Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced the establishment of a museum to honour the heroes and victims of the 1956 revolution and freedom fight on Thursday in Budapest, at Bem József Square, during a wreath-laying ceremony held on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the uprising.
The prime minister said it was “a shame and a sorrow” that over seventy years the nation had failed to discharge one of its greatest debts: there is no shared, worthy place dedicated entirely to the memory of the heroes and victims of 1956.
He declared that, in tribute to the heroes of the revolution and freedom fight, they were committing to creating, in the years ahead, “a worthy sanctuary of Hungarian freedom” — a genuine museum of 1956 that would honour the memory of the victims, the fighters, and the nameless heroes.
“A nation that does not forget its heroes shall live forever,” he said.
Recalling the events of October 1956, Péter Magyar said that when the university students who set out from the Technical University and the Budapest residents who joined them gathered together, they did not yet know they were revolutionaries — they only became such hours later, when the first shots rang out at the Hungarian Radio building. But there was already something they knew about themselves: that through their silent march, their dignified procession, they had become free Hungarian citizens, and that no one could ever take that from them again, he said.
“These things could not be taken away by subsequent reprisals, could not be taken away by the soles of Soviet boots, could not be taken away by years in prison or by decades spent under oppression,” the Prime Minister declared.
“They could not take away the strength that carries us too — when we grow weary, when we might lose our faith in Hungary even for a moment — the strength that drives us forward, because there is nothing more powerful than the will and deeds of free Hungarian people, than the brave stand of free Hungarian people,” he said.
The crowd gathering at Bem Square had come, seven decades ago, to express solidarity with the Poles who were standing up for their freedom, he said, adding that the uprising of the Poznań workers had brought a message of hope and courage to Hungary.
Péter Magyar stressed that Hungarians will never forget the martyrs of the revolution — the innocents led to the gallows, the martyrs buried in unmarked graves, the courage of the young men and women of Pest, the thousands tortured in prisons, the hundreds of thousands driven from their homeland, the innocent victims of volleys of gunfire, and the pain of Hungarian families torn apart. Their names and sacrifice live forever in their hearts and in the memory of the Hungarian nation, he added.
He believed that proof of their victory is that Hungary today can celebrate serenely, proudly, and freely. That serenity is proof that the Hungarian people were not broken, did not bow their heads, and that people today can still look one another in the eye with straight backs, proudly and with a smile. “We know that the sacrifice was not in vain, the homeland is free, and we have a shared future,” he said.
The prime minister called the hole-punched flag — born from cutting the Rákosi coat of arms out of the national tricolour — a world-famous symbol of the 1956 revolution. “Everyone understood it, because it said the same thing in every language: this is our country, and we want to decide its fate,” he said. He added that this is why Hungarians still raise it proudly today, because the hole in the middle of the flag is the enduring symbol of Hungarian freedom.
Péter Magyar called it one of the most uplifting experiences of his life to have been able to present decorations to former 1956 university students, shake their hands, look them in the eyes, and tell them what their example, their story, and their strength means to Hungarians. “Those who stood up for their homeland seventy years ago are still here among us, and so are the members of the new generation who carry forward their courage and their love of country,” he added.
In his speech, the prime minister voiced his view that dividing Hungary is a crime. “There are those who still do not understand that there are minutes and hours when we are simply Hungarians — without qualifier, without background, without political affiliation. They can still decide whether bowing their heads before 1956 or serving their daily political interests matters more to them,” he remarked.
Péter Magyar said that those who come with respect and good intentions are welcomed as friends, “but we will not give up a single iota of our freedom.” We have grown into our own history, and we look forward with heads held high and unwavering faith in our independent future, he added.
Respect to every hero of 1956, “long live a free, truly independent Hungary” — with these words the Prime Minister closed his speech.
The majority of those attending the ceremony — including the Prime Minister — arrived at Bem Square via a torchlit procession, organised by the Rákóczi Szövetség as part of a series of commemorative events called Gloria Victis 1956, which set off from in front of the Műegyetem.
The march commemorated the student assembly at the Műegyetem on 22 October, regarded as one of the defining events of the revolution. At that gathering, students formulated their demands in a series of points and also decided that, in solidarity with the Polish people, they would march to Bem Square the following day — 23 October.
The current procession, attended predominantly by young people, was led by three period Csepel trucks, from the flatbeds of which young people dressed in era-appropriate clothing waved to the crowd. Several participants in the march waved flags in the national colours and the perforated flag symbolic of the revolution.
The Rákóczi Szövetség wrote on its website that 15,000 secondary school and university students are taking part in the Rákóczi Szövetség’s festive programmes. Around 3,500 secondary school and university students are arriving in Budapest between 21–23 October from 170 schools in Hungary and abroad for the commemorative ceremony. In addition, more than 5,000 students from 103 secondary schools are travelling to other Hungarian schools across the Carpathian Basin to celebrate, and at least as many young people will be there to welcome them.
Artificial intelligence was used for the translation of parts of the original Hungarian text.