Minister of Human Capacities Zoltán Balog announced on Monday that President of Poland Andrzej Duda will be the guest of honour at Hungary’s commemoration event on 23 October, which will mark the 60th anniversary of the anti-Communist revolution.

He said that Mr. Duda and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán will both address a gathering on Budapest’s Kossuth Square in front of the Parliament building. He added that the organising committee decided to invite a single prominent guest of honour, instead of a “group of foreign dignitaries”.

Mr. Balog also said that so far 283 Hungarian settlements have received state funding to hold commemorative events or erect memorials, and this number will grow further with a new round of tenders to be announced soon. He said that the detailed programme for the state events – which will last from 23 October to 4 November – will be announced later.

He also said that the detailed accounts of the winning bids will only be publicised after the commemorations, in order to facilitate smooth organisation of events and because releasing details beforehand would also be “unfair to those actually delivering the events”.

Mr. Balog said that the organising committee has reviewed the image and ad spots for the commemorations, as well as the song which the Government asked Desmond Child to write for the occasion. The committee found them suitable for wide dissemination, he said.

Historian Mária Schmidt, Director of the House of Terror Museum and co-chair of the organising committee, said that so far they have evaluated 1,094 bids for event funding, of which 725 have been accepted.

Ms. Schmidt said that events will also be held in 112 settlements beyond the borders, using the slogan “Freedom First”. She said that the slogan is meant to express that this anti-communist uprising was not driven by material demands such as shorter working hours, better supplies or lower food prices.

She said that posters and other commemorative materials will be on display at hundreds of locations across the country, and the international media campaign will consist of publicity in thirteen cities across nine countries, and invitations to 120 foreign guests who helped the cause of the revolution sixty years ago.

(Ministry of Human Capacities/MTI)