Hungarian Rhapsody

toritto

Some of the first arrivals at Traiskirchen Camp, near Vienna. Within three months, 200,000 Hungarians had escaped to Austria and Yugoslavia.

On October 23, 1956, a student demonstration in the Hungarian capital Budapest triggered one of the tensest periods of the Cold War, as well as a remarkable response to the ensuing refugee crisis which brought substantial benefits to future generations of refugees all across the world.

I remember the Hungarian uprising – I was 14 years old.

“As October 23 progressed, tens of thousands of people poured on to the streets – and the initial demonstration in support of the restive population of Poland quickly turned into a full-scale revolt against the regime and its Soviet masters, which for a few heady days seemed to have succeeded.

However, the Soviet tanks rolled back into Budapest on November 4, and the revolution was soon crushed. The city endured days of…

View original post 467 more words

Advertisements