On Hungarian Independence Day, we salute the Hungarianness of the entire world, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in his speech in Veszprém on the occasion of the anniversary of the 1956 revolution.
The prime minister emphasized: Veszprém was ahead of what was happening a thousand years ago, and it was ahead of it in 1956: "We came to celebrate October 23, but we should have come here a day earlier: the people of Veszprém woke up earlier in 1956, they didn't wait for the for the people of Pest, they already announced their demands on October 22," he pointed out.
Every city and village in Hungary has its own 1956 and they are all part of our great revolution, so it is not fair to remember only those who shine in the limelight, said the prime minister.
Viktor Orbán recalled the victims of the 1956 revolution, the executed, the refugees and emigrants. "The life stories of those suffering in prisons are shocking. What characters! They executed a priest, a worker, a farmer, a teacher, a Communist Party leader, the elderly, the young, men and women, Budapest residents and rural residents. A nation stood on the deathbed," the prime minister pointed out.
Viktor Orbán remembered the hero of Veszprém, who knew that if history dealt a hand to us Hungarians, it would be a sin not to take it.
"Árpád Brusznyai also understood that 1956 was the last chance for European Hungary for a long time to tear itself away from the world of Bolshevik socialism, which denies European culture, Christian civilization, and the right of nations to exist. Just as the Austrians succeeded a year earlier," he said. As he explained, Brusznyai also knew that the doors were closing. If we don't manage to get out now, the whole country will be dragged into the Soviet experiment that wanted to create the communist type of people and the Soviet empire.
1956 was not a fit of rage of the oppressed, or an unbridled outburst of desire for freedom, pointed out Orbán, who, according to him, for all its heroism, the Hungarian movement was sober, responsible and moderate, a flash of Hungarian genius.
"The revolution itself was the flash of the Hungarian genius, and the story of Árpád Brusznyai, who at the age of barely 32, did not allow even the legitimate street lynching of the dictator's marauders, was the epitome of this," emphasized Orbán.
The prime minister reminded: Brusznyai was executed by the communists, not because he was guilty, but because he was innocent. His fate is the fate of the Hungarians.
"The Hungarian people are chivalrous, sometimes even too much, which is why it happens to us again and again that those whom we save or protect turn against us," reminded Viktor Orbán, pointing out that today we were also the first to protect Europe from migration, and the first we proposed peace instead of war. Even today, we are the first and only ones who want to hold back the European peoples from marching blindly into another war, he said.
"We never received a thank you, but we received a scolding. This is the Hungarian destiny. We are not comforted that Westerners can now eat what they cooked for themselves," said the Prime Minister.
This is a pattern of Hungarian destiny that repeats itself from time to time - stated Viktor Orbán. He said that Árpád Brusznyai was innocent, and then his memory was persecuted in order to erase it from the history of Veszprém, which they succeeded in doing for three decades.
"Today we know who the Brusznyai people were, but today we don't even dare to say the names of the murderers. Glory to the heroes of 1956," underlined the Prime Minister, and then said that Brusznyai was executed at the age of 33, and then even his memory was persecuted in order to permanently erase him from the consciousness of Veszprém.
"But an old crime has a long shadow, and if it is committed against an entire nation, it casts such a shadow that its shadow is felt by countless people," the Prime Minister stated.
Glory does not mean that we can comfortably walk away from embarrassing lessons. We know that traitors are also part of the nation, they are also included in our history, like the bad luck in the National Anthem, reminded Orbán, adding that October 23 was also followed by November 4 in Veszprém.
"1956 finally won in 1990. Those of us who were there, who fought the battles against the Soviet Union and the party activists, knew very well that we could not have won without 1856," emphasized Viktor Orbán, who said that at the time of the regime change, the communists only had a chance to enter the era of democracy with their skin intact if first they confessed their crime, they had to publicly bury the remains of their victims. "And as soon as their bodies were buried, their souls were freed", and the communists lost their power.
As far as I can see, the successor party of the MSZMP is already microscopic in size, and it will end where it needs to end, he added.
"Our job in 1989 was to finish what the 1956s started. We just had to muster enough courage to point at them and proclaim that the king is naked," the Prime Minister recalled the period of the regime change.
We freed ourselves from the occupation of the Soviets, we replaced the communists in such a way that there was no war, and that we avoided the economic and political collapse of the country. To this day, we are still the most stable and safest country in all of Europe - emphasized Viktor Orbán.
"1956 won and we rejoined the community of European peoples, this is also part of the historical truth. As well as the fact that this Europe is no longer the place from which we were torn out. and less and less. We have to face the fact that we mean something different by freedom. For Westerners, this means some kind of escape from themselves, from what they were born to be. Change gender, change nation, change identity, change all your parts, put yourself together according to the latest fashion, and you will be free, they say in the West. In Hungary, we think exactly the opposite. For us, freedom is not an escape from ourselves, on the contrary: arrival, finding home," emphasized Viktor Orbán. According to the prime minister, the idea of not being a man, a Hungarian, a Christian, is like tearing out our hearts.
"Admit that you were born Hungarian and Christian, male or female. We are not willing to give this up neither in 1956, nor in 2023, neither for the sake of Moscow nor Brussels," Orbán emphasized, adding: for us, freedom is a life instinct, the fight for freedom is not something you can undertake or decide, you must protect it, otherwise it will be lost .
This was the case in 1956, 1990 and it is still the case today, added the Prime Minister, emphasizing: we stand at the graves of all occupying empires.
The prime minister also spoke about the fact that things reminiscent of the Soviet era still pop up in our lives today. "Fortunately, what was a tragedy the first time is just a comedy the second time. Fortunately, Brussels is not Moscow, Brussels is just a poorly managed contemporary parody," said Viktor Orván, adding: "Brussels whistles for nothing, if we don't want to, we don't dance."
"The Soviet Union was hopeless, the EU is not yet. It is true that he brought the migration on himself, that he fell into the war, from which he cannot get out. Brussels can be repaired, Europe is still alive and breathing, its vitality is working in its body, it can still change," Orbán stressed, adding that next year's EP elections do not need more encouragement than this.
"The sacrifice of the 1956s only makes sense if we do not live in vain, if we give the world what only we can give. Veszprém does just that: it shows the world what Hungarian culture is like, what freedom is like when you're Hungarian. We are able to do this because we know that the past is not behind us, but below us, we stand on it," said Orbán, bowing his head to the memory of the victims.
"Long live Hungarian freedom, long live the homeland, God bless us all, freedom before everything," concluded the prime minister's speech.
