To commemorate Hungary’s national holiday on 23 October, the House of Terror Museum will offer a wide range of programmes, including special guided tours, history classes, educational workshops, film screenings, and outdoor exhibitions dedicated to the heroes and victims of the 1956 Revolution and War of Independence.
According to a statement released on Thursday, the museum has already hosted several special history lessons this week and will continue to welcome students on 17, 21 and 22 October. Alongside these lectures, museum educators will hold workshops from 9am onwards.
Historians from the House of Terror Museum, the 20th Century Institute, and the Institute for the Research of Communism will present lesser-known aspects of the 1956 events. The sessions will explore topics such as the role of women in the revolution, 1956 in popular culture, its international context, the revolution’s symbols, and the guerrilla tactics of the ‘Pesti srácok’—the young freedom fighters of Budapest.
The life of revolutionary hero István Angyal will be featured, along with an overview of how the Kádár regime’s history books portrayed 1956. Students will also hear a lecture about Ferenc Puskás, captain of Hungary’s ‘Golden Team,’ and his connection to the revolution.
During the museum’s educational workshops, historians will discuss doctors’ heroism during the uprising, the revolution’s everyday realities, the show trials that followed, and key sporting events of 1956. Original documents, artefacts, photographs, and film footage will bring the period to life during the 45-minute sessions.
On 20 October, well-known athletes, actors, musicians, and singers will lead special guided tours for high school students, sharing their families’ memories and personal impressions related to totalitarian regimes and the revolution.
On 23 October, the museum will be open to visitors free of charge. In addition to its permanent exhibition, visitors can view the temporary show ‘A Great Crime Needs a Great Idea’, featuring works by artist Sam Havadtoy, and the film Let’s Play Calmly!, which tells Hungary’s 20th-century story through the life of football legend Ferenc Puskás.
To mark the national holiday, a bilingual (Hungarian–English) outdoor exhibition titled ‘1956 – For Freedom and Independence’ will open along the walkway in front of the museum, paying tribute to the heroes of the revolution through panels of text, images, and quotations recalling key moments from 1956.
The museum also invites visitors to see the ongoing outdoor exhibition ‘Have We Forgotten?’, organized jointly with the Institute for the Research of Communism in Csengery Street, which commemorates the victims of the communist dictatorship. Throughout the day, visitors may light candles at the Wall of Heroes in front of the museum to honour those who fought and died for Hungary’s freedom in 1956.
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