That head topped a monument built in 1951 where the Regnum Marianum church stood. Consecrated in 1931, the church honored Hungary’s liberation from Béla Kun’s 1919 regime. On Oct 23, 1956, welders cut Stalin off at the knees. More: academic.oup.com/book/63217 #Hungary1956 #Skystorians

Yes. Doubt reached Soviet communists too. In a closed nuclear city, Ozyorsk, Urals region, physicist Anatolii Lanin asked why the Hungarian workers' demands were hidden: "Our enemies know everything. But we, the friends, know very little." More: academic.oup.com/book/63217 #Hungary1956 #Skystorians

What a journey! Most Hungarian refugees crossed first into Austria, which granted asylum on Oct 28, 1956, while Imre Nagy was still prime minister. Among the first to flee were ÁVH secret police agents, escaping lynch mobs. More in my book: academic.oup.com/book/63217 #Hungary1956 #Skystorians

A wonderful project. Exile ran both ways in 1956. Hungarian students in Moscow feared they could not go home. László Szamuely recalled: "we were citizens of a country that was at war with the Soviet Union." More in my book: academic.oup.com/book/63217 #Hungary1956 #Skystorians

Interesting point. 1956 sharpened that view where Soviet troops were visible: the slogan “Russians go home” rang loudest in Eastern Europe (e.g. Timișoara). In the Soviet core, many students still spoke of “our tanks.” I compare both in my book: academic.oup.com/book/63217 #Hungary1956 #Skystorians

Thank you for sharing this. In 1956, Hungarian exchange students in Moscow sat by the radio until 2 a.m., unable to reach their families, fearing they could never go home. I tell their story in my new book: academic.oup.com/book/63217 #Hungary1956 #history#Skystorians

The Berlin link is real. Ulbricht used the Hungarian crisis to win firmer backing from Khrushchev, setting the stage for the Wall four and a half years later. More in my new book, Tremors in the Soviet Bloc: academic.oup.com/book/63217 #Hungary1956 #Skystorians #history

Good point. Ironically, probably most Soviet students in Moscow and Leningrad who protested the intervention in 1956 were not anti-communists. Groups like Krasilnikov’s Union of Communists-Leninists wanted a return to “Leninist ideals.” More: academic.oup.com/book/63217 #Hungary1956 #Skystorians

Beautifully put. When Naum Korzhavin heard of the Soviet intervention on Nov 4, 1956, he made Hope the speaker of his poem: it rose up “only once, in Budapest,” then faded, and “since then, I do not live.” His poem opens a chapter of my book: academic.oup.com/book/63217 #Hungary1956 #Skystorians

The pattern started early. In Nov 1956, sixty-six Soviet writers, Ilya Ehrenburg among them, signed a letter defending the intervention. Boris Pasternak refused. My book shows what that silence cost Soviet students: academic.oup.com/book/63217 #Hungary1956 #history

A pity. Soviet Ukraine was no bystander in 1956. Troops went into Budapest from the Carpathian Military District, and Kyiv used the crisis to re-expel nationalists returning from the Gulag. I trace both in my new book: academic.oup.com/book/63217 #Hungary1956 #history

A visit like this would carry weight. On Nov 4, 1956, Kádár’s first proclamation was broadcast from Uzhhorod, in Soviet Ukraine. My book traces the role of Soviet Ukraine in the Soviet intervention: academic.oup.com/book/63217 #Hungary1956 #history

#SkyHistory #SovietHistory #Hungary1956

Soviet T-54 tank on display in the House of Terror Museum. Budapest. Hungary. It is not known if this specific one took part in the events of October/November 1956.

#Budapest #Hungary #HouseofTerror #Hungary1956