1956–2026
Seventy years have passed since the revolution: a lifetime.
I hoped that by the fortieth, fiftieth, or at least the sixtieth anniversary of the 1956 Revolution, the HOUSE OF THE REVOLUTION would be established in Budapest. In capital letters. Of course, I was disappointed. The revolution's "heirs", the political forces of the day, have not considered this important enough over the past 37 years. Almost 40 years after the change of regime, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 still has no permanent museum.
Yet the story of the revolution is not only political or military history, but also the story of hundreds of personal lives. There is a modest small '56 museum in Kiskunmajsa-Marispuszta, created through the private initiative of Gergely Pongrácz: a farmstead on the Great Plain. I repeat:
The portrait photograph of Örs Csete was taken by Lajos Síró.
In Hungary, the museum of the 1956 revolution in 2026 = a farmstead.
For my part, I can do what can be seen on this website and read in my books: I try to preserve people's faces, voices, and stories. This work has been under way since 1995, independently and self-financed.
This is where I am building the museum of '56, virtually.