Memory and discourse on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution

This contribution discusses a variety of different factors that have influenced the historical memory of the 1956 revolution in Hungary and the range of different interpretations that have made up the discourse on it. It explores the consequences of the post-1956 repression and the 'enforced historical amnesia' that was maintained by the Kadar regime. It then reviews the controversies and disputes between different accounts of the revolution relating to differences in the personal experiences of participants and the different ideologies and outlooks of different political parties as they compete to utilise the legacy of 1,956 for their own political programmes. It concludes that there are still rival, irreconcilable images of the 1956 revolution in contemporary Hungary and this seems to offer some support for the post-modern belief in the variability of historical narratives as a consequence of the democratisation of the past, and the variations of memories of the past.