept a brutal, Soviet-installed government.

1956… Hungarians rise and make first tear in the iron curtain

1989… In spring 1989, with Soviet Troops still present, Hungary again pushed the envelope and began dismantling its fortified border with Austria. A few months later, this second tear in the Iron Curtain opened when hundreds of East Germans fled across the Austrian-Hungarian border. By the end of 1989, Hungary would be free and soon join NATO and the EU.

The Treaty of Trianon in 1920, a treaty the United States has never ratified, was devastating and unprecendented. At the time scholars warned a weakened Hungary would lead to a largely defenseless Central Europe and make Bolshevism’s westward march inevitable.

The Hungarian Peace Treaty of 1947, following WWII, stipulated that the Soviet Union was required to vacate her occupation troops from Hungary when they withdrew their occupation forces from Austria in unison with the US and the UK. In 1955, the Austrian State Treaty and ensuing declaration of neutrality established Austria as a demilitarized and neutral country, raising Hungarian hopes of also becoming neutral. However, the Soviet Union never withdrew its forces claiming the Warsaw Pact Treaty, signed before the Peace Treaty of 1947, provided legal justification to the Soviet military presence.

Khrushchev’s "secret speech" in February 1956, denouncing the crimes of Stalin and his cult of personality, led reformers across the Eastern bloc began to openly express their discontent.

In June 1956, 80% of the Cegielski factory fail to show up for work. Soon, 100,000 people gather to demonstrate in Stalin square (Mickiewicz square now) demanding better wages and to protest unjust quotas, shouting “we want bread, we want freedom.” Other joined the procession and soon riots broke out when news spread that workers had been arrested and taken to the UB jail.

Demonstrators attacked the jail, released prisoners and armed themselves with weapons from the jail’s storeroom. Army units and their tanks move into Poznań.

The struggle between the demonstrators, the UB and the army continues throughout the night. Fifty-seven persons get killed and 450 wounded, including 13-year old Romek Sztralkowski. Authorities start arresting the participants in the Poznań events and torture them brutally, including removing women’s teeth.

Appoint a Polish nationalist communist, Wladyslaw Gomulka, a reformer and former activist who was himself released from prison shortly after Stalin’s death, to head the regime. He quickly has the last of the Poznan prisoners released and institutes reforms. Tensions, at least in Poland, are temporarily diffused.

In Hungary too, Khrushchev recalled the brutal, hard-line ruler, Matyas Rakosi. Rather than have the sedating effect of Gomulka’s appointment in Poland, Rakosi’s removal stimulated demands for greater freedom.

On October 6, 1956, at the funeral of the victims of a mock political trial - Laszlo Rajk and his comrades, is attended by 200,000 people.

They announced a demonstration in front of General Bem and Petofi statues in Budapest for October 23rd.

Tens of thousands, including my mother, marched to the foot of the General Bem statue in solidarity with the anti-communist demonstrations in Poznan.

“The following resolution was born on 22 October 1956, at the dawn of a new period in Hungarian history, in the Hall of the Building Industry Technological University as a result of the spontaneous movement of several thousand of the Hungarian youth who love their Fatherland:”

3. We demand a new government under Imre Nagy and all Rakosi-era Stalinist leaders removed.

7. We demand the re-organization of the Hungarian economy by SPECIALISTS to replace the planned economy.

9. We demand the complete revision of norms in industry and an urgent and radical adjustment of wages to meet the demands of workers and intellectuals. We demand that minimum living wages for workers should be fixed.

11. We demand the rehabilitation of innocent persons, immediate repatriation of prisoners-of-war and of civilians deported to the Soviet Union, including prisoners who have been condemned beyond the frontiers of Hungary.

12. We demand complete freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of the Press and a free Radio.

Others would eventually reach government-controlled Hungarian Radio only to hear communist leader Erno Gero call the peaceful protesters “enemies of the people.”

Angry at Gero’s comments, the crowd attempted to gain entry to the radio station to proclaim the 16 points. The protest soon turned into a bloodbath as Hungarian Secret Police opened fire on the crowd.

Again, on October 25th, Hungarian Secret Police (AVO) opened fire on protesters in front of parliament calling for the resignation of communist leader Gero.

Hungarian Army units join the insurgents as the communist party disintegrates. There was now no turning back.

Under the angelic voice of Radio Free Europe, Hungarians bravely fought and, for 12 days, won their freedom, expelling Soviet Forces. Imre Nagy announced withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact and declared neutrality on November 1st asking the United Nations for observers and protection.

A "Pest Srac" is seen here - kids who took up arms agaisnt communist tyranny.

Imre Nagy makes his final plea for Western help. As Soviet forces regained control, Nagy sought refuge in the Yugoslav Embassy, but was arrested, and executed in 1958 along with Paul Maleter, head of Hungarian Defense Forces after being held in a secret location in Rumania for 2 years.

A particularly tragic example of the brutality of the regime was that of Peter Mansfeld, a “Pesti Srac” or Young Boy from Pest who, at the age of 16, became a Freedom Fighter. He was held political prisoner in “Hell’s Highway”, tortured and repeatedly beaten until he finally found rest 1959, when he turned 18 – the age the communist police could legally hang him, a week after his birthday.

1956 shook the communist world:

The United States and the Hungarian Emigration - Over 200,000 Hungarians fled their homeland bringing their talents to the shores of many nations. Some 48,000 would eventually come to the United States. Some of these Hungarian refugees would join earlier emigrations and again contribute greatly to the United States – Andy Grove would found Intel; Billionaire Steven Udvar-Hazy would help build a “little” museum for the Smithsonian; Oscar-winner Vilmos Zsigmond, who took some of the disturbing video of 1956 Revolution we saw today, would become a legend of cinematography in Hollywood.

Not well known is that President Truman charged Col. Ferenc Koszorus, after his escape from Soviet-occupied Hungary, to organize and organization of a “decent and reliable element of Hungarian [military] veterans in order to have a pool from which to draw perspective recruits for para-military activities.” President Eisenhower, despite the strong Republican rhetoric of “rolling back communism,” dismantled it.

When the Eisenhower administration took the reins from Truman in 1953, statements made by the new Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, suggested a more aggressive American foreign policy on Eastern Europe. Dulles promised to support an “explosive and dynamic” policy of “liberation.” Despite the continuing rollback rhetoric that encouraged Eastern-bloc nations to resist, rollback was exposed as a fraud and propaganda ploy. What is particularly tragic is that, despite having plans for such a contingency, Eisenhower overruled an airlift of supplies to help the beleaguered Freedom Fighters.

American Hungarian Federation President, Frank Koszorus, Jr., son of Col. Koszorus, wrote in response to Charles Krauthammer’s analysis of CNN’s “Cold War” in 1989:
“While it would be a fabrication to portray President Eisenhower as Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s co-conspirator, he had far more leeway to support the events in Budapest… Rather than pressure Britain, France and Israel to withdraw from Egypt and insist the UN Security Council address the Suez crisis from October 28 to November 1, Mr. Eisenhower could have accepted Secretary of State John Dulles's proposal of October 25 to place the Hungarian question on the Security Council’s agenda....

...Rather than reassure a divided Kremlin of America's intention not to interfere in Hungary, the Eisenhower administration could have called on the Soviets to withdraw from Hungary. Rather than refuse to interact directly with Imre Nagy, prime minister of Hungary, Mr. Eisenhower could have diplomatically and vigorously supported Hungary’s declared neutrality.”

Finally, the role of Radio Free Europe as a catalyst for 1956 has been debated. Most would argue that any radio broadcast or external media cannot be responsible for setting off violent conflict on their own. But I know it played an important role because Hungarians believed the West would not leave them alone. My mother shared with me how the message of freedom resonated so greatly.

So, why Hungary? Fighting against foreign domination is part of the national character – as is fending for yourself. Some analysts have made the argument that Soviet armed intervention in Hungary was not inevitable and suggest that if the revolutionary Hungarian Prime Minister and reformer Imre Nagy had been more of a leader, a Hungarian “Gomulka,” he would have controlled events on the streets and would have been able to reach a Titoist–like compromise with Moscow.

While we can never know, I tend to disagree… because I know my mother.

Although unfamiliar with the details of this rich history and national character, a few today are quick to conclude (and have the international community believe) that the Hungarian people are less than committed to democracy. History would suggest otherwise.

I AM A CHILD OF 1956…Not because my mother was wounded, risked her life, braved bullets, bombs, soviet tanks, land mines, communist secret police, red army troops and hid from flares on cold November nights as she escaped across the iron curtain...

I AM A CHILD OF 1956…Not because I heard mother’s stories of how she would paint the underside of porcelain dishes in black shoe polish, placing them in the path of soviet tanks which would stop to inspect these “land mines” only to open themselves up to a little Stalinist-named surprise: the Molotov cocktail...

I AM A CHILD OF 1956…Not because I am so deeply proud of her and Hungary for standing up to communist tyranny against odds so great, few have dared to attempt...

I AM A CHILD OF 1956…Because in Anyuka’s tears… in her struggles and perseverance…in her scars, in her eyes that exuded the sort of wisdom none should possess.

I learned freedom is not free... and that with Freedom comes great responsibility.

I AM A CHILD OF 1956…Because I learned that we must never forget - never forget what my mother and thousands like her fought and many died for: freedom, liberty, pluralism, democracy...

While oppressed people around the world struggle for freedom, we are not free...

While human and minority rights of Hungarian minorities are violated daily at the hands of governments that had promised to respect and protect them - their only crime being Hungarians in lands they inhabited for 1000 years and where foreign powers changed the borders around them - we are not free.

I am a child of ‘56 because I am ready eager to speak up when democracy and human rights are threatened.