Hungary’s bold revolution against oppressive Soviet rule broke out on the streets of Budapest on October 23rd, 1956 – and still today, bullet holes and memorials can be spotted citywide as a testament to the uprising that not only shook the communist world, but had a lasting impact on global politics. The brief period in 1956 of breathing “freedom at last” gave courage to Hungarians to survive foreign tyranny until the regime finally collapsed in 1989.

From Bem Square we will proceed to Kossuth Square – site of Hungary’s neo-Gothic Parliament Building – a central place of major events of the 1956 Revolution, including the massacre on October 25th. Here we will share the story of Imre Nagy, the martyred revolutionary leader, and see preserved bullet holes on the wall of the nearby Ministry of Agriculture.

Our next destination is the Magyar Radio building on Bródy Sándor Street, where violence erupted in the late evening of October 23rd and street fights began. We’ll also visit the nearby National Museum, where Sándor Petőfi recited his famous poem of “Shall we be slaves or free?” on March 15th, 1848 – the beginning of Hungary’s revolution against the Habsburg Empire. This gives us a good opportunity to draw parallels between the two revolutions, and see how the 1956 freedom fighters modelled their uprising on the 1848 Revolution.

We will finish our tour at the historic Corvin Cinema, the last site of major resistance in the 1956 Revolution, where youngsters valiantly fought invading Russian tanks with rifles and Molotov cocktails. A final drink will follow with more questions and informal discussions.