HUNGARY: New monument to the 1956 revolution causes controversy as veterans who fought the uprising are bitterly opposed to it

Record ID: 809634

  • Title: HUNGARY: New monument to the 1956 revolution causes controversy as veterans who fought the uprising are bitterly opposed to it
  • Date: 25th September 2006
  • Summary: (CEEF) BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (RECENT) (REUTERS) POSTER SHOWING MONUMENT PLAN WITH CONSTRUCTION IN THE BACKGROUND MONUMENT PLAN POSTER SHOWING FLAG WITH HOLE AND MONUMENT OF STEEL POLES ENDING UP IN A WEDGE CONSTRUCTION SITE OF MONUMENT VARIOUS OF STEEL POLES, PART OF THE MONUMENT CONSTRUCTION WORKER HAMMERING IN STREET COBBLES MONUMENT DESIGNERS DISCUSSING WITH CONSTRUCTION MANAGER VARIOUS OF DESIGNERS EXPLAINING PLAN TO CONSTRUCTION MANAGER CONSTRUCTION WORKER BEHIND POLES (SOUNDBITE)(Hungarian) ARCHITECT, TAMAS PAPP, SAYING: "They [the demonstrators in 1956] started off together arm in arm. And in fact we saw such strength, such spontaneous welding together in this move of arm in arm that it followed through our whole concept." (SOUNDBITE)(Hungarian) ARTIST, CSABA HORVATH, SAYING: "The revolution as an abstraction, a notion or an event is not a peaceful and light thing. It has force, it can be scary, it is a drama and this has to show. And we think that this strong and dynamic form really shows this." RUSTING STEEL POLES
  • Embargoed: 10th October 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: History,Industry
  • Reuters ID: LVADRXI2D2REOYEJ74KSRTD488HI
  • Story Text: A new monument to mark the 50th anniversary of Hungary's failed uprising against Soviet rule is being placed on the same spot where dictator Josef Stalin's statue was famously pulled down. The monument will be unveiled at an official ceremony on October 23rd.
    After the revolution failed the site where the statue had been, became the scene of communist May Day parades.
    The modern monument being built is an assembly of rusty-looking steel columns intended to symbolise demonstrators coming together in a crowd and which finally merge into a wedge-shaped steel blade. The steel blade surface will be shiny, reflecting the viewers and the surroundings.
    The monument was designed by a young team of four - two architects and two artists, called the 'i-ypszilon' group. They wanted to create a monument which would also speak to younger generations about 1956.
    The idea for the shape of the monument came from a story from one of the group's teachers who took part in the demonstration that started off the uprising on October 23rd. The demonstrators marched arm in arm, in order to stop any provocateurs and defend each other.
    "They started off together arm in arm. And in fact we saw such strength, such spontaneous welding together in this move of arm in arm that it followed through our whole concept," said architect Tamas Papp
    But the monument has been criticised for being too large, abstract and threatening.
    "The revolution as an abstraction, a notion or an event is not a peaceful and light thing. It has force, it can be scary, it is a drama and this has to show. And we think that this strong and dynamic form really shows this," artist Csaba Horvath said.
    But despite the explanations, most anti-communist street fighters of the '56 revolution are still furious at the building of the giant monument. They wanted a traditional heroic sculpture, depicting people. For them, the steel posts look like the gallows used to hang hundreds after the revolution.
    Several prominent former fighters now on the political Right have condemned the construction. Leading the opposition is Maria Wittner, a former street fighter.
    Wittner was a 19-year-old single mother in 1956 when she joined the street fighters. Arrested after the revolution, she was sentenced to death and her two-year-old son was put in a state orphanage with mentally handicapped children. She spent 13 years in prison, only released as late as 1970. As a '56er', she could only find manual work and earned her living from sewing.
    As her personal commemoration Wittner is now sewing flags for the anniversary with the centres missing, like those waved during the revolution after demonstrators cut out communist emblems. For the anniversary, she devised her own flag - with the royal coat of arms in the hole in the centre.
    Wittner will boycott the monument's unveiling, calling it a monstrosity and reminding her of gallows and executions.
    "This symbolizes the 4th of November when Soviet tanks flooded into Budapest. They may see it differently but it was us who took part in the revolution and we know and feel what things symbolize. So not even with the biggest goodwill do I see a spark of anything referring to 1956 in it."
    As protests over the monument mounted from '56 organisations the government agreed to an alternative monument that would please the veterans. The second monument will be unveiled on the eve of the anniversary at the Technical University from where the demonstration set off that led to the outbreak of the uprising.
    The alternative monument is designed by a renowned sculptor who himself witnessed the revolution. Robert Csikszentmihalyi's monument has a more classic, more figurative style than the main monument. Most '56 organisations have accepted the depiction of a crowd that has just set off into revolution with a female figure symbolizing freedom.
    "When I chose the theme I wanted to evoke that pure, solemn atmosphere with a huge relief that I also felt myself then," Csikszentmihalyi said.
    Nobody doubts the monument stand-off is about politics, not art. It is pitting veteran against veteran, and dividing the generations. Attila Zsigmond runs the Budapest Gallery that looks after all public statues in Budapest. He chaired the design panel that decided on the winners for the monuments and is concerned about the current controversy around the main monument.
    Zsigmond hopes that when politics is withdrawn from the debate people will discover the modern monument for its own merits.
    "Once] the current political judgements and possible opposition to it are gone, then sooner or later it will become acceptable and likeable. Even for those for whom it's aesthetically and artistically alien and strange," Zsigmond said.
    But the divisions run deeper than just the debate about the monument, and the debate is exposing deep, unresolved divisions about the true meaning of the revolution. For many former '56 fighters who risked their lives against Soviet tanks and served harsh prison sentences for taking part in the revolution, today's socialists are simply successors to the old communists. Many in the present socialist-led government were members of the communist youth league and lived well under the Kadar regime. As communist youth leaders they had to condemn the revolution.
    Many veterans today say they will refuse to commemorate 1956 with the Socialist government whom they regard as successors of the traitors of '56.

    Laszlo Regeczy-Nagy helped to pass documents between the revolutionaries and the West in 1956-57 and received a 15 year prison sentence. He says most '56-ers will feel sad and bitter on the anniversary day.
    "We will be sad because our real aims were not only unfulfilled, but they're not even really understood. For 33 [from 1956 to 1989] years there have been so many lies about the revolution. It was said that: 'the adventure against the people was terminated with armed international help' [ie, the Soviet army crushed the uprising], and this was the legitimate basis of the Kadar regime. This was imbued into millions to such a degree that many still don't understand it otherwise," Regeczy-Nagy said.
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