Latest Stories
It all started so innocently on a beautiful sunny October 23rd, back then in 1956. I was a 14 year-old student at the Jozsef Attila Gimnazium in Budapest, whose classmates excitedly whispered the forbidden word “demonstration.” And soon we all set forth…
The Revolution of 1956, because it was so unexpected, because of its sequence of events, because of the triumph of youth guided not by persons or organizations, but by the very spirit of freedom, the collapse of the allegedly invincible Communist power,…
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Cegléd – 1956 November 24 to December 1
Our dear Children,
The past few days, and most likely many more days to come, are grief-laden for us. And probably today’s gray sky will never clear up completely for us.
So…
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“When Stalin’s Torch lights up the sky, you have to hit the ground,” my father said. “Fall down. It’s a matter of life and death.” My father and I were crammed together with a bunch of strangers in a truck…
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My story is about the journey of a family, the Szabó family; my father Dr. András Szabó, my sister Judy, and my mother Emilia, who during her life went by many names, the most recognized one being Kathy Kapossy, Cleveland’s Hungarian radio…
I was in my senior year at Wesleyan University when the Hungarian Revolution broke out. We students were transfixed by the news, and professors who knew about Hungary were in great demand, with impromptu teaching seminars, years before the “teach-in” became an…
I was just 9 1/2 years old when the revolution took place. I was living with my mother and grandmother in a flat in Angyalföld. My grandfather had passed away 2 years earlier. My father had divorced my mother shortly after I…
It has been 50 years since Russian tanks crushed the dream of a free Hungary. But it has not been long enough to forget. I was an artist. My job was to paint larger-than-life portraits of Lenin and Stalin. That…
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I was getting ready for school the morning of October 24, 1956, when my Grandmother informed me that school had been canceled due to fighting in the streets. The Hungarian Revolution started the night before. Although I was not sure…
1956 was a very special year. In the first few days of January, an early morning streetcar derailed and plunged from the Margit Bridge into the Danube. A few days later, Budapest was shaken awake at daybreak by the earthquake…
The Start of the Revolution I was 9 yrs. old and my sister Kathy was 8. We were doing our school homework on Oct. 23, 1956. My Mom came home from work, very excited, telling my grandfather, who was babysitting us, to…
Szabadságunkat köszünjük nektek, 56-os hõsök” “For Our Freedom We Thank You, Heroes of 1956” These are the words engraved on the stone monument on the grounds of the Philadelphia & Vicinity Hungarian Sports Club. The Club’s membership dedicated it on…
I had my summer vacation in the Tokaj region at my uncle’s farm in the summer of 1956 with nary a thought or whisper of anything brewing in the country. Coming back to the big city in September, I was getting settled…
In the autumn of 1956, a small nation along the banks of the Danube stood up almost to a man, woman and child and struggled for a breath of freedom.
This story tells of this struggle. But it is not the real…
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“When Stalin’s Torch lights up the sky, you have to hit the ground,” my father said. “Fall down. It’s a matter of life and death.” My father and I were crammed together with a bunch of strangers in a truck…
On October 23, 1956, in Budapest, the largest demonstration occurred in front of the Parliament. In the large square in front of the monumental building there was room for tens of thousands of people. I went there by myself, not with an…
Tell Your story
Please join us as we ensure the spirit of 1956 is captured through your stories and passed on for future generations. We are looking for your most vivid memories of the 1956 Revolution. The suggested length for submissions is 1-3 pages, if possible.
There are several ways to submit your story. The interview guide is designed for easy online submission and suggests questions for you to answer or to ask family members who participated in those heroic days. If you would like to send a separate document, click on the e-mail button to the left and send us a file directly. And finally, you may download the interview guide to fill in by hand and mail it to us.
Once your submission has been received, you will receive an e-mail confirmation. Thank you for your participation!