HUNGARY: 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF UPRISING AGAINST SOVIET DOMINATION

(21 Oct 1996) Hung/English/Nat

Hungary is preparing to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its ill fated uprising against Soviet domination.

The first attempt by an Eastern bloc country to free itself of the Soviet yoke began on October 23rd 1956.

But Moscow sent in tanks and after a week of fighting the revolt had been crushed.

On Wednesday hundreds of veterans of the 1956 street battles will pay their respects to the hundreds who died in the uprising.

It's been 40 years since Soviet tanks crushed the Hungarian uprising but the scars of the fighting are still visible around Budapest.

For years the events that began on October 23 1956 were officially classed in Hungary as a "counter revolution".

But since the fall of the communist regime in 1989 it's become known as a "revolution" and a "popular struggle for freedom".

The dramatic events began when demonstrators marched on the headquarters of Hungarian Radio in Budapest.

They hoped to have their demands for more freedom broadcast -- instead they were greeted by gunfire.

The demonstrators fought back with Molotov cocktails and the uprising began.

The hated star was cut out of the Hungarian flag and plucked from state buildings.

Prime Minister Imre Nagy at first opposed the uprising but later joined it.

Radio Budapest broadcast his last appeal for resistance as Soviet troops were pummeling the city.

Nagy and his defence minister, Pal Maleter, were later executed for their part in the uprising.

Maleter's widow, Judith Gyenes, still grieves for her husband.

SOUNDBITE: (Hungarian)
I can say that everything which can be taken away from a woman was taken away from me. I mean, besides everything else, they killed the man I loved most.
SUPER CAPTION: Judith Gyenes, widow of Pal Maleter, Hungarian minister of defence during uprising

General Maleter was seized by the Russians while he was discussing the terms of a proposed withdrawal of Soviet forces from Hungary.

His widow says Moscow's treachery showed the world the nature of the Soviet system.

SOUNDBITE: (Hungarian)
It's absolutely fantastic, although sad in a way, how much the world still remembers 1956.
SUPER CAPTION: Judith Gyenes, widow of Pal Maleter, Hungarian minister of defence during uprising

The commander-in-chief of the Hungarian National Guard during the uprising is preparing himself for a reunion of veterans of the fighting.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
The Hungarian revolution burned a broad avenue within communism. It inflicted such a wound on communism and Soviet colonialism which never would heal.
SUPER CAPTION: General Bela Kiraly, commander-in-chief of Hungarian National Guard during uprising

This is the eighth year that Hungary has been free to commemorate the uprising, but Hungarians are still not sure how to come to terms with it.

For some it's a climactic moment in Hungarian history whose memory should be cherished.

Others view it as a painful memory which should now be laid to rest.

SOUNDBITE: (Hungarian)
I hope that the wounds will heal. We have to forget what happened. My brother also fought in '56 and had to escape abroad. We have to forgive each other regardless which side we were on, we have to forgive at last.
SUPER CAPTION: vox pop

SOUNDBITE: (Hungarian)
I was bought up in the last regime during communism and I kind of felt that it wasn't such a bad system after all. But as we came out from that era I began to feel that it was a great lie, like a balloon. Now I can only admire the ones who participated in the revolution and I'm very thankful to them.
SUPER CAPTION: vox pop


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