Hungary Gives Patriot’s Burial to Martyr Nagy

Thirty-one years after he was hanged as a traitor to communism, Imre Nagy, premier for 13 dramatic days during the 1956 Hungarian revolt, was given a patriot’s burial here Friday.

A crowd of perhaps 100,000 flocked to Heroes Square, not only to pay tribute to Nagy and other martyrs of the only full-blown armed rebellion against communism since the division of Europe, but to mark what one speaker called “the border between two great epochs.”

Until a little more than a year ago, the name of Nagy and other figures associated with the revolt were taboo to the Communist authorities who took over after Nagy was deposed by Soviet tanks. But Hungary is now embarked on some of the same reforms, including a multi-party system, that Nagy envisioned.

‘Sovereign Hungary’

“We want this day to begin work toward a new world to realize the aims that these people died for,” said Imre Mecs, a longtime dissident who, himself, had been sentenced to death by a Communist court after the 1956 revolt. “We want a free, independent and sovereign Hungary.”

The crowd ranged from children to the elderly and sometimes tearful men and women who remembered vividly the tumultuous days of October, 1956, when secret policemen were hanged from lampposts and Soviet tanks on Budapest’s squares blasted away at suspected rebel strongholds.

The throng was solemn throughout the proceedings, bursting into prolonged applause for only one of a parade of speakers, Viktor Orban, a student leader who declared, “The Communists took away our future.”

He drew still more applause when he added, “A lot of politicians are saying now they are the inheritors of Imre Nagy’s inspiration. Two years ago, they were blaming him for counterrevolution. Today, they want to touch his coffin as a talisman.”

By and large, however, the Communist officials of Hungary realized that this was not their day, and kept clear of the proceedings. Premier Miklos Nemeth and Parliament Speaker Matyas Szuros attended the Heroes Square ceremonies and laid a wreath before six coffins arrayed against a white backdrop on the steps of the national museum. But not even Nemeth, one of the government’s leading reformers, was invited to speak.

‘The Unknown Revolutionary’

In the coffins were the remains of Nagy and four associates--his chief of staff, Jozsef Szilagyi; defense minister Pal Maleter; journalist Miklos Gimes; and minister of state Geza Losonczy. The sixth coffin was empty, a symbol to represent “the unknown revolutionary.”

Nagy and his associates had been buried in unmarked graves in Plot 301 of the sprawling Kozma Street Cemetery in Budapest. Until recently, the plot had been allowed to go untended, with even its exact location an official secret. However, dissidents and Nagy’s family located the graves years ago.

Nagy had served as Hungary’s premier from 1953 to 1955, but his reformist notions, including a multi-party system and an end to one-sided economic arrangements with the Soviet Union, led to his replacement. He was called back to office, however, on the second day of the 1956 rebellion.

Less than two weeks later, after he announced that Hungary was withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact, Soviet tanks invaded Budapest, putting down the revolt in two days. At Soviet direction, Nagy was replaced by Janos Kadar, who held power here until May, 1988.

Kadar’s replacement by Karoly Grosz and a team of reformers triggered an official re-evaluation of the 1956 events, and a special Communist Party subcommittee on history set out to decide whether the revolt should be redefined as a “popular uprising” rather than a “counterrevolution” as the Communists had designated it officially for 32 years.

Emerging Parties

This raised pressure for a re-evaluation of Nagy, long a hero to Hungarian dissidents and opposition groups. Still more pressure was added by a decision to allow the re-emergence of political parties, which are now preparing for the first postwar, multi-party elections, probably early next year.

Although Grosz himself has said he does not believe that Nagy should be “rehabilitated,” he said the party would review its position if new facts emerged.

The Hungarian government, as opposed to the Communist Party, has been more forthcoming. On Wednesday, the government, in the most outspoken official statement on the issue, declared that Nagy was a “prominent statesman” and said that “the ideas of democratic humanitarian and national-minded endeavors of Imre Nagy and his followers are major constituents of the present government policy.”

However, Nagy’s daughter, Erzsebet, may have reflected the views of most Hungarians when she said she does not consider the Communist Party worthy of rehabilitating her father. “I am not even asking this party to do it,” she said on the day her father’s unmarked grave was opened.

Certainly there was little good will to be expended on the Communists among the crowd at Heroes Square or among the mourners following the funeral procession to the Kozma Street Cemetery where Nagy was reburied in the same grave he had occupied for 31 years.

A 75-year-old retired steel worker, clutching a red carnation and a handful of newspapers memorializing Nagy, began weeping when he spoke of 1956.

“I was in the streets,” he said. “I was there. I was arrested. I was beaten up. Now this. We have waited for such a long time. The Russians have been running us for 30 years. Thirty years! And Kadar has taken all the money and put it into his pocket.”

Trembling, the man wiped at his tears with a wadded handkerchief. His friend, a retired miner, steadied him with an arm around his shoulders.

“We want change,” the second man said, “but we want to be safe and secure. We have our history to teach us. That’s why we have mixed feelings about this day. Every time we celebrate something, we lose.”

While many in the crowd said they felt the memorial service marked a “turning point” or a “break with the past” in Hungarian political history, there were also many who said they felt apprehension about the future.

‘Communism in Retreat’

“This is all new,” said Dr. Akos Kiss, wearing the armband and lapel pin of the Hungarian Democratic Forum, one of the emerging political parties. “What is going on here, and in Poland, has never been attempted in this way. It is communism in retreat, but no one can say if the retreat will go smoothly.”

While the changes may not go smoothly, particularly in the economy, the newly awakened spirit of public discourse would seem difficult to reverse. On the streets Friday, hawkers sold poster portraits of Imre Nagy and accounts of the 1956 rebellion that would have been banned two years ago. Souvenir salesmen did a brisk business peddling lapel pins depicting the crown of St. Stephen, a badge of nationalist independence and an anti-Communist symbol.

Hungarian newspapers put out special editions and television replayed lengthy documentaries on Nagy’s life, including his trial, recently described by the state’s public prosecutor as a sham proceeding that “gravely and repeatedly violated the rules of criminal procedure.”

But the new openness inspired little faith Friday among Nagy’s old allies and the dissidents who have rallied around the symbol that his name represents.

“Over the last 30 years, the truth of Hungarian history could not be spoken,” said one speaker before Nagy’s coffin was once again lowered into the ground. “It has been a constant fight for freedom in our country, and it is the great tradition of our country that will not die.”

FAREWELL TO THE REVOLUTION More than three decades after the 1956 Hungarian revolt, a huge crowd gathered in Budapest’s Heroes Square to pay tribute to their former leader, Imre Nagy, who was at last given a patriot’s burial. Nagy, who was hanged as a traitor to communism, and four of his associates had been buried in unmarked graves. But last November, after months of pressure, Karoly Grosz, Hungary’s current leader, agreed to the reburial. The Victims

Imre Nagy: Premier from 1953-55, he initiated the first reform program in Hungary. Was sentenced to death at show trial and executed June 16, 1958.

Pal Maleter: Part of military high command before becoming Nagy’s defense minister. Executed with Nagy.

Miklos Gimes: Began a newspaper called “Hungarian Freedom” one week after the October uprising began. Executed with Nagy.

Geza Losonczy: Was minister of state in Nagy’s Cabinet. Died in prison in 1957.

Jozsef Szilagyi: Chief police commissioner of Hungary. Was among Nagy’s closest friends. Served as head of the Secretariat. Executed in April, 1958.