My '56 [antikvár]

Foreword The 1956 revolution in Hungary shook the communist world and provided a shining example of Hungarians' love of freedom. It also showed that the totalitarian communist system did not rest on the consent of the people and was illegitimate, and that a political system cannot be built on lies, indeed, 1956 showed the world that communism in Europe would one day be ended. In 2006, the Hungarian members of the Group of the European People's Party - European Democrats in the European Parliament organised a series of commemorative events under the title 'The Year of Hungary 1956-2006'. Conferences, public debates, concerts, exhibitions and film screenings were held in Brussels and Strasbourg. The aim of these events was not only to remember Hungary's heroic freedom fight of 50 years ago but also to underline the political and moral relevance of the revolution for today's European democrats. The publication 'My '56' gathers personal testimonies of Members of the European Parliament about the revolution. Many of today's leading politicians were teenagers or young adults 50 years ago, and the events in Hungary touched their young lives in a variety of ways. We asked them to talk about their memories, and about how the Hungarian revolution might have influenced their political philosophies. This book is also an acknowledgement of the many acts of solidarity shown in the democratic West, as it welcomed hundreds of thousands of Hungarian refugees after the Soviet military intervention. With the publication of these testimonies, we also intend to show how the revolution - at the time and in succeeding decades - outgrew its original boundaries and became a defining European event, with positive effects which led all the way to the 1989 democratic awakening in Central and Eastern Europe.