play the podcast - 30:00 minutes (right-click, then save as, to download to your computer or mp3 player)
This podcast is for my parents, Almos and Maria Kovacs.
The Hungarian Revolution took place 50 years ago, starting on 23 October 1956. On 4 November the Soviet army moved in to suppress it brutally. My parents left their native country, amongst more than 200,000 refugees. Read the history in the excellent Wikipedia entry. All the music is by Hungarian artists:
Ethnosonic - White Dressed Tears
Eszter Bartok - Felhomalybol
Virag Keszthelyi - The Call (Zoohacker mix) - also visit lushlife project, click on downloads then dj sets
East - 56 - I can't find a website for East, but thanks to Peter from tomtom records for permission to play this song, around which the podcast is built.
Ethnosonic - Traveller
Soundbed music by the excellently named Gabor 13 (or try his myspace page)who is from the beautiful city of Pecs in Hungary and by Vayder X (as an update on what I had previously said in this post, although American,Vayder X have strong Hungarian connections. I'll post an extract from an e-mail on the comments board.)
The title music is by Tragic Shell Suit Disaster.
4 comments:
POSTSCRIPT Sunday 29 October 2006
My parents came to lunch today, and we talked about 1956. They were both on the march of 23 October 1956, and my father was one of those involved in pulling down the statue of Stalin, something he remembered a 3 years ago when the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Baghdad.
My mother was involved in guarding AVO men - secret police - to protect them from being lynched. She was given a gun but said she would never have dreamed of using it. My father arrested AVO men and took them to secure places where they would not be grabbed to be lynched. That was why he had to flee: after the revolution was put down one of those AVO men came to arrest him, but he was away from the University visiting his parents.
My mother went back to her home town of Debrecen in Eastern Hungary to visit her parents. She discussed with them whether she should leave Hungary. Her father said it was up to her.
My mother took a train from Budapest to a town near the Austrian border. Together with a group of University friends, she crossed into Austria at night. She says that the Russian soldiers guarding the border were singing loudly round a campfire. She always thought that was so that those fleeing Hungary would not accidentally blunder into them. After "processing" my mother arrived in the UK just before Christmas 1956.
My father wonders what good it all did. All those deaths in the fighting, the subsequent executions and the refugees - More than one Hungarian in 10! He blames the Americans and their years of radio broadcasts encouraging the people of Eastern Europe to rise up, when the time came the US would help. But when the time came, the US didn't.
My parents have never told me any of this before. Maybe it's because I never really asked.
A really moving show - a shining example of what podcasting is all about.
I'm so glad that it was something you were finally able to ask your parents about - these defining moments in history can fade without the first-hand experiences that those involved can pass down through the generations.
As children, we tend not to think about what our parents lives were like before we came along. You've reminded us all that we really should before it's too late to ask.
And I got this from Vayder X, clarifying their information.
Hey Gabor, Thanks for using my songs in your podcast, I'm happy you enjoyed them. I'm sorry if you were misled by the podcast directory locating me in Budapest, I lived there for a while but moved back to to the states last year. In a few years when I aquire my dual citizenship, I'll then be actually Hungarian..
Hello Gábor
The saddest thing about '56 is that divides rather than unites the Hungary of today. I have heard it said a number of times that perhaps not talking about it was not such a bad idea after all ...
I believe that although necessary, this "Vergangenheitsbewältigung" Hungarian-style(German idiom for seeking to deal with the painful past)will remain difficult for some time.
Anyway, as the Hngarian saying goes "sirva vigad a magyar" (in/with tears the Hungarian rejoices) and I can never quite find the line between the brass tacks and the Hungarian liking for a little melancholic drame ...
I am not sure why, but I see things, on balance, positively and have every intention in partaking in this (re)awakening Hungary - my hope is that I am not being naive (like our parents and so many of our ancestors!) and that HUngarya will be sufficiently courageous to engage with the globalised world, rather than succumb to fear and drift off to nationalistic and right wing darkness.
Loved the podcast!
Servus, Ernest
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