On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Uprising several conferences and events are organized in Hungary and all over the world.
One of the latest is an International conference "The 1956 Hungarian Revolution and the Soviet Block Countries: Reactions and Repercussions", which took place at the Historical Museum in Budapest September 22 - 23, 2006.
Objectives and scope:
The crisis, which came to light in the Soviet block countries and in the Soviet Union itself after Stalin's death in 1953, reached its deepest point in 1956. Its biggest challenge was the Hungarian Uprising which exploded into an armed conflict in Budapest. The communist government practically fell, and Soviet troops got involved in armed clashes with the Freedom Fighters. Nevertheless, it seems that Moscow restored order rather quickly and without great difficulties.
The conference sought to find answers to the following questions:
1. How did the communist regimes and various societies - with a special emphasis on the Hungarian minority in neighbouring countries - react to the crisis (administrative measures, aid to refugees, reprisals etc.)?
2. In what sort of context did communist politicians recall "1956 in Budapest", the national communism, mass movements etc. after 1956 (after ten years, or better yet: up to 1989)? How was the revolution viewed and remembered by the people? What kind of moral lessons were drawn, on the one hand, by the Communist leaders with regard to the need for changes and the direction the changes should take, and, on the other hand, by Eastern European societies with respect to the "modus vivendi" of their everyday lives: collaboration, resistance, remembering or forgetting?
More about the conference:
http://www.rev.hu/html/en/events/konfcall_2006.html On 14 October, 2006, in Lortona, Virginia, a conference took place on "Cold War Conversations: The Uprisings and Revolutions of 1956". The conference was co-organised by the Embassy of Poland, the Embassy of Hungary, the American Hungarian Federation, the Hungarian Technology Center, Fairfax County Development Authority, the Cold War Museum, and South County Secondary School.
Conference attendees had the opportunity to hear from three panels. The first panel included prominent historians discussing the Polish uprising: Dr. Padraic Kenney, Dr. Krzysztof Persak, and Dr. Marek Chodakiewicz.
The second panel, focused in particular on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, hosted Dr. Imre L. Toth (the last surviving Secretary of the Revolutionary Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Imre Nagy Government) and Dr. Charles Gati.
Finally, there were interventions by Mr. David Eisenhower, grandson of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and by Dr. Sergei Khrushchev, son of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev.
More on this event:
http://www.americanhungarianfederation.org/news_coldwarmuseum.htmUpcoming events include a Grand Gala Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, organised by the American Hungarian Federation, which will take place on 20 October, 2006, in Washington, D.C.
The evening's programme will include, "inter alia", a presentation "1956: history remembered" and keynote speech by Senator Joseph Tydings. State resolutions commemorating the 1956 Hungarian Revolution will be presented, along with the mission of the American Hungarian Federation.
More:
http://www.americanhungarianfederation.org/1956Gala.htm