‘We gather today to honour and pay tribute to the heroes of the revolution,’ Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated during the ceremony marking the 68th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight at Millenáris Park in Budapest on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister noted that this year’s commemoration is special as those who defended Hungary from the recent Danube floods were also present. ‘What the water management authorities, disaster protection forces, soldiers, police, and volunteers achieved was a superhuman task. We lost no lives, and the damage was minimized,’ Orbán recalled, thanking those who stood firm during the flood defence. He underscored that when danger approaches, unity is essential, and although Hungarians are proud and tenacious, they follow the rule of unity, as without it, there is no freedom. ‘Without unity, we would be ruled by foreigners, who would rob us and enslave us by debt,’ he remarked.
‘Without unity there is no freedom’
Orbán highlighted that the revolution was preceded by calamities: in January 1956, an earthquake shook the country, and in March, an icy flood overwhelmed the Danube region. Adults and children lost their lives, hundreds of families were left homeless, and thousands were relocated. ‘This was a sign to prepare for the great times that demand unity,’ he added. In October, history, like the Danube, overflowed its banks, he reflected, noting that when history floods, it doesn’t recede by the afternoon but continues its course, during which heroes are born.
‘October 1956 inscribed the names of brave Hungarians in the nation’s golden history book,’ said Orbán. He stated that in the autumn of 1956, history overflowed its banks because Hungary could no longer endure Soviet imperial oppression, as Hungarians are a freedom-loving people. ‘No occupier has ever been able to break or tame the Hungarians.’ Soviet oppression deprived Hungarian families of generations of work, seeking to put them in service to the empire rather than the nation. After the devastating World War, a puppet government was imposed upon us, one made up of collaborating Hungarians, the Prime Minister recalled, noting that empires love to conceal their brutal face and prefer to be invited in. He reminded the audience that when Hungarians defied the Soviets, they rigged elections to put their comrades in power.
‘Even though they had all the weapons of power and numerical superiority, Hungarians would not tolerate humiliation. We waged the brightest freedom fight in world history and taught them for good not to mess with the Hungarians,’ Orbán proclaimed. He pointed out that the Soviets and their comrades understood this, so they scaled back their ambitions, and thirty-four years later, they withdrew from Hungary. ‘Today, history is preparing to overflow its banks again. In the coming year, it will not be water but history that we must keep within its course,’ he said.
Regarding the war in Ukraine, he mentioned that hundreds of thousands have perished on the front, and the European economy has suffered a severe blow. ‘There is an increasing likelihood that the war will spread, and if it does, who knows where it will stop. In the last seventy years, we have never been so close to a world war. The emperor has no clothes: Brussels bureaucrats have led the West into a hopeless war,’ he commented, adding:
‘The entire EU is being drawn into the war. The victory plan involves expanding the conflict, with NATO extending an invitation to Ukraine and shifting the war onto Russian soil. After victory on the eastern front, Ukraine, rather than the Americans, would take on the responsibility of securing Europe with its strengthened army. That means that one day, we, Hungarians, may wake up to find that Slavic soldiers from the east are once again stationed on Hungarian soil. We do not want this.’
‘The lesson of 1956 is that we should fight only for Hungary and Hungarian freedom’
He noted that the pressure from Brussels is intensifying on both the country and the government. ‘We Hungarians must also decide whether we want to go to war against Russia.’
For us, the lesson of 1956 is that we should only fight for Hungary and Hungarian freedom,’ he said. He emphasized that ‘we can do the most for Hungarian freedom by staying out of other people’s wars’. According to the Prime Minister, the European economy is on the brink of collapse due to this war, and millions of people will be ruined if things continue this way. ‘So let’s not let it happen, my friends,’ he concluded.
Brussels has announced that they will get rid of Hungary’s government, and they have also revealed plans to install a Brussels puppet government in Hungary, Orbán pointed out. Once again, the old question arises: will we bow to foreign will, or will we resist it? This is the grave decision that awaits Hungary, according to Orbán.
‘I propose that our answer should be as clear and decisive as it was in 1956,’ he said. ‘We will not take part in any imperial competition. We do not believe in world-saving ideologies, whether they come from the east or the west,’ Orbán asserted, adding that Hungarians only want to live in peace in the Carpathian Basin. He reminded the audience that Hungarians are not intimidated when the current empire tries to blackmail them. ‘We know that they want to force us into war, saddle us with migrants, and hand over our children to gender activists. We know that they have their chosen puppet government and their man ready, a true yes-man. Ideal for leading a puppet government,’ Orbán remarked.
‘Patriots continue to fight for Hungarian freedom today…The whole country has seen who did what in the European Parliament. We defended Hungarian interests and freedom against the imperial policies of the European Union. In contrast, the opposition offered their services to the empire. It is an internationalist tradition to betray the homeland and the family. The old opposition, the new opposition, only the label changes. The new does what the old did: invite foreigners in against the Hungarians,’ he declared.
‘Brussels has [already] chosen their puppet government’
Orbán recalled that in 1956, there was unity and will, but not enough strength for sovereign action. ‘Today, there is strong national unity behind right-wing governance, there is common will, and today, and strength is also added to unity and will. Today, there is the possibility of sovereign action, and I promise that we will use it. To be Hungarian means to fight. This is what the heroes of ‘56 teach and demand of us. We will not tolerate Hungary being turned into a puppet state or a vassal of Brussels. They will not succeed. They will not break through here. We will win, and they will lose! We Hungarians can and will do it again. Glory to the Hungarian heroes of ‘56!’, the Prime Minister concluded.
Read more on 23 October:
