Radio Budapest

Our troops are engaged in battle with the Soviet forces. On October 23, 1956, in response to the recent backlash against reformist premier Imre Nagy, Hungarian students and workers took to the streets of Budapest in demonstrations against Soviet domination and Communist rule. Within days, the uprising escalated into a full-scale national revolt, and the Hungarian government fell into chaos. Nagy joined the revolution and was reinstated as Hungarian premier, but his minister János Kádár formed a counter-regime and asked the U.S.S.R. to intervene. On November 4, a massive Soviet force of 200,000 troops and 2,500 tanks entered Hungary. Here, Radio Budapest is heard reading a statement by Nagy in which he charges the Soviets with attempting to overthrow Hungary's ‘lawful democratic government.’ Nagy took refuge in the Yugoslav embassy but was later arrested by Soviet agents after leaving the embassy under a safe-conduct pledge. Nearly 200,000 Hungarians fled the country, and thousands of people were arrested, killed, or executed before the Hungarian uprising was finally suppressed. Nagy was later handed over to the Kádár regime, which convicted and executed him for treason on June 16, 1958. On June 16, 1989, as Communism crumbled in Hungary, Nagy's body was officially reburied with full honors. Some 300,000 Hungarians attended the service.