The Voice of Freedom [antikvár]

PREFACE "1956 signalled the beginning of the end." Perhaps this is one of the most important lessons of the series of conversations and interviews held in the Hungarian Cultural Centre in London in 2006, the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. I invited eyewitnesses and others who had something important in common: following the defeat of the Revolution none of them was able to remain in Hungary and sought a new home in the United Kingdom.There were those who thought that they would be merely staying a while; others knew they could never return. Between 23 October, the outbreak of the Revolution, and its crushing by Soviet tanks on 4 November less than a fortnight passed. None the less for my interviewees these days were a fateful experience that shaped their lives; indeed, their lives were turned upside down by the Revolution. These eyewitnesses knew the humiliation of fake applause. The memories of my guests are intact. They are living witnesses to a time when oppression, lies, a communist dictatorship, and the Soviet occupation were facts of daily life. And they recall the moment when a people rose and cried out as one to express its longing for liberty. The memories recounted to me, now available to all in this book, are personal, often intimate. I am very conscious that my guests paid me a great honour in recounting memories that they had never before spoken of in public. I have also invited some British guests whose lives represent the welcoming support by the new home country. Even if it opens up wounds, a conversation is itself a balm for the listener as well as for the speaker. I am convinced that we must speak to each other more and more honestly; not talk past each other, but pay each other the utmost attention. I am truly happy that on these evenings I helped to create an atmosphere in which everyone was able to be candid. A sentence spoken in all honesty is a great treasure; one must treat it with great respect.