Sixty
\nyears ago, on the 23rd of October 1956, Hungary began a heroic
\nbattle in Budapest to rid itself of the tyranny of its communist party
\nsupported by the Soviet occupiers. Initiated by the students and backed by the
\nreformist leader Imre Nagy, what began as a peaceful demonstration turned into
\narmed clashes when the Soviet Union sent its troops to squash Hungary’s attempt
\nto get away from Soviet control. In Romania, which was itself occupied by the
\nSoviets who had instated a communist regime just like in Hungary, the street
\nprotests in Budapest found a response mainly among students. The students in
\nthe university cities of Timisoara, Cluj and Oradea, near the border with
\nHungary, as well as in Iasi and Bucharest, rallied in solidarity with their
\ncounterparts in the neighbouring country. However, the demonstrations in
\nRomania were not as massive as those in Hungary because of the repressive
\nregime in Romania and the absence of reformist leaders at the high levels of
\ngovernment. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nestor Badiceanu, a politician from Oradea, very close to the
\nborder with Hungary, told the Oral History Centre of the Romanian Radio
\nBroadcasting Corporation about the events he witnessed in October 1956:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The
\natmosphere in Oradea, whose ethnic Hungarian population accounted for 30% of
\nthe city’s inhabitants, radios were turned up full blast, coming through the
\nopen windows. There was a state of euphoria. Oradea is close to the border so
\npeople were expecting for things to flare up here as well, for the phenomenon
\nto become generalized. We had too much hope. I had just been to Lugoj and on my
\nway to Lugoj and back I saw tanks being deployed on ramps from trains in every
\nstation. These tanks were bound for Hungary. Despite having many forces in
\nHungary, the Russians couldn’t do much and had to deploy massive troops to deal
\nwith the Hungarian army, which they decapitated in a shameful manner. They
\ncalled the minister of war for talks and then arrested him leaving the army
\nwithout a leader.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Andrei
\nBanc, who was a student at the Faculty of Journalism in Bucharest in 1956,
\nremembers the reprisals against some of his colleagues:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Most of the students arrested were from the schools of law and philosophy,
\nnot from Polytechnics or Constructions, which was normal in a way, because
\nstudents there were indeed more into politics. Half of them were living in
\ndorms, in campuses, because they were from other parts of the country. In
\ngeneral, the arrests were staged mainly in that environment. The rest, namely
\nus who were from Bucharest, were somehow isolated from that. They were a
\ncompact mass and it was in that mass that problems started. It should be clear
\nalso that there were many informants there, that is students who would report
\non their fellow students. However, it was that situation, with many students
\nliving in dorms, boys separated from girls, that helped trigger the revolts of
\n1956. It wasn’t much, just a light turmoil, because the political police, the
\nSecuritate, was pretty well informed by their infiltrators, in order to prevent
\nan uprising like the one in Hungary. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The
\nRomanian students’ claims were related to material things, but that was not the
\nmain source of discontent. People felt the deep crisis they were in could be
\novercome had the country had a democratically elected leadership. Andrei Banc
\nagain: <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Claims
\nweren’t of a material nature. One of the first claims was that Russian language
\nbe taken out of the curricula. The claims were political, of general nature and
\nnot so anti-socialist like in Hungary. They were connected with what was
\nalready in the curricula, the wish for more freedom and more access to cultural
\ntraditions in Romania, to the foreign philosophy, which was very frowned upon
\nand which we had access to only through the courses taught to us. We were
\ntaught that philosophy was hostile, to use the term they used back then, and we
\nweren’t allowed to read anything in the original. Nobody called at that time
\nfor ousting socialism or the communist party or for dismantling the Communist
\nYouth Organization. We didn’t have claims like in Hungary. If I am not mistaken
\nthere were some claims put up by the students in law for some amendments to the
\nConstitution.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Professor Ion Agrigoroaie from the History
\nFaculty of the Iasi University was also a student in 1956 and recollected what
\nhappened to his fellow students after showing solidarity with the Hungarian
\nrevolution. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In
\n1956 or at the beginning of the next year, following the Hungarian revolution,
\ntension was very high. A younger colleague of mine was arrested in the campus
\nfor making a simple joke about the soviets and their occupation of Hungary. He
\nspent 7 years in jail for that joke. We knew about what was going on in
\nHungary, although sometimes actions mounted by the revolutionaries there were
\nlabeled as acts of terrorism. We knew about Imre Nagy and that he was handed
\nover to the soviets. It was difficult to get the right information at that time
\nbut, you know, I don’t want to brag about my generation.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The 1956 revolution in Hungary rippled
\nthrough Romania as well and thousands of students who participated in public
\nrallies either got arrested or expelled. The second wave of communist reprisals
\nstarted, and that was a sign that the communist regime could not be reformed. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On October 23rd 1956, Hungary started a heroic battle in Budapest to rid itself of the tyranny of the communist party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":129702,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[42665,42664],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-129701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show","tag-hungarian-revolution","tag-october-1956"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n