’56 lives’ – commemoration at the railway station in Beregszász

The 67th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution was commemorated at the Beregszász railway station on 23 October.

At the beginning of the event, the poem Blood is Red on the Pest Street by Lajos Tamási was presented by Nikolett Pivnyeva, a Hungarian language major of Ferenc Rakoczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian College of Higher Education. Afterwards, István Csernicskó, the rector of the institution opened the event.

In his speech he said that “in 1956, simple people, like us here, decided to rise up against tyranny. They did not want to make history. In the end, however, they ended up on the golden pages of Hungarian history. Although the revolution was drowned in blood, the hope that tyranny could be defeated stayed with them. We remember those people who were brave and who had the courage not only to think about freedom, but to act for it”.

Attila Szakolczai, a research colleague of the 1956 Institute and the Committee of National Remembrance, recalled the historical events and added that there is no historical event without the community being able to transcend and rise above itself at that moment.

As he explained, the heroes of 1956 were no different from those present. There was a moment, and in that moment people were able to rise above themselves and to take on tasks that they had not thought they would find the day before.

Then, Nikolett Pivnyeva and István Nagy performed the song ’56 lives’.

Marianna Pallagi, director of Pro Cultura Subcarpathica, said that every year people gather here to pay tribute to the memory of the brave.

In her speech she added that people may have surprised themselves after the outbreak of the war with the strength of spirit they had. The women who stayed at home, the wives and mothers who kept the family together. Great courage is shown at every moment, regardless of their nationality, by those who fight on the front line.

The event concluded with the laying of wreaths in front of the 1956 Memorial statue, which was constructed by the Consulate of Hungary in Beregszász and the Beregszász City Council in November 2016.