When we pay tribute to the victims of the Communist dictatorship and face up to the troublesome legacy which has been left to us in its wake, we are rebuilding our national self-consciousness, Minister for National Economy and MP of a constituency from the second and third districts of Budapest Mihály Varga said at a wreath-laying ceremony organized by Hungary’s Christian Democratic People’s Party in Budapest, at the prison in Gyorskocsi Street.

Between 1949 and 1954, hundreds of thousands – according to some researchers, more than one million – people were persecuted by the Communist dictatorship in Hungary, Mihály Varga stated. Persecution came in various forms; we must not forget those who suffered forced repatriation, forced labour, or those who were chased out of the country and had to leave their families behind, the former students banished from universities and the youth who lost their livelihood, he noted.

The logic of Communism dictated that the crushing of the Revolution of 1956 had to be followed by retribution: 20 thousand people were sentenced to prison and 229 people were executed, tens of thousands were sentenced to internment, he said, adding that the gravest sin of the Communist regime was to have used murder, the imprisonment and internment of innocent people and the atmosphere of fear as legitimate policy tools.

The whole nation had been traumatized as people were made to accept and even celebrate submission and oppression enforced by military occupation as freedom, Mihály Varga stressed. The main message of these events is that we must live our life in accordance with principles that do not jeopardize our independence but assist our progress and ensure the free and safe life of citizens.

(Ministry for National Economy)