Mr.
LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I want to call the attention of my colleagues to a
new documentary film now in production dealing with the 1956 Hungarian
Revolt against Soviet occupation. Entitled "Torn from the Flag,'' the
film is being prepared as part of the 2006 celebration marking the 50th
anniversary of the Hungarian uprising. This film will include important
archival material and recently opened files that have not been available
until recently. It will also include insightful interviews with Hungarian
freedom fighters, former political prisoners, secret police, and foreign
citizens who participated in or witnessed the events.
On
October 23, 1956, students and workers commenced a spontaneous uprising
against the repressive communist dictatorship. Against all odds, they
successfully took on and defeated the police and installed a new
government. There were eighteen days of freedom before Soviet tanks and
military forces launched a major attack on November 4 crushing, once and
for all, the uprising. Some 20,000 Hungarians and 3,500 Russians died in
the fighting. The defeat of the Hungarian Revolt was one of the darkest
moments of the Cold War, but it was also one of the early indications that
the freedom-loving peoples of Central and Eastern Europe could not be
forever repressed.
The
documentary takes its name from one of the most memorable images of the
1956 Hungarian Revolt. The revolutionaries cut from the center of the
Hungarian tricolor flag the coat of arms of the communist People's
Democratic Republic of Hungary. The flag with a hole in its center was
emblematic of the Hungarian people's desire to rip out communism from
their homeland, and this has been one of the most enduring symbols of the
1956 Revolution.
Like
the student revolution in Tiananmen Square, China, in April 1989, where
Chinese students were brutally suppressed after a massive demonstration
for democratic reform, the Hungarian Revolt provided the world with sharp
insights into communist tyranny. The governments of the Soviet Union in
1956 in Hungary and China in 1989 at Tiananmen Square used similar tactics
in cracking down on dissidents. In my office, everyday I see a large
picture of the brave Chinese student who stood boldly in front of a long
row of tanks during the Tiananmen revolt. That Chinese student and the
brave Hungarian revolutionaries of 1956 represent the fighting spirit of
all men and women against tyranny.
The
1956 Revolution in Hungary is full of lessons and inspiration for people
living under repressive regimes even today. The heroic fight of thousands
of young men and women has played a crucial role in leading to the
collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union.
Mr.
Speaker, I invite my colleagues to note with me the upcoming 50th
anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, to watch for the documentary
"Torn from the Flag", and to rejoice that men and women
everywhere are willing to unite in the fight, despite overwhelming odds
against them, in order to free themselves from tyranny and repression.
