Hungary 1956



“The Butcher of Budapest.”
...
“Operation Whirlwind”
- The Soviet Invasion of Hungary 1956

"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 men's desire to be free, whatever the odds against success, whatever the sacrifice required.”
-John F. Kennedy
on the first anniversary
of the Hungarian Revolution.

At 4:15 a.m. on November 4, 1956, Soviet Communist forces launched a major attack on Hungary aimed at crushing, once and for all, the spontaneous uprising against Socialism/Communism that began on Oct. 23rd.

In the beginning, the spontaneous revolt against the government of the People's Republic of Hungary and its Socialist / Communist policies, looked like it was on the verge of an amazing victory.
It looked as if the entire country had taken up arms against the Communists.
On October 31, the USSR released this statement:
" The Soviet Government is prepared to enter into the appropriate negotiations with the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (and other members of the Warsaw Treaty) on the question of the presence of Soviet troops on the territory of Hungary!"
The world and the USA was stunned!
The crisis seemed on the verge of being resolved in a way no-one in Hungary, or the West, thought was possible !
Many Hungarians actually believed that Soviet military units were withdrawing from Hungary !!

Communist symbols such as red stars were taken down and many Communist books were burned, demonstrators took scissors to their national emblem and cut out the Soviet hammer and sickle that had appeared on their flag.

Here’s a video link :
http://youtu.be/d1o0ZeSzoxk
( Isn’t Communism / Socialism great ?!!)

But as usual, in a Socialist/Communist run country,
it was all a deception.
Secretly, on the very day the declaration was made public, the Soviet Union, decided to put a final ,violent, bloody end to the rebellion.
They believed that the rebellion directly threatened Communist rule.
That would NEVER be allowed!
Hungarian Prime Minister, Imre Nagy, declared Hungary's rejection of the Warsaw Pact.
He then appealed to the United Nations for help.

The Soviets responded quickly, with a military strike.

Hungarian Prime Minister Nagy announced the invasion to the nation in a grim, 35-second broadcast, declaring:
"Our troops are fighting. The Government is in its place."
At the same time Janos Kadar, had been flown, secretly, from Moscow to the city of Szolnok, 60 miles southeast of the capital to take power.

Soviet artillery and tank fire was heard thru out Budapest as “Operation Whirlwind” combined air strikes, artillery, and the coordinated tank-infantry action of 17 divisions. They were directed by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, known forever after as:

“The Butcher of Budapest.”

Once the Soviets made up their minds to eliminate the revolution, it took only a few days to complete.
On November 3, Soviet troops surrounded Budapest and closed the country's borders. Over 25,000 Hungarians were killed and thousands more were wounded.
U.S. officials observed the events with shock but there was little the United States could do without risking global nuclear war.
Nagy fled to the Yugoslav embassy, and about 200,000 Hungarians escaped to the West. By November 7th Soviet forces were in control of the country and Janos Kadar took the oath of office in the Parliament building.

Then the Communist crackdown began!

Kadar turned his anger on the participants in the revolution. Over 3,000 individuals were executed and about 25,000 imprisoned.
Imre Nagy, with a few others, was given sanctuary in the Yugoslav Embassy.

After being promised safe passage by Janos Kadar, Imre Nagy was immediately arrested by the Soviet forces as he was left the Yugoslav Embassy, November 23rd.
He was taken to Snagov, Romania, and secretly charged with treason. Nagy was then secretly tried, found guilty, and hanged in June 1958.
Only after Nagy had already been killed, was his trial and execution made public.

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev said he had Nagy executed:
"as a lesson to all other leaders in Socialist countries."

Imre Nagy was buried, along with his co-defendants, in the very prison yard where he was executed .
His body was later moved and buried in a far distant corner of the Municipal Cemetery of Budapest.

“With his Face-down, his hands and feet tied with barbed wire.”

For the next three decades, even to mention Imre Nagy’s name in public was to risk severe punishment.
The defeat of the Hungarian revolution was one of the darkest moments of the Cold War.
This is yet another example the evil face of Socialism / Communism.
Again !
It never changes.  Never will

 

“Know the History”

 

 

 

 

 

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