Content:

Uprising in Hungary

Budapest, 1956

What was avoided in Poland happened in Hungary, where the intensity of passions was much greater. In Hungary, the internal struggle between the communists turned out to be sharper. than anywhere else, and the Soviet Union was drawn into it more than in Poland or in other countries. Of all the leaders who were still in power in 1956, Eastern Europe Rakosi was more involved than others in the export of Stalinism. Returning to Budapest from Moscow after the XX Congress of the CPSU, Rakosi told his friends: "In a few months Khrushchev will be declared a traitor and everything will return to normal."

The internal political struggle in Hungary continued to escalate. Rakosi had no choice but to promise an investigation into the trials of Raik and other Communist Party leaders he had executed. At all levels of government, even in the state security organs, the most hated institution in Hungary, Rakosi was demanded to resign. He was almost openly called the "killer." In mid-July 1956, Mikoyan flew to Budapest to get Rakosi to resign. Rakosi was forced to submit and leave for the USSR, where he eventually ended his days, cursed and forgotten by his people and despised by the Soviet leaders. Rakosi's departure did not bring about any real changes either in the policy of the government or in its composition.

In Hungary, the arrests of former state security leaders responsible for trials and executions followed. The reburial on October 6, 1956 of the victims of the regime - Laszlo Rajk and others - resulted in a powerful demonstration, in which 300 thousand inhabitants of the Hungarian capital took part.

Under these conditions, the Soviet leadership decided to call Imre Nagy to power again. Sent to Budapest new ambassador USSR (future member of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and chairman of the State Security Committee).

The hatred of the people was directed against those who were known for their torture: the state security officers. They personified the most abhorrent of the Rakosi regime; they were caught and killed. The events in Hungary took on the character of a genuine people's revolution, and it was precisely this circumstance that frightened the Soviet leaders. The USSR had to take into account at that moment that an anti-Soviet and anti-socialist uprising was taking place. It was obvious that this was a far-reaching political plan, and not just a desire to destroy the existing regime.

Not only the intelligentsia, but also industrial workers were drawn into the orbit of events. The participation of a significant part of the youth in the movement has left a certain imprint on its character. The political leadership found itself at the tail of the movement, and did not lead it, as it happened in Poland.

The fundamental issue was the presence of Soviet troops on the territory of the Eastern European countries, that is, their actual occupation.

The new Soviet government preferred to avoid bloodshed, but it was ready for it too, if it came to the falling away of the satellites from the USSR, even in the form of declaring neutrality and non-participation in blocs.

On October 22, demonstrations began in Budapest demanding the formation of a new leadership headed by Imre Nagy. On October 23, Imre Nagy became prime minister and made an appeal to lay down arms. However, Soviet tanks were stationed in Budapest and this caused the excitement of the people.

A grandiose demonstration arose, the participants of which were students, high school students, young workers. The demonstrators headed towards the statue of the hero of the 1848 revolution, General Bell. Up to 200 thousand gathered at the parliament building. Demonstrators toppled the statue of Stalin. Armed detachments were formed, calling themselves "Freedom Fighters". They numbered up to 20 thousand people. Among them were former political prisoners released by the people from prisons. The Freedom Fighters took over different areas of the capital, established a high command led by Pal Maleter, and renamed themselves the National Guard.

Cells of the new government - workers' councils - were formed at the enterprises of the Hungarian capital. They put forward their social and political demands, and among these demands was one that infuriated the Soviet leadership: withdraw Soviet troops from Budapest, remove them from Hungarian territory.

The second circumstance that frightened the Soviet government was the restoration of the Social Democratic Party in Hungary, and then the formation of a multiparty government.

Although Nagy was made prime minister, the new, Stalinist leadership headed by Gere tried to isolate him and thereby further worsened the situation.

On October 24 Mikoyan and Suslov arrived in Budapest. They recommended that Hera be immediately replaced as first secretary by Janos Kadar. Meanwhile, on October 25, an armed clash with Soviet troops took place near the parliament building. The insurgent people demanded the withdrawal of the Soviet troops and the formation of a new government of national unity, in which the various parties would be represented.

On October 26, after the appointment of Kadar as the first secretary of the Central Committee and Gere's resignation, Mikoyan and Suslov returned to Moscow. They went to the airfield in a tank.

On October 28, while fighting in Budapest was still ongoing, the Hungarian government issued an order for a ceasefire and the return of armed units to their quarters, awaiting instructions. Imre Nagy announced in a radio address that the Hungarian government had reached an agreement with the Soviet on the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops from Budapest and the inclusion of armed detachments of Hungarian workers and youth in the regular Hungarian army... This was seen as an end to the Soviet occupation. The workers left their jobs until the end of fighting in Budapest and the withdrawal of Soviet troops. The delegation of the workers' council of the industrial region Miklos presented to Imre Nagy demands for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary by the end of the year.

Mikoyan and Suslov's report on the situation in Hungary, made by them immediately after returning from Budapest to the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee on October 26, reflected, as is evident from the editorial of the Pravda newspaper of October 28, their readiness to agree with the democratization program, provided that this program maintains the dominance of the communist party and keeps Hungary in the Warsaw Pact system. The article was just a disguise. The order for Soviet troops to leave Budapest served the same purpose. The Soviet government tried to gain time to prepare the reprisals, which was to follow not only on behalf of the other participants in the pact, but also Yugoslavia and China.

In this way, responsibility would be shared among everyone.

Soviet troops were withdrawn from Budapest, but concentrated in the area of ​​the Budapest airfield.

On October 30, when Mikoyan and Suslov were in Budapest, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU adopted, as Khrushchev testifies, a unanimous resolution on the armed suppression of the Hungarian revolution, which stated that it would be unforgivable for the USSR to remain neutral and “not to help the working class of Hungary in its struggle against counterrevolution ”.

At the request of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, a Chinese delegation headed by Liu Shaoqi arrived in Moscow for the council. Liu Shaoqi said that Soviet troops should withdraw from Hungary and let the working class "Hungary" itself suppress the counter-revolution. Since this completely contradicted the decision to intervene, Khrushchev, informing the Presidium of the Chinese response on October 31, insisted on the immediate use of the troops. Marshal Konev, summoned to a meeting of the presidium, said that his troops would need 3 days to suppress the "counter-revolution" (in fact, the revolution, and received an order to bring the troops to combat readiness. The order was given behind the back of Liu Shaoqi, who at the same the day he returned to Beijing in full confidence that there would be no Soviet intervention. It was decided to inform Liu Shaoqi about the intervention at the time of the farewell at the Vnukovo airfield. To make a greater impression on Liu Shaoqi, the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee appeared in Vnukovo in full. “For the good of the Hungarian people.” In the end, Liu Shaoqi surrendered, thus securing China's support.

Then Khrushchev, Malenkov and Molotov - representatives of the Presidium of the Central Committee - went successively to Warsaw and Bucharest, where they quite easily obtained consent to the intervention. The last step their trip was Yugoslavia. They came to Tito, expecting serious objections from him. There were no objections on his part; as Khrushchev reports, “we were pleasantly surprised ... Tito said that we are absolutely right and we must move our soldiers into battle as soon as possible. We were prepared to resist, but instead we received his sincere support. I would even say that Tito went even further and urged us to solve this problem as soon as possible, ”Khrushchev concludes his story.

So the fate of the Hungarian revolution was decided.

On November 1, a massive invasion of Hungary by Soviet troops began. To Imre Nagy's protest, the Soviet ambassador Andropov replied that the Soviet divisions that had entered Hungary had arrived only to replace the troops already there.

3000 Soviet tanks crossed the border from the Transcarpathian Ukraine and Romania. The newly summoned Soviet ambassador to Nagy was warned that Hungary, in protest against the violation of the Warsaw Pact (the entry of troops required the consent of the corresponding government), would withdraw from the pact. The Hungarian government announced in the evening of the same day that it would withdraw from the Warsaw Pact, declare neutrality and appeal to the United Nations in protest against the Soviet invasion.

But all this no longer bothered the Soviet government. The Anglo-French-Israeli invasion of Egypt (October 23 - December 22) distracted the world's attention from the events in Hungary. The American government condemned the actions of England, France and Israel. Thus, the split in the camp of the Western allies was evident. There was no sign that the Western powers would come to Hungary's aid. Thus, the conflict over the Suez Canal in 1956 and the ensuing war of England, France and Israel against Egypt distracted the Western powers from the events in Hungary. The international situation was extremely favorable for the intervention Soviet Union.

What happened on the streets of Budapest? Soviet troops faced fierce resistance from the Hungarian army units, as well as from the civilian population. The streets of Budapest witnessed a terrible drama, during which simple people attacked tanks with Molotov cocktails. Key points, including the building of the Ministry of Defense and Parliament, were taken within a few hours. Hungarian radio went silent without completing its appeal for international aid, but the dramatic news of the street fighting came from a Hungarian reporter who alternated between teletypewriter and rifle firing from his office window.

The Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU began to prepare a new Hungarian government; The first secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party, Janos Kadar, agreed to the role of prime minister of the future government.

On November 3, a new government was formed, but the fact that it was formed on the territory of the USSR became known only two years later. The new government was officially announced at dawn on November 4, when Soviet troops broke into the Hungarian capital, where a coalition government headed by Imre Nagy had been formed the day before; the government also included non-partisan general Pal Maleter.

By the end of the day on November 3, a Hungarian military delegation led by Defense Minister Pal Maleter appeared to continue negotiations on the withdrawal of Soviet troops to headquarters, where it was arrested by the chairman of the KGB, General Serov. It was only when Nagy was unable to connect with his military delegation that he realized that the Soviet leadership had deceived him.

On November 4, at 5 o'clock in the morning, Soviet artillery rained fire on the Hungarian capital, half an hour later, Nagy notified the Hungarian people of this. For three days, Soviet tanks smashed the Hungarian capital; armed resistance in the province continued until November 14. Approximately 25 thousand Hungarians and 7 thousand Soviet soldiers was killed.

After the suppression of the uprising-revolution, the Soviet military administration, together with the state security organs, perpetrated reprisals against Hungarian citizens: mass arrests and deportations to the Soviet Union began.

Imre Nagy and his staff took refuge in the Yugoslav embassy. After two weeks of negotiations, Kadar gave a written guarantee that Nagy and his staff would not be prosecuted for their activities, that they could leave the Yugoslav embassy and return home with their families. However, the bus in which Nagy was traveling was intercepted by Soviet officers, who arrested Nagy and took him to Romania. Later, Nagy, who did not want to repent, was tried in a closed court and shot. This was reported on June 16, 1958. The same fate befell General Pal Maleter. Thus, the suppression of the Hungarian uprising was not the first example of a brutal defeat of the political opposition in Eastern Europe - similar actions on a smaller scale were carried out in Poland just a few days earlier. But this was the most monstrous example, in connection with which the image of Khrushchev as a liberal, which, it seemed, he promised to leave in history, forever faded. These events may have been the first milestone on the path that led a generation later to the destruction of the communist system in Europe, as they caused a "crisis of consciousness" among the true supporters of Marxism-Leninism. Many veterans of the party in Western Europe and the United States lost its illusions, because it was no longer possible to close our eyes to the determination of the Soviet leaders to retain power in the satellite countries, completely ignoring the aspirations of their peoples.

The Hungarian uprising against Stalinism and Soviet troops was the largest protest movement in the entire eastern bloc. This is partly due to the country's revolutionary tradition. In 1919, in a short time, Soviet republic, and after the Second World War, a revolution broke out with strikes and workers' councils, which, unfortunately, was suppressed by the Stalinists and the Russian army. There is also a nationalist side to all this. Throughout their history, the Magyars, as they call themselves in Hungarian, have fought for their independence. In the middle of the 19th century, troops invaded the country tsarist Russia to prevent them from breaking away from the Habsburg kingdom.

A more immediate cause was the brutal oppression of Stalinism. Just like the USSR and the rest of Eastern Europe, the country was a one-party state ruled dictatorially by the bureaucratic Communist Party. There were no free trade unions and no free press, and strikes were practically prohibited. There was also a hated security police that spied on people with the help of informers. It is also alleged that the doors of all apartments that were being built at that time were opened inward so that the security police could knock them out.

In the years after 1945 and up to 1956, the standard of living fell: partly because the reparations country (Hungary was on the side of Nazi Germany) had to pay the Soviet Union, as well as feed the Soviet occupation forces, and partly because of poor management and negligence Stalinists. Hungary, like the rest of Eastern Europe, is called by Marxists a "deformed workers' state." The second element of this definition refers to the fact that property relations in it are proletarian, while the first describes their, so to speak, distorted state. In reality, these countries found themselves at the stage of transition between capitalism and socialism, which is characterized by social state production but at the same time, however, it still follows the bourgeois divisional norms: wages are determined by the nature and degree of participation in the work, and there are also large differences in the wages of workers, leaders and politicians.

This is the kind of political revolution that happened in Hungary. The immediate impetus for it was the death of Stalin in 1953 and Khrushchev's speech at the Congress of the Russian Party in 1956, during which the massacres, deportations and brutal repressions of the Stalinist era were exposed. In the eastern block, this has given rise to hope for change. An uprising began in Poland: the masses went on a demonstration in order to gain independence from the USSR in 1956 and return the repressed Gomulka. All this succeeded, and after the promise that the so-called socialism would be preserved, and Poland would remain among the countries of the Warsaw Pact, Khrushchev was satisfied.

In Hungary, however, things went further. A few years earlier, there had been massive sabotages and deliberate slowdowns in production, as well as occasional spontaneous strikes and demonstrations, which led the Minister of Industry to declare: "The workers took a terrorist stance towards the directors of the nationalized industry."

The uprising began on 23 October 1956 with a demonstration in solidarity with Poland. After the demonstration, the protests continued, including the toppling of the eight-meter monument to Stalin on the parliamentary square. The people then went to the radio station to demand that the resolution be broadcast. There they were met with gunfire by the security police, who were, however, disarmed. So the riot began.

The workers in the arms factories distributed weapons to the masses, and quite a few Hungarian soldiers joined them. A general strike began and hundreds of workers' councils were formed, first in the industrial centers of Budapest and then in the rest of the country. The process involved factories, mines, hospitals, agriculture, universities, the army and organs government controlled... Only the suppliers of vital goods and services in areas such as food, fuel, health care, newspapers and railroad transportation were not on strike.

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Apostrophe 10/21/2017 The peasants made sure that food was delivered to the cities, and truck drivers delivered ammunition to the people. Militia units were also formed at workplaces. They demanded a transition to free socialism with free elections, a free press, and real control of the workers. They demanded that the Russian troops leave the country, as well as that Imre Nagy (Imre Nagy) again become prime minister.

On October 24, tanks of Russian units stationed in Hungary entered Budapest. They were greeted with machine-gun fire, grenades and Molotov cocktails. This demoralized many Russian tankers, and some of them even went over to the side of the people. Nagy was re-declared prime minister and forced to backtrack on his original plan to reform the Communist Party. Carried away by the flow of events, he instead decides to end one-party rule, remove Hungary from the Warsaw Pact countries and make it neutral.

This caused panic in Moscow, which feared that the uprising would spread. Therefore, Khrushchev decided to use troops from Siberia (with the active support of the Chinese leader Mao Zedong, who was also frightened by the rebellion), who did not speak Russian and who were deceived, saying that they were going to Berlin to suppress the fascist uprising. This attack began on November 3 and was again met with fierce resistance, especially in the workers' and industrial areas, as well as in the mining areas. But after a week of fierce fighting, the uprising was suppressed. According to estimates, then 25 thousand Hungarians and 7 thousand Russians lost their lives. Imre Nagy was dismissed (and later executed) and replaced by the ruthless sensationalist Janos Kadar.

However, the general strike continued, as did attempts to organize workers' councils. This meant that part of the production remained in the hands of the workers. To remedy this, mass arrests of council members were carried out, and the strikers were threatened with the death penalty, which testifies to the inhuman cruelty of Stalinism.

The US and NATO have been inactive, in part because they were preoccupied with the so-called Suez Crisis, during which Britain and France attacked Egypt when Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. The United States, with the support of the USSR, pressured Britain and France to retreat, out of fear that their attack would provoke a revolution in Egypt. Eventually the attack ended. In addition, the United States believed that trying to support Hungary was pointless due to the military superiority of the USSR. In addition, after World War II, Europe was divided into spheres of interest. Therefore, the United States contented itself with promising economic support to countries that would manage to free themselves from Moscow.

However, the uprising was not in vain. Hungary de-Stalinized the fastest in the eastern bloc, and there was more freedom there than in other countries. The Kadar regime was forced to act delicately for fear of a new uprising. Living standards have improved and a free market for small businesses and consumer goods sales has been partially introduced. In 1989, the protest movement in Hungary developed the fastest, and it was in this country that the first border to the West opened.

“For several days of euphoria, it even seemed that the revolutionaries would miraculously win,” writes Sebestyen. But at dawn on November 4, 1956, Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest. Blood flowed like a river through the streets. Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians fled the country, of which 8,000 went to Sweden. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 is a tale of "awe inspiring courage in a hopeless struggle."

But, as many Hungarians stated, the struggle was not in vain. If it were possible to improvise the revolutionary leadership, the outcome might have been different. The fact that the Soviet troops stationed in the country had to go home speaks for itself. And the second invading army would have been demoralized as well if the soldiers had been met with more effective weapons and propaganda in their own language. And since these troops were unsuitable, Khrushchev had to remove his hands. It is fair to say that the insurgent masses were not, for the most part, anti-socialist.

The Hungarian uprising remains an outstanding example of the will to fight and practically unyielding courage, and also belongs to some of the highest points in the history of revolution and reform. Unfortunately, the protest movement in 1989 did not lead to a political revolution, but to bourgeois counterrevolution... This was due to the fact that capitalism grew for a long time during the 80s and 90s, as well as to the demoralization caused by Stalinism, which trampled socialism into the mud. Today Hungary, like the rest of the Eastern European states, is subject to economic crises and political instability. This will lead to social clashes during which the traditions of 1956 will be revived. But this time, both a social and a political revolution are required, although social revolution and it will be easier to hold here than in Western Europe, since capitalism in Hungary is weaker and the state is still strong. It would spread with the speed of fire to all of Eastern Europe and Russia, and then to the rest of Europe and around the world.

The Hungarian uprising remains an outstanding example of the courage and will to fight among the youth and the working class.

The materials of Inosmi contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editorial staff of Inosmi.

Anti-Soviet speeches and demonstrations in post-war countries building socialism began to appear even under Stalin, but after his death in 1953 they took on a wider scale. In Poland, Hungary, the GDR, there were massive protests.

The decisive role in the initiation of the Hungarian events was played, of course, by the death of I. Stalin, and the subsequent actions of Nikita Khrushchev to "expose the personality cult."

As you know, in World War II, Hungary took part on the side of the fascist bloc, its troops took part in the occupation of the territory of the USSR, three SS divisions were formed from the Hungarians. In 1944-1945, Hungarian troops were defeated, its territory was occupied by Soviet troops. Hungary (as a former ally of Nazi Germany) had to pay significant indemnities (reparations) in favor of the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, which accounted for up to a quarter of Hungary's GDP.

After the war, the country held free elections under the Yalta Agreements, in which the Smallholders Party won the majority. However, the control commission, which was headed Soviet marshal Voroshilov, gave the winning majority only half of the seats in the Cabinet of Ministers, and the key posts remained with the Hungarian Communist Party.

The Communists, with the support of Soviet troops, arrested most of the leaders of the opposition parties, and in 1947 they held new elections. By 1949, power in the country was mainly represented by the communists. In Hungary, the regime of Matthias Rakosi was established. Collectivization was carried out, massive repression against the opposition, the church, the officers and politicians of the former regime and many other opponents of the new government.

WHO IS RAKOSHI?

Matthias Rakosi, nee Matthias Rosenfeld (March 14, 1892, Serbia - February 5, 1971, Gorky, USSR) - Hungarian politician, revolutionary.

Rakosi was the sixth child in a poor Jewish family. During the First World War he fought on Eastern Front, where he was captured, and joined the Communist Party of Hungary.
He returned to Hungary, participated in the government of Bela Kun. After his fall, he fled to the USSR. Participated in the governing bodies of the Comintern. In 1945 he returned to Hungary and headed the Hungarian Communist Party. In 1948 he forced the Social Democratic Party to unite with the CPV into a single Hungarian Party of Labor (HLP), general secretary which he was elected.

Rakoshi's dictatorship

His regime was characterized by the political terror against the forces of internal counterrevolution and the persecution of the opposition carried out by the state security service AVH (for example, he was accused of "Titoism" and orientation towards Yugoslavia, and then executed former minister Interior Laszlo Rajk). Under him, the nationalization of the economy and accelerated cooperation took place. Agriculture.

Rakosi called himself "the best Hungarian student of Stalin", copying the Stalinist regime in the smallest detail, right down to the fact that last years his reign Hungarian military uniform was copied from the Soviet, and in the stores of Hungary they began to sell rye bread, which had not been eaten in Hungary before.
Since the late 1940s. launched a campaign against the Zionists, while eliminating his political rival, Interior Minister Laszlo Rajk.

After Khrushchev's report at the XX Congress of the CPSU, Rakosi was removed from the post of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the VPT (instead of him, this position was taken by Ernö Gerö). Soon after the 1956 uprising in Hungary, he was taken to the USSR, where he lived in the city of Gorky. In 1970, he was asked to give up his active participation in Hungarian politics in exchange for returning to Hungary, but Rakosi refused.

He was married to Theodora Kornilova.

WHAT DIRECTLY CAUSED THE RISE?

When it comes to the reasons for the many thousands of demonstrations that began in Budapest in October 1956, which then escalated into mass riots, as a rule, they talk about the Stalinist policy of the Hungarian leadership headed by Matthias Rakosi, repression and other "excesses" of socialist construction. But it's not only that.

To begin with, the overwhelming majority of Magyars did not consider their country to be to blame for the outbreak of World War II and believed that Moscow acted extremely unfairly with Hungary. And although the former Western allies of the USSR in the anti-Hitler coalition supported all the clauses of the 1947 peace treaty, they were far away, and the Russians were nearby. Naturally, the landlords and the bourgeoisie, who had lost their property, were dissatisfied. Western radio stations Voice of America, BBC and others actively influenced the population, calling on them to fight for freedom and promising immediate assistance in the event of an uprising, including the invasion of Hungarian territory by NATO troops.

The death of Stalin and Khrushchev's speech at the XX Congress of the CPSU gave rise to attempts at liberation from the Communists in all Eastern European states, one of the most striking manifestations of which was the rehabilitation and return to power in October 1956 of the Polish reformer Vladislav Gomulka.

After the monument to Stalin was knocked down from the pedestal, the rebels tried to inflict maximum destruction on him. The insurgents' hatred of Stalin was explained by the fact that Matthias Rakosi, who carried out repressions at the end of the 1940s, called himself a faithful disciple of Stalin.

Important role played also the fact that in May 1955 neighboring Austria became a single neutral independent state, from which, after the signing of a peace treaty, the allied occupation troops were withdrawn (Soviet troops were in Hungary since 1944).

After the resignation of the General Secretary of the Hungarian Labor Party, Matthias Rakosi, on July 18, 1956, his closest associate Ernö Gerö became the new leader of the VPT, but such minor concessions could not satisfy the people.
The highly publicized Poznan Uprising in July 1956 in Poland also led to an increase in critical sentiment among the people, especially among the students and the writing intelligentsia. From the middle of the year, the Petofi Circle began to operate actively, in which the most acute problems facing Hungary were discussed.

UPRISING STUDENTS

On October 16, 1956, university students in Szeged organized an organized exit from the pro-communist Democratic Youth Union (the Hungarian equivalent of the Komsomol) and revived the Hungarian University and Academy Students' Union, which existed after the war and was dispersed by the government. Within a few days, branches of the Union appeared in Pec, Miskolc and other cities.
On October 22, students from the Budapest Technological University, who formulated a list of 16 requirements for the authorities and planned a protest march on October 23 from the monument to Bem (Polish general, hero of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848) to the monument to Petofi.

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, a demonstration began, in which, in addition to students, tens of thousands of people took part. The demonstrators carried red flags, banners on which slogans were written about Soviet-Hungarian friendship, about the inclusion of Imre Nagy in the government, etc. Radical groups joined the demonstrators in Yasai Mari squares, on March 15, on Kossuth and Rákóczi streets, shouting slogans of a different kind. They demanded the restoration of the old Hungarian national emblem, the old Hungarian national holiday instead of the Day of Liberation from Fascism, the abolition of military training and Russian language lessons. In addition, requirements were put forward for free elections, the creation of a government led by Nagy and the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.

At 20 o'clock on the radio, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the VPT Erne Gere made a speech sharply condemning the demonstrators. In response, a large group of demonstrators tried to infiltrate the broadcasting studio of the House of Radio, demanding to broadcast the program requirements of the demonstrators. This attempt led to a clash with the units of the Hungarian state security AVH defending the House of Radio, during which, after 21 hours, the first killed and wounded appeared. the rebels received or took away from reinforcements sent to help guard the radio, as well as from civil defense depots and captured police stations.

A group of rebels infiltrated the Kilian barracks, where three construction battalions were located, and seized their weapons. Many construction battalions joined the rebels. The fierce battle in and around the House of Radio continued throughout the night.

At 23:00, on the basis of the decision of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces, Marshal V. D. Sokolovsky, ordered the commander of the Special Corps to start moving to Budapest to assist the Hungarian troops "in restoring order and creating conditions for peaceful creative work." Parts of the Special Corps arrived in Budapest at 6 a.m. and entered into battles with the rebels.

On the night of October 24, about 6,000 Soviet army personnel, 290 tanks, 120 armored personnel carriers, 156 guns were brought into Budapest. In the evening, they were joined by units of the 3rd Rifle Corps of the Hungarian People's Army(VNA).

Members of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee A. I. Mikoyan and M. A. Suslov, Chairman of the KGB I. A. Serov, Deputy Chief of the General Staff General of the Army M. S. Malinin arrived in Budapest.
On the morning of October 25, the 33rd Guards Mech Division approached Budapest, in the evening - the 128th Guards rifle division, merged into the Special Corps.

At this time, during a rally near the parliament building, an incident occurred: fire was opened from the upper floors, as a result of which he died Soviet officer and the tank was burned. In response, Soviet troops opened fire on the protesters, as a result 61 people were killed on both sides and 284 were wounded.

UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT TO FIND A COMPROMISE

On the night before, on the night of October 23, 1956, the leadership of the Hungarian Communist Party decided to appoint Imre Nagy as Prime Minister, who had already held this post in 1953-1955, distinguished by reformist views, for which he was repressed, but rehabilitated shortly before the uprising. Imre Nagy was often accused of the fact that a formal request to the Soviet troops to assist in suppressing the uprising was not sent without his participation. His supporters claim that this decision was made behind his back by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party Ernö Gerö and former Prime Minister Andras Hegedüs, and Nagy himself was against the involvement of Soviet troops.

In such a situation, on October 24, Nagy was appointed to the post of chairman of the council of ministers. He immediately sought not to fight the uprising, but to lead it.

On October 28, Imre Nagy acknowledged the popular outrage as just, speaking on the radio and stating that "the government condemns the views according to which the present grandiose popular movement is viewed as a counter-revolution."

The government announced a ceasefire and the beginning of negotiations with the USSR on the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.
Until October 30, all Soviet troops were withdrawn from the capital to their places of deployment. The state security organs were disbanded. The streets of Hungarian cities were left practically without power.

On October 30, the government of Imre Nagy decided to re-establish a multi-party system in Hungary and to create a coalition government composed of representatives of the UPT, the Independent Smallholders Party, the National Peasant Party and the re-established Social Democratic Party. The upcoming free elections were announced.
And the uprising, already out of control, continued.

The insurgents captured the Budapest town committee of the UPT, and over 20 communists were hanged in a crowd. Photos of the hanged communists with traces of torture, with faces disfigured by acid, went around the world. This massacre was, however, condemned by representatives of the political forces of Hungary.

There was little Nagy could do. The uprising spread to other cities and spread ... The country quickly fell into chaos. The railway service was interrupted, airports stopped working, shops, shops and banks were closed. The rebels scoured the streets, catching the state security officers. They were recognized by their famous yellow boots, torn to pieces or hung by their feet, sometimes castrated. The captured party leaders were nailed to the floors with huge nails, and the portraits of Lenin were placed in their hands.

The development of events in Hungary coincided with the Suez Crisis. On October 29, Israel, and then NATO members Great Britain and France, attacked Egypt, backed by the USSR, with the aim of seizing the Suez Canal, next to which they landed their troops.

On October 31, Khrushchev said at a meeting of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee: “If we leave Hungary, it will cheer up the Americans, the British and the French imperialists. They will understand how our weakness is and will attack. " It was decided to create a "revolutionary workers 'and peasants' government" headed by Janos Kadar and hold military operation with the aim of overthrowing the government of Imre Nagy. The plan of the operation, called "Whirlwind", was developed under the leadership of the Minister of Defense of the USSR Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.

The Hungarian government on November 1, when the Soviet troops were ordered not to leave the location of the units, made a decision on the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact by Hungary and handed the corresponding note to the USSR Embassy. At the same time, Hungary turned to the UN with a request for help in defending its neutrality. Measures were also taken to protect Budapest in the event of a "possible external attack".

Early in the morning of November 4, the introduction of new Soviet military units under the general command of Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.

November 4 started Soviet operation"Whirlwind" and on the same day the main objects in Budapest were captured. Members of the Imre Nagy government took refuge in the Yugoslav embassy. However, units of the Hungarian National Guard and individual army units continued to resist the Soviet troops.
Soviet troops carried out artillery strikes against pockets of resistance and carried out subsequent sweeps with infantry forces supported by tanks. The main centers of resistance were the workers' suburbs of Budapest, where local councils were able to lead a more or less organized resistance. These areas of the city were subjected to the most massive shelling.

Against the rebels (more than 50 thousand Hungarians took part in the uprising), Soviet troops (totaling 31,550 soldiers and officers) were thrown with the support of Hungarian workers' squads (25 thousand) and Hungarian state security agencies (1.5 thousand).

Soviet units and formations that took part in the Hungarian events:
Special case:
- 2nd Guards Mechanized Division (Nikolaev-Budapest)
- 11th Guards Mechanized Division (after 1957 - 30th Guards tank division)
- 17th Guards Mechanized Division (Enakievsko-Danube)
- 33rd Guards Mechanized Division (Kherson)
- 128th Guards Rifle Division (after 1957 - 128th Guards Motorized Rifle Division)
7th Guards Airborne Division
- 80th parachute regiment
- 108th parachute regiment
31st Guards Airborne Division
- 114th parachute regiment
- 381st parachute regiment
8th Mechanized Army of the Carpathian Military District (after 1957 - 8th Tank Army)
38th Army of the Carpathian Military District
- 13th Guards Mechanized Division (Poltava) (after 1957 - 21st Guards Tank Division)
- 27th mechanized division (Cherkassy) (after 1957 - 27th motorized rifle division).

In total, the operation was attended by:
personnel - 31,550 people
tanks and self-propelled guns - 1130
guns and mortars - 615
anti-aircraft guns - 185
BTR - 380
cars - 3830

THE END OF THE REBELLION

After November 10, even until mid-December, the workers' councils continued their work, often entering into direct negotiations with the command of the Soviet units. However, by December 19, 1956, the workers' councils were dispersed by the state security organs, and their leaders were arrested.

Hungarians emigrated en masse - almost 200,000 people left the country (5% of the total population), for which in Austria it was necessary to create refugee camps in Traiskirchen and Graz.
Immediately after the suppression of the uprising, mass arrests began: in total, the Hungarian special services and their Soviet colleagues managed to arrest about 5,000 Hungarians (846 of them were sent to Soviet prisons), including "a significant number of members of the UPT, military personnel and student youth."

Prime Minister Imre Nagy and members of his government on November 22, 1956 were fraudulently lured from the Yugoslav embassy, ​​where they took refuge, and were taken into custody on the territory of Romania. They were then returned to Hungary and tried. Imre Nagy and former Defense Minister Pal Maleter were sentenced to death on charges of high treason. Imre Nagy was hanged on June 16, 1958. In total, according to some estimates, about 350 people were executed. About 26,000 people were prosecuted, of which 13,000 were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. By 1963, all participants in the uprising were amnestied and released by the government of Janos Kadar.
After the fall of the socialist regime, Imre Nagy and Pal Maleter were solemnly reburied in July 1989.

Since 1989, Imre Nagy has been national hero Hungary.

The speeches were initiated by students and workers of large factories. The Hungarians demanded free elections and the withdrawal of Soviet military bases. In fact, throughout the country, workers' committees have assumed power. The USSR sent troops to Hungary and restored the pro-Soviet regime, brutally suppressing resistance. Nagy and several of his government associates were executed. Several thousand people died in the battles (according to some sources - up to 10,000).

In the early 50s, other demonstrations took place on the streets of Budapest and other cities.

In November 1956, the director of the Hungarian News Agency, shortly before artillery fire razed his office to the ground, sent a desperate telex message to the world, heralding the beginning of the Russian invasion of Budapest. The text ended with the words: "We will die for Hungary and for Europe!"

Hungary, 1956. Self-defense units on the Hungarian border await the appearance of Soviet military units.

Soviet tanks were introduced to Budapest by order of the communist leadership of the USSR, which took advantage of the formal request of the Hungarian government.

The first Soviet armored vehicles on the streets of Budapest.

The "thaw" that began in the socialist camp after the death of Stalin (1953), especially deeply affected Hungary. In July 1953, the new government headed by I. Nagy took the path of abandoning the course of accelerated industrialization and collectivization of the Soviet model. The revival of public life began in the country, political prisoners were released. " New Deal"Was initially supported by the leadership of the USSR, but soon aroused obvious concern in Moscow. As a result of a counter-offensive by pro-Soviet forces led by the first secretary of the central leadership of the Hungarian Workers' Party (VPT) M. Rakosi in the spring of 1955, I. Nagy was removed from his post. The attempt at counterreforms gave impetus to the formation of an internal party opposition, which became more active after the 20th Congress of the CPSU (1956). Its main forum was the discussion club of the young intelligentsia - the Petofi Circle. The USSR Ambassador to Hungary Yu. V. Andropov defended the interests of the conservative forces in the Hungarian leadership. However, who visited Budapest in July 1956, a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU A.I. Mikoyan gave Moscow's consent to Rakosi's resignation.
In October, the tension increased, a demonstration of many thousands took place (October 6). A demonstration in support of the reformist forces in Poland, which began on October 13 in Budapest, escalated into an armed uprising. The entry of Soviet troops into Budapest in order to intimidate on the night of October 24 gave the uprising a distinct national character... Throughout Hungary, the disintegration of party and state structures took place, power passed to the spontaneously formed revolutionary committees and workers' councils, and a multi-party system was revived. On October 24, I. Nagy again headed the government. He went to rapprochement with the rebels, recognized the legitimacy of the demands for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country and the holding of free elections.

The Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee, headed by NS Khrushchev, initially tended to seek political means of resolving the conflict. But the Suez crisis of late October (the aggression of Great Britain, France and Israel against Egypt, which nationalized the Suez Canal) was perceived by Moscow as a symptom of an unacceptable weakening of Soviet influence in the world, thereby prompting the leadership of the CPSU to demonstrate military power in Hungary.
On October 31, a decision was made on a new military action. On November 1, in protest against the introduction of new troops from the USSR, I. Nagy proclaims Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact and appeals to the UN with a request to defend its sovereignty. On November 4, his government was overthrown as a result of the Soviet offensive on Budapest. Fighting with the participation of 17 Soviet divisions continued until November 10-11. As a result of the Hungarian events, about 3 thousand people died (about 2 thousand 400 Hungarians and about 600 military personnel Soviet army). More than 190 thousand Hungarians have emigrated. I. Nagy and some ministers from his government were convicted and executed (1958). The government of Y. Kadar, which came to replace it, formed in Moscow, restored the one-party system with the support of the USSR.

The actions of the USSR in Hungary were condemned by the world community, which at the same time dissociated itself from a number of violent actions committed by the rebels. The Hungarian events showed the limits of Khrushchev's "thaw", the inability of the USSR leadership to make a decisive break with Stalin's methods of foreign policy.

Fear of the development of events according to the "Hungarian model" in the event of a loss of control over the course of reforms formed in the minds of the Soviet partocracy the "Hungarian syndrome", which narrowed the field of activity of reforming socialism in Eastern Europe and the USSR itself.

Hungary took part on the side of the fascist bloc, its troops took part in the occupation of the territory of the USSR, three SS divisions were formed from the Hungarians. In 1944-1945, Hungarian troops were defeated, its territory was occupied by Soviet troops. But it was on the territory of Hungary, in the region of Lake Balaton, in the spring of 1945 that the German fascist troops launched the last counter-offensive in their history.
After the war, the country held free elections under the Yalta Agreements, in which the Smallholders Party won the majority. However, the coalition government, imposed by the Allied Control Commission, which was headed by Soviet Marshal Voroshilov, gave the winning majority half of the cabinet seats, while the key posts remained with the Hungarian Communist Party.
The Communists, with the support of Soviet troops, arrested most of the leaders of the opposition parties, and in 1947 they held new elections. By 1949, power in the country was mainly represented by the communists. In Hungary, the regime of Matthias Rakosi was established. Collectivization was carried out, a policy of forced industrialization was launched, for which there were no natural, financial and human resources; began mass repressions conducted by AVH against the opposition, the church, officers and politicians of the former regime, as well as many other opponents of the new government.
Hungary (as a former ally of Nazi Germany) had to pay significant contributions to the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, amounting to up to a quarter of GDP.
On the other hand, the death of Stalin and Khrushchev's speech at the XX Congress of the CPSU gave rise to attempts at liberation from the Communists in all Eastern European states, one of the most striking manifestations of which was the rehabilitation and return to power in October 1956 of the Polish reformer Vladislav Gomulka.
An important role was played by the fact that in May 1955 neighboring Austria became a single neutral independent state, from which, after the signing of a peace treaty, the allied occupation troops were withdrawn (Soviet troops were in Hungary since 1944).
A certain role was played by the subversive activities of Western intelligence services, in particular the British MI6, which trained numerous cadres of "popular rebels" at its secret bases in Austria and then transferred them to Hungary.
The intra-party struggle in the Hungarian Party of Labor between Stalinists and supporters of reforms began from the very beginning of 1956 and by 18 July 1956 led to the resignation of the General Secretary of the Hungarian Party of Labor Matthias Rakosi, who was replaced by Ernö Gerö (former Minister of State Security).
The dismissal of Rakosi, as well as the 1956 Poznan Uprising in Poland, which caused a great resonance, led to an increase in critical sentiments among the students and the writing intelligentsia. From the middle of the year, the Petofi Circle began to operate actively, in which the most acute problems facing Hungary were discussed.
On October 16, 1956, part of the university students in Szeged organized an organized exit from the pro-communist Democratic Youth Union (the Hungarian counterpart of the Komsomol) and revived the “Union of Students of Hungarian Universities and Academies” that existed after the war and was dispersed by the government. Within a few days, branches of the Union appeared in Pec, Miskolc and other cities.
Finally, on October 22, students of the Budapest University of Technology (at that time - the Budapest University of the Construction Industry) joined this movement, who formulated a list of 16 requirements for the authorities (the immediate convocation of an extraordinary party congress, the appointment of Imre Nagy as Prime Minister, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country , destruction of the monument to Stalin, etc.) and who planned a protest march on October 23 from the monument to Bem (Polish general, hero of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848) to the monument to Petofi.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, a demonstration began, in which about a thousand people took part - including students and representatives of the intelligentsia. The demonstrators carried red flags, banners on which slogans were written about Soviet-Hungarian friendship, about the inclusion of Imre Nagy in the government, etc. Radical groups joined the demonstrators in Yasai Mari squares, on March 15, on Kossuth and Rákóczi streets, shouting slogans of a different kind. They demanded the restoration of the old Hungarian national emblem, the old Hungarian national holiday instead of the Day of Liberation from Fascism, the abolition of military training and Russian language lessons. In addition, demands were made for free elections, the creation of a government headed by Nagy, and the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.
At 20 o'clock on the radio, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the VPT Erne Gere made a speech sharply condemning the demonstrators.
In response, a large group of demonstrators stormed into the broadcasting studio of the House of Radio, demanding to broadcast the program requirements of the demonstrators. This attempt led to a clash with the units of the Hungarian state security AVH defending the House of Radio, during which, after 21 hours, the first killed and wounded appeared. The rebels received or took weapons from reinforcements sent to help guard the radio, as well as from civil defense depots and captured police stations. A group of rebels infiltrated the Kilian barracks, where three construction battalions were located, and seized their weapons. Many construction battalions joined the rebels.
The fierce battle in and around the House of Radio continued throughout the night. The head of the Main Police Department of Budapest, Lieutenant Colonel Sandor Kopachi ordered not to shoot at the rebels, not to interfere in their actions. He unconditionally fulfilled the demands of the crowd gathered in front of the management to free the prisoners and remove the red stars from the facade of the building.
At 23:00, on the basis of the decision of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces, Marshal V. D. Sokolovsky, ordered the commander of the Special Corps to start moving to Budapest to assist the Hungarian troops "in restoring order and creating conditions for peaceful creative work." The formations and units of the Special Corps arrived in Budapest at 6 a.m. and entered into battles with the rebels.
On the night of October 23, 1956, the leadership of the Hungarian Communist Party decided to appoint as Prime Minister Imre Nagy, who had already held this post in 1953-1955, distinguished for his reformist views, for which he was repressed, but rehabilitated shortly before the uprising. Imre Nagy was often accused of the fact that a formal request to the Soviet troops to assist in suppressing the uprising was not sent without his participation. His supporters argue that this decision was made behind his back by the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party Ernö Gerö and former Prime Minister Andras Hegedüs, and Nagy himself was opposed to the involvement of Soviet troops.
On the night of October 24, about 6,000 Soviet army personnel, 290 tanks, 120 armored personnel carriers, 156 guns were brought into Budapest. In the evening, they were joined by units of the 3rd Rifle Corps of the Hungarian People's Army (VNA). Part of the Hungarian military and policemen went over to the side of the rebels.
Members of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee A. I. Mikoyan and M. A. Suslov, Chairman of the KGB I. A. Serov, Deputy Chief of the General Staff General of the Army M. S. Malinin arrived in Budapest.
In the morning, the 33rd Guards Mech Division approached the city, in the evening - the 128th Guards Rifle Division, which joined the Special Corps. During a rally near the parliament building, an incident occurred: fire was opened from the upper floors, as a result of which a Soviet officer died and a tank was burned. In response, Soviet troops opened fire on the protesters, as a result 61 people were killed on both sides and 284 were wounded.
Ernö Gerö was replaced as first secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party by Janos Kadar and left for the headquarters of the Soviet Southern Group of Forces in Szolnok. Imre Nagy spoke on the radio, addressing the belligerents with a proposal to cease fire.
Imre Nagy spoke on the radio and said that "the government condemns the views according to which the current anti-popular movement is viewed as a counter-revolution." The government announced a ceasefire and the beginning of negotiations with the USSR on the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.
Imre Nagy abolished AVH. The fighting in the streets ceased, and for the first time in the past five days, silence reigned on the streets of Budapest. Soviet troops began to leave Budapest. The revolution seemed to have won.
Jozsef Dudash and his militants took over the editorial office of the Sabad Nep newspaper, where Dudash began publishing his own newspaper. Dudash announced the non-recognition of the government of Imre Nagy and the formation of his own administration.
In the morning, all Soviet troops were taken to their places of deployment. The streets of Hungarian cities were left practically without power. Some prisons associated with the repressive AVH have been taken over by insurgents. The guards practically did not show any resistance and partially fled.
Political prisoners and criminals who were there were released from prisons. On the ground, trade unions began to create workers and local councils, not subordinate to the authorities and not controlled by the communist party.
Bela Kirai's guards and Dudash's troops executed communists, AVH employees and the Hungarian military who refused to obey them. In total, 37 people died as a result of lynching.
The uprising, having achieved some temporary successes, quickly radicalized - there were murders of communists, employees of the AVH and the Hungarian Ministry of Internal Affairs, shelling of Soviet military towns.
By order of October 30, Soviet servicemen were forbidden to return fire, “succumb to provocations” and go beyond the location of the unit.
There were recorded cases of killings of Soviet servicemen on leave and sentries in various cities of Hungary.
The insurgents captured the Budapest City Committee of the UPT, and over 20 communists were hanged in a crowd. Photos of the hanged communists with traces of torture, with faces disfigured by acid, went around the world. This massacre was, however, condemned by representatives of the political forces of Hungary.
There was little Nagy could do. The uprising spread to other cities and spread ... The country quickly fell into chaos. The railway service was interrupted, airports stopped working, shops, shops and banks were closed. The rebels scoured the streets, catching the state security officers. They were recognized by their famous yellow boots, torn to pieces or hung by their feet, sometimes castrated. The captured party leaders were nailed to the floors with huge nails, and the portraits of Lenin were placed in their hands.
On October 30, the government of Imre Nagy decided to restore a multi-party system in Hungary and to create a coalition government of representatives of the UPT, the Independent Smallholders Party, the National Peasant Party and the re-established Social Democratic Party. The upcoming free elections were announced.
The development of events in Hungary coincided with the Suez Crisis. On October 29, Israel, and then NATO members Great Britain and France, attacked Egypt, backed by the USSR, with the aim of seizing the Suez Canal, next to which they landed their troops.
On October 31, Khrushchev said at a meeting of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee: "If we leave Hungary, it will cheer up the Americans, the British and the French imperialists. They will understand our weakness and will attack." It was decided to create a "revolutionary workers 'and peasants' government" headed by J. Kadar and conduct a military operation to overthrow the government of Imre Nagy. The plan of the operation, called "Whirlwind", was developed under the leadership of the USSR Minister of Defense GK Zhukov.
The Hungarian government on November 1, when the Soviet troops were ordered not to leave the location of the units, made a decision on the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact by Hungary and handed the corresponding note to the USSR Embassy. At the same time, Hungary turned to the UN with a request for help in defending its neutrality. Measures were also taken to protect Budapest in the event of a "possible external attack".
In Tekele near Budapest, right during the negotiations, he was arrested by the KGB of the USSR new minister Defense of Hungary Lieutenant General Pal Maleter.
Early in the morning of November 4, the introduction of new Soviet military units into Hungary began under the general command of Marshal G.K. Zhukov, and the Soviet operation "Whirlwind" began. Officially, Soviet troops invaded Hungary at the invitation of the government hastily created by Janos Kadar. The main objects in Budapest were captured. Imre Nagy spoke on the radio: "This is the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Hungarian People's Republic, Imre Nagy. Early this morning, Soviet troops attacked our country in order to overthrow the legitimate democratic government of Hungary. Our army is fighting. All members of the government remain in their places."
Detachments of the "Hungarian National Guard" and individual army units tried in vain to resist the Soviet troops.
Soviet troops carried out artillery strikes against pockets of resistance and carried out subsequent sweeps with infantry forces supported by tanks. The main centers of resistance were the suburbs of Budapest, where local councils were able to lead a more or less organized resistance. These areas of the city were subjected to the most massive shelling.
By November 8, after fierce fighting, the last centers of resistance of the rebels were destroyed. Members of the Imre Nagy government took refuge in the Yugoslav embassy. On November 10, workers' councils and student groups approached the Soviet command with a proposal for a ceasefire. The armed resistance ceased.
Marshal G.K. Zhukov "for the suppression of the Hungarian counter-revolutionary insurrection" received the 4th star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, the chairman of the KGB of the USSR Ivan Serov in December 1956 - the Order of Kutuzov 1st degree.
After November 10, even until mid-December, the workers' councils continued their work, often entering into direct negotiations with the command of the Soviet units. However, by December 19, 1956, the workers' councils were dispersed by the state security organs, and their leaders were arrested.
Hungarians emigrated en masse - almost 200,000 people (5% of the total population) left the country, for whom refugee camps in Traiskirchen and Graz had to be created in Austria.
Immediately after the suppression of the uprising, mass arrests began: the entire Hungarian special services and their Soviet colleagues arrested about 5,000 Hungarians (846 of them were sent to Soviet prisons), including "a significant number of members of the UPT, military personnel and student youth."
Prime Minister Imre Nagy and members of his government on November 22, 1956 were fraudulently lured from the Yugoslavian embassy, ​​where they were hiding, and were detained on the territory of Romania. They were then returned to Hungary and tried. Imre Nagy and former Defense Minister Pal Maleter were sentenced to death on charges of high treason. Imre Nagy was hanged on June 16, 1958. In total, according to some estimates, about 350 people were executed. About 26,000 people were prosecuted, of whom 13,000 were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, but by 1963 all participants in the uprising had been amnestied and released by the government of Janos Kadar.
According to statistics, in connection with the uprising and hostilities on both sides, in the period from October 23 to December 31, 1956, 2,652 Hungarian citizens died and 19,226 were wounded.
The losses of the Soviet Army, according to official figures, amounted to 669 people killed, 51 missing, 1540 - wounded.
Hungarian events had a significant impact on inner life THE USSR. The party leadership was frightened by the fact that the liberalization of the regime in Hungary led to open anti-communist protests and, accordingly, the liberalization of the regime in the USSR could lead to the same consequences. On December 19, 1956, the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee approved the text of the Letter of the CPSU Central Committee "On strengthening the political work of party organizations among the masses and suppressing attacks by anti-Soviet, hostile elements."