Gyula Csics

Hungarian Revolution 1956

God Bless the Hungarians!

 

Tuesday, October 23, 1956

STUDENT PROTEST

In the morning Mum and I went to the cemetery. First we visited Grandpa Papp, then Grandpa Fabsics. Grandpa Fabsics's grave was really dry, so we watered it. Then we came home, and I did my homework and played the violin. I had to be in school by 1 p.m. The first class - singing class - was cancelled because the teacher had something to do. I used the time to run home and get Mum to sign the tests I did in Russian class. In the classroom, István Pinke told stories.
In the second class the geography compositions were handed back, and the ones with the best grades - mine was a four/five1 - read them out loud. In Russian class I was also called on to read my work, which got a 5. We spent all of geometry class and Hungarian class answering questions the teachers threw at us. Afterward we had a class assembly with our form-master. We arranged who sits where in the classroom.
I went home at 6.15. Till then I didn't hear or see a thing. When I got home, Kati said that people are demonstrating. I hadn't heard a thing about all this. It was only yesterday that the radio announced that students were protesting in Szeged and that there was an uprising in Poland. Góré was reading a Free Youth flyer. I read it, too. It was about the student protest. When I went out, I saw three big trucks at the Corvin Department Store carrying university students. A boy was standing on top of the cab and along with the others was yelling: "Russkies go home! We've had enough of Rákosi!2 No more waiting even an hour, we want Imre Nagy3 in power!" Later I walked with Maja to chatechism class, she didn't dare go alone. On the way home we met a crowd of demonstrators that stopped at Népszínház Street and sang the National Anthem. All the while Góré was at Radio headquarters. I went to bed at 9. From bed I heard the crowd shouting: "Let's pull down the Stalin statue! Down with Gerő!"

Wednesday, October 24, 1956

THE REVOLUTION ERUPTS

I was up by 6 a.m. I woke to the crackling and rattling of gunfire. I got out of bed and dressed in no time, then ran down to the street. The fog was thick, I couldn't see even as far as Gutenberg Square. Lots of folks were saying it was artificial fog.
I couldn't see, but I could hear the crackle of gunfire from Gutenberg Square. In the doorway to our apartment building Mari said no one on the upper floors slept at night, because all the windows at the newspaper Free People had been broken and two cars had been set on fire, in a word, they made one big mess. The bricklayers who were repairing our building came in, too, including Ilmaros, who said he hadn't slept all night and that he'd been here on Békés Street. He said the whole street had been dark, and that the students had been fighting it out something awful with the secret police by the wall. Then I went to Jancsi's place. He had a whole bunch of flyers, and he gave me one. And he said that a teacher, Mr Moór, had read out the 14 demands. I wrote them down, too, well, as many as I could, seeing how Jancsi didn't have all of them.

1 .........
2 A new government led by Imre Nagy
3 Russian - Yugoslav relations7
No more jamming of radio broadcasts
Freedom of the press
New uniforms for our armed forces
Completely open proceedings in the case of M. Farkas8
Reinstate the old Kossuth coat of arms
Complete freedom of speech and of the press
Pull down the Stalin statue
Total solidarity among ourselves

There were six policemen over at Jancsi and his folk's place, who fled there in the night to escape the revolutionaries. The government didn't trust even the cops, seeing how they'd been sent out to defend the Free People with guns but no cartridges. By ten o'clock the fog had lifted enough for me to see that the revolutionaries out there on the street were already carrying guns.
Mrs Kovács told my mum that Jancsi was writing a diary. So I started keeping one too. Later Mr Bicskei told us what happened yesterday. He said the crowd had demanded that the fourteen demands be printed in the newspaper. The newspaper reporters agreed to this, but then the crowd wanted to have them read out on the radio too. The party secretary told them to go right ahead. But the secret police wouldn't let them in the building. A tank colonel then asked the secret police to let them in. The secret police shot the colonel. The tank crews then chased the secret police right up to the attic. The people brought the colonel to Free People and put him on the party secretary's table. Then Mr Radics came by our place, and he said all the books in Free People's bookstore were being thrown out and burned. From our building's doorway I could just see that ten Russian tanks wanted to go to the radio station, but the crowd pushed over a number six tram right in their way. Then I went with Mum to see what was happening on the Great Boulevard. The books in the Spark9 were on fire. I felt sorry for all those good books, but everyone was saying let them burn. Liptai, who lives here in the passageway to our building's other entrance and also goes to the Kígyósi music school10, even stole two books. And we saw the overturned trams, too.

Lots of people around here were saying that the Stalin statue was now here at the corner of the Great Boulevard and Rákóczi Avenue. Then, since the tanks weren't able to go along the Boulevard, they came up our street, but they got shot at, which holed an oil tank, and the street got all oily. 

At noon Ványi's tenant came home and said there had been big battles around Üllői Road and Baross Street, and that the power lines were down and two power poles were knocked down, too, plus two Russian tanks were on fire. After lunch 80 tanks went all the way down Akácfa Street. Auntie Árvai went out for bread, and to stay out of trouble she went toward Teleki Square. Well, even around there, she said, there were two shot-up Russian tanks. In the afternoon I went over to Jancsi's place to play, but we could still hear shooting. Meanwhile Imre Nagy became prime minister, and he declared that anyone with a gun in their hands would be brought before a court martial. But the Central Leadership in their session in the evening didn't dismiss Ernő Gerő from the secretariat, and that was oil on the fire. On account of this, the fighting didn't end. At noon the radio announced that there would be an amnesty for those who lay down their arms by 2 p.m. Then they extended that to 6 p.m. The freedom fighters occupied the Athaneum printing press and they distributed their leaflets from there.

 

Thursday, October 25, 1956

GERÔ IS REMOVED FROM THE SECRETARIAT

I got up at 8 in the morning. After breakfast I went over to Jancsi's. All morning we played records. We went through almost every one - including the banned Kossuth and Transylvanian marches. Jancsi's parents had already left for work. Cannons were blasting all day. Around 10 Maja came over and we played with her, too. At 1 we were home for lunch. Mum told us to go to the small room, seeing how the pressure from the blasts could break windows. We spent the afternoon in the small room drawing our Cities11. The Radio announced in the afternoon that Ernő Gerő had been dismissed from his position and that János Kádár12 was secretary in his place. Afterwards people put the Hungarian flag out on all buildings, but without the crest in the middle, since the youth demanded the banning of the Constitutional crest and the removal of the star. That is why the flags on every building had holes cut into their centres.13 Later they put out black flags too. That night, Jancsi's mother said there'd been a huge battle by Parliament and that they'd been in the shelter all the while. There was a curfew after 6 p.m. The men were talking in the building doorway, and I went over and listened to what they were saying. Mrs Verebes's tenant, Kókai, who's 19, said they were at People's Army Square on their way toward Parliament on a Russian tank when a volley was fired at them, and people just plopped off the tank, like that, he happened to be holding the flag, a bullet knocked the flag right out of his hand and he fell, too, but onto the tank. The bullets were bouncing onto him off the side of the tank, but only his knee got hurt. Then he really did fall off the tank. It was lucky he escaped. A lot of people were saying that the Russian tank had taken them into the firing on purpose. At 6 p.m. they had to close the doorway. At night Góré came by with two leaflets. One was about the university students' four latest demands, and the other announced the new positions for J. Kádár and I. Nagy.

 

Friday, October 26, 1956

CALL FOR THE SECRET POLICE TO LAY DOWN THEIR ARMS - BATTLE ON THE BOULEVARD

In the morning I was reading in bed, then Mum and I went down to the Great Boulevard to see if there was any sort of food. That's the first time I saw the Stalin statue. On the side were the words MAIL ROBBER, and on its collar tab it said PIMP. Two dead Russians were lying in front of the Keszelyi restaurant and an armoured car was burning. Russian tanks were moving all over the place. The books were still smoking away in front of the Spark. Jancsi said there'd been a big battle at night near the Western Railway Station. The Radio was lying away, because it said that the "counter-revolutionaries" had surrendered and had control of only three strategic locations, which isn't true, of course. The government decreed that anyone who lays down their arms by 10 p.m. gets an amnesty. In the morning Jancsi and I worked on drawing our cities again. To get food for our building, Dad went out with Mr Felber and got meat and pastries from the cold buffet kitchen. Great blasts were going off as he passed the food out to the people in our building. Meantime a big battle was going on out on the Great Boulevard. The windows all broke and couches and curtains hung out of them. 21 Rökk Szilárd Street got a direct hit. The Discount department store caught fire, and so did the buildings across from the Technology College and the Baross Street clinic. The Writers' Union issued 6 new demands. More newspapers were printed today. At night 800 people laid down their arms, but two-thirds of the insurgents were still fighting. The youth demanded that the secret police lay down their arms. Mortars exploded at night.

Saturday, October 27, 1956

THE GOVERNMENT FORMS

Today Jancsi and I spent all day drawing our cities, the sound of firing wasn't so bad anymore. Aeroplanes were dropping leaflets in the morning, but all of them fell on top of the Corvin. The new government was formed by noon. 

Prime Minister Deputy Prime Ministers Minister of the Interior Minister of Defence Minister of Finance Minister of Justice Minister for Foundry and Engineering Minister of Mining and Energy Minister of Light Industry Minister of Urban and Local Administration Minister of Agriculture Minister for the State Economy Minister of Foreign Trade Minister of Internal Trade Minister for the Food Industry Minister for Produce Delivery Minister for Construction Minister for Transportation Minister of Culture Minister of Education Minister of Health Director of the National Planning Office

Imre Nagy Antal Apró, József Bognár, Ferenc Erdei Ferenc Münich Károly Janza István Kósa Dr Erik Molnár János Csergő Sándor Czottner Mrs József Nagy Ferenc Nezvál Béla Kovács (former Secretary of the Independent Smallholders' Party) Miklós Ribjánszky József Bognár János Tausz Rezső Nyers Antal Gyenes Antal Apró Lajos Bebrics György Lukács Albert Kónya Antal Babics Árpád Kiss

Sunday, October 28, 1956

SPEECH BY IMRE NAGY

In the morning I read a lot of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Gyula walked over to Grandma's place. A bit later in the morning I went over to Jancsi's. There I worked on drawing the City. I went home at 10. Franci was already there. He said that around Grandma's nothing had happened at all. Then Uncle Géza, Dad's uncle, came by from across the Danube over in Buda. He said he'd been stopped and asked for his ID six times on his way here. Free People appeared in the morning and printed the names of the members of the new government. Gyula arrived after lunch and said that around 800 tanks and 250 trucks full of ammunition were coming toward the city. A ceasefire was called for noon, but the shooting went on all the same. The Radio tried everything that it hadn't under Rákosi. For example, the noon Angelus bell. Mr Kolics was over at our place, and he said that yesterday a siege of the György Kilián (Mária Terézia) army barracks got underway, and that it was still going on. He also said that the buildings on Práter Street nearby were damaged, too. In the afternoon I went over to Jancsi's, where we worked on the City again (see Box14). I named a street and a square after the Revolution. In the evening Prime Minister Imre Nagy gave a speech. In it he promised that the secret police would be disbanded and that March 15 would be a national holiday again. He also promised that, just like the youth demanded, our homeland's coat of arms would once again be the Kossuth coat of arms and that Russian forces would begin withdrawing within 24 hours. 

 

Monday, October 29, 1956

THE KOSSUTH COAT OF ARMS AGAIN

This morning I was reading again, and I finished Tom Sawyer, Detective. Mum and Dad left for Rákospalota by 6 a.m. After breakfast I went over to Jancsi's. I took the encyclopadia published by the newspaper Pest News, and we used it to name the City's streets. Around noon we heard shouting. We looked outside and saw that a big crowd by the National Theatre was shouting, "Russkies go home!" In the afternoon I was at Jancsi's again. In the evening Ványi's tenant, Jancsi, said that the university students wanted the defender of the Kilián barracks, Pál Maléter,15 to be minister of defence. 

Tuesday, October 30, 1956

PARTY HEADQUARTERS UNDER SIEGE

Early in the morning I was reading Please, Sir!16 Later I was at Jancsi's. By now we were working in the big room. The weather was beautiful. Jancsi and I were busy writing in our diaries. There were lots of aeroplanes flying around. They were scattering leaflets but we were out of luck: they all fell on top of the Corvin Department Store. A new daily newspaper, Independence17, appeared today for the first time. There was no shooting in the morning, but they made up for it in the afternoon with great big bursts of fire. Later I found out that they were shooting at Party headquarters, which is on Tisza Kálmán Square18. Dad later went to see for himself what was up. On getting home he told us that the insurgents had lynched two secret policemen, hanging them from their feet on a tree. One was in a police uniform, the other had on the uniform of an armoured forces colonel. Both had been drunk, walking along with wine bottles in their hands and singing away when they were caught by the university students. Both had the traditional rosettes with the national colours pinned on themselves to fool the insurgents, because the insurgents were chasing down secret policemen. But the students couldn't catch all the secret police, on account of them escaping into the twostorey deep cellar. Well, the students let water into the cellar, but it didn't do any good, because as it later turned out, that cellar is connected to the nearby underground line. Mr Kolics, who lives on Práter Street, was still here today. He said their neighbourhood really got torn apart, since they're right across the street from that school that's all full of insurgents, which is why the Russians are firing at that, too. But even in the school, the insurgents encountered secret police, why, they even found a secret transmitter and a secret police uniform. At night the radio announced that the Home Guard had been formed and that Cardinal Mindszenthy had been freed.

 

Wednesday, October 31

THE RUSSIANS BEGIN WITHDRAWING - A LITTLE WALK

Today I woke up at 7. I read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Góré had already gone for a walk. On getting home he said there were lots of dead secret policemen by Party headquarters. The secret police had been really cruel, so everyone who goes by there gives one of them at least one good kick. Which is why many have their brains or guts spilled out. I wanted to go out for a walk at 9 with Dad. Well, we got only as far as the doorway when we were told that the Palace Hotel was still crawling with secret police. Just then a car went by with its siren blasting. There was the national flag in one window, and a light machine gun in the other.
Everyone was saying that it was headed for the Palace Hotel. Then we headed off. From Gutenberg Square we could see where the building at Rökk Szilárd Street had got hit. Afterward we went to the Great Boulevard and something had really been happening there! Until now we'd figured the big mess was around our street, when our building hadn't been hit once, whereas out there on the Boulevard every building had an average of three holes in it. As we walked along, the buildings were more and more full of holes and where it intersected with Baross Street, the Boulevard was littered with dead Russians. We couldn't even get beyond Pál Street, no, there was an awful lot of rubble and burnt-out tanks over there, tanks the insurgents had exploded using Molotov cocktails. From there we could see the Kilián barracks, where all three floors had been torn right off at one corner. We walked to the Radio building along Mária Street and Bródy S. Street. There wasn't a shred of plaster on this building, and every window was broken. A sign above the main entrance read, RADIO FREE KOSSUTH! Just then a secret policeman was being brought out of the building. I didn't see him, but Mum said he was pale as a ghost. From there we went along Puskin Street to Rákóczi Avenue. Here, members of the Home Guard were on patrol. Everywhere there were signs saying, "FREE MINDSZENTHY! RUSSKIES GO HOME!" ! Then we went home. Mum and I went to the market on Klauzál Square. On the way back we saw that Joe was still getting a good beating. In the afternoon I was with Jancsi. In the evening, the Radio announced that the Russian forces were about to begin withdrawing. 

...

Sunday, November 4, 1956

THE RUSSIANS ATTACK OUR HOMELAND

I woke around 6 a.m. and heard shots being fired, and I said, "What's this, they're shooting again?" Auntie Bözsi turned on the radio, which was just then broadcasting a speech by Imre Nagy that went something like this: "Early this morning Soviet forces began an attack against our capital, obviously with the aim of toppling the people's government. Our forces are waging battle." Then the radio played the National Anthem, and then it repeated all this in German, French, and English along with the National Anthem again and a recital of the Summons. Then Imre Nagy called on Pál Maléter and István Kovács22 to report to Parliament immediately from the Russian barracks they happened to be in at the time. Then we went over to the Szabadoses while the building's other residents all went down to the shelter. There we kept listening to the radio, which fell silent at 9.14 a.m., but we kept the set on all the same, and all of a sudden we heard Radio Free Europe, which announced that the Russians had captured Imre Nagy's government. In the morning I did some drawing in my notebook. Auntie Bözsi telephoned Auntie Cselényi, who lived out in Kőbánya. Auntie Cselényi said there were Russians there already, too. Around noon I went home, with Auntie Bözsi and this boy going along with me. On the way I saw that Klauzál Street and Akácfa Street were all barricaded, and that another barricade was going up between the National Theatre and the Keszelyi restaurant. Auntie Bözsi said there would no doubt be a battle here. From the Corvin I went the rest of the way alone, and I saw that the Corvin was full of ammunition and that there were people with rifles in Free People. Back at our building, everyone living above the ground floor went down to the cellar. I spent some time in the afternoon arranging my books.

 

Monday, November 5, 1956 and Tuesday, November 6, 1956

THE KÁDÁR GOVERNMENT FORMS - GUN BATTLE AT THE SPARK

This morning, the battle raged. We turned on the radio, which was broadcasting again. They said Soviet troops had not come to conquer our homeland but to fight the counter-revolution, which Imre Nagy's government didn't want to take on. They also said that Imre Nagy's government was finished, and that a new government had been formed under János Kádár. I stayed in bed a long time. Mr Felber came down around 10. He, too, said that a new government had been formed to replace Imre Nagy's, and that it was called the revolutionary worker-peasant government. He added that the Russians will have to leave even if they win. Around noon a big battle got underway at the Free People headquarters. I spent the afternoon arranging my books. At night the Felbers slept at our place, since sleeping on the second floor would have been dangerous, and Mr Felber didn't want to go to the cellar.

****

The battle continued the next morning. There was much shooting at the Spark. The Russian tanks were firing away and they were using mortars, too. All the same, the Dohány Street bakery was still selling bread. A young man wanted to leave the building across the street to go and get bread, but the Russians shot him in the leg. He began shouting, "Oh, oh, help me!" Some people wanted to drag him into a nearby garage, but the Russians then shot him once and for all. The cannons, tanks and mortars fired away all day long. When a mortar shell fell in front of the school, even the residents who were in the cellar got scared. All the school's windows broke. Today, even the building across the street from us, number 5, was hit. (See Box.)

 

Wednesday, November 7, 1956

THE MOST HORRIBLE DAY OF THE SIEGE - THE QUALITY DEPARTMENT STORE CATCHES FIRE

Today would have been my twelfth birthday celebration. But there was none, because the shooting was still going on even today - not as much as yesterday, but we could hear it from even further off. Since the Russians had left the National Theatre, the insurgents got a big ball from inside the Corvin and began playing football. They stopped playing when the Russians came again, and Uncle Leitgéb asked them for the ball. They gave it to him, and Uncle Leitgéb gave it to us. When I went over to Jancsi's place everyone there was still asleep. I noticed that they'd opened all their windows so that the air pressure wouldn't break them. Hardly had I got across the street when six tanks passed by. One of them stopped in front of our building and opened fire. Several of the building's windows broke. A huge battle began in the afternoon. The cannons never stopped blasting away. All at once a rumour spread among the building's residents that the Corvin was on fire. In no time every pail and wash-tub was filled with water, so that if the fire were to spread to our building, we could put it out quickly. When I looked out of the doorway I saw huge billows of smoke. Later on we found out that it wasn't the Corvin that was on fire, but the Quality Department Store. Even with all that shooting, in the afternoon I made flags. At night a rumour spread that the Fashion Hall was on fire too.

 

Thursday, November 8, 1956

AFTER THE SIEGE

The night passed calmly. Only the occasional, muffled shots could be heard from afar. The Felbers woke earlier than us today. When we got up, Uncle Felber said the insurgents had left Free People, and that the people were looting. A lot of people from our building took something or other. Jancsi and I went out to the doorway. We saw that Russian patrols were coming and that they were heading into the Corvin. After a little while they came out with a lot of guns, and they took the cartridges out and put them in a heap. Then we were chased inside, because tanks were approaching. We kept wondering what we could play. All of a sudden I told Jancsi to get the ball, and Jancsi went inside and got it. For a long time we played football. Jancsi wanted to give the ball a really good kick, and his shoe came right off. The tanks came down the road. Then I went to Jancsi's place, and we looked through old copies of Peace & Freedom. In the afternoon a Russian soldier came into our building. He looked around for weapons. At the Zoltánis' place, Uncle Zoltáni's son-in-law knew Russian and could talk with him. The Russian soldier said he hadn't been at his parents' for eleven years and hadn't slept for three days. I got to sleep really late. Six mortar shells exploded at night. 

 

Friday, November 9, 1956

A LITTLE WALK

In the morning I read. In the afternoon Mum and I went to Auntie Bözsi's. When we got out to Rákóczi Avenue, the scene was really pitiful: riddled buildings, whole floors torn off, power lines ripped off. The steeple of the St Roch Chapel had collapsed. Even the Red Cross flag on the second floor didn't keep the St Roch Hospital from getting hit five times. The second floor of the Quality Department Store was all burnt out. On the way back, we went along Wesselényi Street and the Boulevard. We checked to see if anything bad had happened to Auntie Vali's building. The furniture store at the corner of Wesselényi Street had burnt out. The building at number 4, along the Erzsébet Boulevard stretch of the Great Boulevard, had collapsed. 
The tower of the New York Palace, which had recently been repaired (over three years), had collapsed. The building housing the day-and-night food shop really got knocked around. The building with the all-night pharmacy in it had its roof right off. The National Theatre got away with only a little damage. Before long we went home.

 

Saturday, November 10, 1956 and Sunday, November 11, 1956

AT GRANDMA'S FOR THE FIRST TIME

In the morning, I read. Around 11, Gyula and Uncle Cselényi arrived from Grandma's. After lunch I went with Gyula to Grandma's. We walked along the number 26 tram route, along Népszínház Street, where there's a power line down and a couple of places that got shot up. One booth on Teleki Square is gutted by fire and two more are all shot up. The buildings on the side of Dobozi Street that faces Teleki Square are badly damaged. At the Agricultural Exhibition we left the tram route and continued along the other half of Kolozsvári Street toward the Kőbányai railway station. We followed the train tracks to where they make that sharp turn. There, at the station, we saw people looting wine. The buildings around there were a sorry sight. There were two cannons and three shot-up tanks here, too. Back home I looked over some books. At night, János Kádár gave a speech.

****

In the morning only Dad came. He said Mum was sick. I was bored. At 1.30 p.m. I came home with Góré. Along the tram route there were two trucks with punctured petrol tanks. We also saw two wrecked Hungarian cannons. Back along the Great Boulevard, the word STRIKE was written all over the place. When I got home Mum and Dad were in bed, so I laid down, too, and did some reading.

 

Monday, November 12, 1956 and Tuesday, November 13, 1956

THE CORVIN RE-OPENS - FIRST GERMAN LESSON

In the morning I read some of Gulliver's Travels, because that's what I borrowed for Maja from Jancsi's library. In the afternoon, from 2 to 3.30, I was at the German lesson with Jancsi. This was our first German lesson since the Revolution. On the way back we saw that the steeple of the St Roch Chapel was already being demolished and that bricklayers were working on the St Roch Hospital (Góré was working there, too). A leaflet was stuck to the poster for Professor Hannibal. A lot of people were gathered around reading it. I remember this much: "We demand that Imre Nagy be freed! Kádár must resign! No more lies on the radio and in the newspapers!" Soldiers were guarding the Corvin, and four exploded mortar shells were lying at one corner. At night I did some reading, and I wrote in my diary, which I brought with me on the 9th from Auntie Bözsi's place.

****

The Corvin opened this morning at 9 and will be open until 2. Mum and I wanted to go inside during the morning, but the queue was really long (all the way to the Paksi shoe store). So we went to the day and night shop. After queuing there for a while we bought flour and sugar. We saw that the Emke building is all empty inside and that the National Theatre was being repaired. In the afternoon I went over to Jancsi's. At his place, in his "castle", I gave him some parts of the movie Gábor the Student.

 

Wednesday, November 14, 1956 and Thursday, November 15, 1956

WE GET INSIDE THE CORVIN - RAG FAIR ON BLAHA L. SQUARE

Mum went out by 6 in the morning to queue up at the Corvin.23 Before 8 I went down there, too, to take over for Mum while she went home a little bit. Today it opened only at 10. We were let in with the first group. We bought a Terta radio and Mum got me a number 1 Technokid set. We came home only at 2. In the afternoon I asked Jancsi for his book about Robin Hood and I read some of it. In the morning I made road signs using the Technokid. I got up only around 12. Today the queue to get into the Corvin stretched almost to the school. Jancsi and I went to our German lesson at 1:30. There was a big rag fair that had started up on Blaha Lujza Square. I bought a coat of arms. At our German lesson, Galbaffy said that there was still fighting at Csepel Island and in Dunapentele. The workers on Csepel were hosing the Russians with petrol, then setting them on fire with blowtorches. At night I did some reading. Jancsi said the Russians had closed off the bridges.

 

Friday, November 16, 1956, Saturday, November 17, 1956 and Sunday, November 18, 1956

A WALK ALONG BAROSS STREET - A CALM SUNDAY

In the morning I made a wheelbarrow from the Technokid parts. In the afternoon I drew in my notebook. (See Box.) The strike kept going today.

****

Jancsi came over to our place in the morning and we played cards here. In the afternoon we went with Dad to Dad's doctor, Uncle Zselyonka. We went along the Boulevard to Rákóczi Square. We went down Bacsó Béla Street to Horváth Mihály Square. The telephone building there is being guarded by about ten Russkie tanks. When we got there, Uncle Zselyonka's father opened the door. He said that Uncle Zselyonka has been sick for a while now, that he's in room 7 on the first floor of Koltói Anna Hospital. He showed us how the apartment looks. The doctor's surgery got hit. The parquetry and the ceiling really took a lot of damage. Afterward we hurried home along Baross Street and the Great Boulevard, because it was already getting dark. We noticed that my violin teacher's apartment was hit, and that there were three tanks on Harminckettesek Square.

Monday, November 19, 1956 and Tuesday, November 20, 1956

RECONSTRUCTION BEGINS

This morning the workers, with the exception of those in the food and construction industries, didn't go to work. Dad went to work in Rákospalota by bicycle, and Góré went to help repair the St Roch Hospital. In the afternoon I went with Jancsi to our German lesson, but first we went to ask how long office hours are on Trefort Street. From the corner of Szentkirályi Street we could see that whole sections of the Radio building had broken off in two places, and that three Russian tanks were guarding the place.
Afterward we went to our German lesson. We were there only until 3.15, because it's dangerous to be out on the street after 4, on account of the Russians deporting people. Tanks were out and about at night.

****

In the morning I took apart the things I'd made from the Technokid, and meanwhile Béla arrived from down south in Mohács. He said there were still 50,000 insurgents in the Mecsek Hills and that food is being sneaked to them. Jancsi came over in the afternoon. I made a windmill with the Technokid.

Wednesday, November 21, 1956 and Thursday, November 22, 1956

THE WORKERS' COUNCIL IS FORMED - THE OLYMPICS BEGIN

In the morning I was still in bed and playing with the Technokid when Jancsi came by. I gave Jancsi my copy of The Mysterious Island. Before long he went out to the yard and, using the tap that was out there, he made a one-metre-high fountain, and on account of this, the caretaker took away his key, and Jancsi came back inside our place. We played cards. At night, Dad said that public transport had come to a halt. There were lots of tanks rumbling about. This means the deportations aren't over yet, though this is being denied tooth and nail in the UN.

***

In the morning Mum headed off from home, and I stayed in bed working on my notebook. Afterward Jancsi came over and said that the Workers' Council had been formed and that the Olympics had begun. Then we played with the Technokid, and then Uncle Ali came by and we went into the Corvin. Jancsi and I went to our German lesson at 2. Tanks were out and about at night.

 

Part II

Hungary after the Revolution

Friday, November 23, 1956

SILENT PROTEST - THE SNOWBALL FIGHT

I stayed in bed for a long time in the morning. When I got up, Jancsi came over.

We began playing with the Technokid, but then Auntie Bözsi and Béla dropped by and we went out into the courtyard. It started snowing in the morning, and the yard got covered with a fine layer of the white stuff. Jancsi wanted to make a snow-bomb on a stick, but just when he wanted to throw it, I hit the stick and the snow fell off. Then Maja came, and the three of us lobbed snowballs here and there. Before long the girls came downstairs. We decided to have a snowball fight. Jancsi made snowballs from the snow in the yard while I made our cover out of a basket and a sieve. When there was no more snow in the yard, we went to Stáhly Street to get more. The girls made balls out of margarine they got from shopwindows. Mari and the girls built their cover in front of the garage. They put a wash tub up against the garage and put a basket on top. Before long Mari said let's begin. Before we got started I told Jancsi that we'd better really save our snowballs, because the girls have a whole lot. We told them to go first. Mari raised her hand and threw. The ball made its mark on the firewall behind us. Then I threw, but I missed. Jancsi then raised his hand and threw. The snowball whizzed by Mari 20 cm from her. Then Jancsi took off his gloves, seeing how it's easier to throw that way. One of my snowballs hit Mari, and the girls charged at us. Jancsi and I hid behind our cover. All of a sudden I thought of something and stood up. Which made them throw even harder. But I dodged every snowball. Let them just run out, I figured. All those snowballs left their marks on the firewall. Mari R. called for the battle to end, and it did. Jancsi then came over to our place. While we were having our snowball fight in the yard, between 2 and 3 p.m., there was a silent protest out on the street - which is to say, anyone who stayed out on the street was voting for Kádár. Well, there wasn't a soul out there on the street the whole time. This was to mark the one-month anniversary of the Revolution. We played cards with Jancsi at our place. The evening papers said that Imre Nagy went to Romania of his own free will.24 I got to sleep early.

Saturday, November 24, 1956

A WALK ALONG A SHOT-UP RÁKÓCZI AVENUE

Jancsi was at our place in the morning and we played cards. Uncle Cselényi came over in the afternoon. Around 3 p.m. he went home, and we went along with him for a while. Rákóczi Street was all shot up from the Great Boulevard as far as Baross Square. The house at number 56 had collapsed. The same goes for the Fashion Hall and another house on Rákóczi Avenue. We had to wait a long time at the HÉV station. Back home, I played with Maja.

 

Sunday, November 25, 1956 and Monday, November 26, 1956 Tuesday, November 27, 1956 and Wednesday, November 28, 1956

JÁNOS KÁDÁR'S SPEECH

In the morning Gyula and I went to Rákospalota to get the motorbike. On the way there, Gyula took me on the bicycle. I was really cold by the time we got there, so I went into Uncle Lukács and his wife's place to warm up. Gyula took a while with the motorbike, because its engine was cold. On the way home we pulled the bicycle behind us with the motorbike. By the time we got home I was really cold. Jóska came over in the afternoon. He told a lot of stories. At night I drew in the notebook. Jóska said that two guys from the MÁV housing estate defected today. **** In the morning I came in by motorbike, then Gyula and I went by motorbike to Soroksár south of the city centre to get an electric maize-grinder. In the afternoon Jancsi and I went to our German lesson. Books were being distributed in Gyulai Pál Street. I got one, too, called Laughter in the Works. Today, the German lesson was a free period: we played with the Tivoli pinball board while the others played pingpong. At night, János Kádár gave a speech.

 

Thursday, November 29, 1956 and Friday, November 30, 1956

AT MY VIOLIN TEACHER'S

The rain stopped by morning, so Gyula checked to see what the problem was with the motorbike. He looked at it again and again but didn't find the problem. It looked like we were going to have to go by tram, but Gyula didn't give up, and finally he found it. The problem was that the cable had become loose near the magnet. While Gyula was still fussing away at home, I went over to Jóska's. He showed me the radio they had bought on Saturday. Around noon Gyula and I got home. I noticed that there were no longer any tanks by the Bajcsy-Zsilinszky barracks, and that all those scars from the shooting were already being repaired on Baross Square. When we got home, I went for our German lesson with Jancsi. On the way, we noticed that the Kossuth coat of arms already has a crown back on it. That night Jancsi's family had a relative over who told a lot of stories... That night I read Slaves of God.

****

In the morning Jancsi was over at our place. Both of us wrote in our diaries. In the afternoon I went to report to my violin teacher from the music school. He wasn't there and until he come back Aunt Erzsike showed me how the apartment was hit. The shell came in the room with the balcony, it tore right through the wall and went into the other room, where it exploded, sending shrapnel flying even to the third floor. It caused lots of damage. It tore apart a closet, a couch, some famous paintings and a Japanese vase. Once I got a time for my lesson, I went home. At night I read Slaves of God.

 

Saturday, December 1, 1956 and Sunday, December 2, 1956

FIRST TIME AT MY VIOLIN LESSON - SPEAKING TO A RUSSIAN - RUSSIAN SOLDIERS GET BURIED

In the morning, Jancsi bought a copy of Sport and showed it to me, too. It reported Hungary's first Olympic victory - the kayak pair of Urányi and Fábián. Laci Papp made it into the semi-finals. I went to my violin lesson for 11, for the first time since October 23. I was in the room where they do the solfeggio. Even in there, every keyhole was sealed to keep the cold out. In the afternoon, Jancsi was arranging his books, so I helped him, too. Around 3 we left for Grandma's. I took my diary with me, too.

****

In the morning I went, diary and all, to Jóska and his family's place. I got really scared when I saw that Russian soldiers were drilling on the football field. I asked Uncle Cselényi whether I should go that way. He said to go ahead. So I hid my diary and that's how I went toward Jóska's. I was almost in their doorway when a Russian soldier called out to me in Hungarian: "Come here!" I went over. Mixing Russian and Hungarian words, he asked, "How old are you? Where's your school? Where's your mum?" I said I'm ten years old. Before long he said, "Pahshlee domoy!" which means go home. I kept looking at them for a long time. During the break they fooled about a lot, tripping and shoving each other. In the afternoon I played with Maja. At night we heard some shots. At 8 p.m., the radio announced that there was no reason for anyone to be afraid, the shooting was only because Russian soldiers were being buried and salvos were being fired on account of this. 

 

Gyula Csics
is Chief Librarian of the Tatabánya County Library. In February 2004, after a public discussion on the 1956 Revolution at the library, he approached János M. Rainer, Director of the 1956 Institute, introduced himself and offered him the manuscript of the diary he kept in 1956 - 57, "in case it might be interesting." The original text, including its original documentation, is appearing in a full facsimile edition as we go to press. The Hungarian Quarterly's presentation of the diary, in two parts, attempts to capture some of its flavour.