On 25 February in Hungary we remember victims of communist dictatorship
On 25 February we remember the victims of communist dictatorship, those who were executed, incarcerated and destroyed and whose only sin was that they failed to fit into the narrow boundaries of the class struggle ideology, Zoltán Kovács, Minister of State for International Communication and Relations told the Hungarian news agency MTI on Friday. On the Monday Memorial Day, the House of Terror Museum will be open for free visits all day long.
He recalled that it was the first Orbán Government that decided that we should finally commemorate the victims of communism in a dignified manner.
He said it is unacceptable that to this day communism is perceived in Western Europe “with nostalgia mixed with enthusiasm for good measure”. “While we here in the Central European region experienced first-hand what it is like to live in oppression and fear,” he added.
Mr Kovács highlighted that today in Hungary “we live in freedom and security, we have a future that we chose for ourselves, unlike in dictatorship”. “We understood that we can only be free if we never resign our national sovereignty ever again,” he said.
The Minister of State said that, as part of the centrally organised programmes, all day long on Monday the House of Terror Museum will await visitors with special history lessons and guided tours. The guided tours will be attended by Hungarian celebrities such as Ákos, Feró Nagy and Adrienn Zsédenyi.
On the Monday Memorial Day, the House of Terror Museum will be open for free visits all day long.
Commemorators will be able to pay tribute at the Wall of Heroes by lighting candles throughout the day.
In 2000 Parliament declared 25 February the Memorial Day of the Victims of Communism in memory of the fact that it was on this day in 1947 that Béla Kovács, Secretary General of the Independent Smallholders’ Party was arrested unlawfully prior to being taken to the Soviet Union.
Both a museum and a memorial, the House of Terror (Terror Háza) stands at 60 Andrássy road, Budapest, the very building where victims of the fascist Arrow Cross then the Communist Secret Police (ÁVH) were taken during and after World War II. This gripping permanent exhibition commemorates those who were detained, interrogated, tortured or killed within these walls.
T-54 tank on display on the courtyard of the House of Terror. This type of armored vehicle was mostly used by the Soviet army to kill off the freedom-fighters of Budapest during the revolution in 1956. On the wall there are photos of several hundreds of martyrs of the once bloody communist dictatorship.
Source: www.kormany.hu
