and Reality'

László Eörsi.  The Hungarian Revolution of 1956: Myths and
Realities.  Translated by Mario D. Fenyo. Boulder  East European
Monographs, 2006.  Illustrations, maps. 200 pp.  $40.00 (cloth), ISBN
978-0-88033-591-1.

Reviewed by Matthew McCullock
Published on H-Ideas (June, 2009)
Commissioned by Magdalena Zolkos

It Is a Fine Line between Myth and Reality

Previously appearing as a series of articles and publications between
1994 and 2002, László Eörsi's _The Hungarian Revolution of 1956_
represents an attempt to refute "far fetched" and "ill-intentional
fabrications" that have emerged surrounding the 1956 revolution in
Hungary (p. x). Exploring the key individuals who took part in the
revolution, Eörsi's work examines the "record of interrogations, the
confessions, the testimonies, [and] the signed denunciations," as
these allow the author to "reconstruct particular events" and
deconstruct the myths (p. x).

The book is divided into five chapters, but has no conclusion _per
se_. The first chapter deals with the Siege of Budapest, while the
remaining chapters focus on an individual or group around whom myths
have been created since 1956: Jósef Dudás, Ilona Tóth, Péter
Mansfeld, and the "Bástya" group.

The first chapter provides contextualization to the piece with
breakneck exploration into the historical and institutional landscape
that preceded the revolution, the involvement of Soviet forces, and
the "principal fighting units" focusing on the insurgents in
different sectors of Budapest. The last part of the chapter reflects
Eörsi's previous publications and obvious knowledge, but
paradoxically also provides the best and worst parts of the chapter.
On the one hand, the reader is bombarded with significant numbers of
abbreviations, names, and information (which, to the lay reader,
could be confusing); yet, on the other hand, the reader is engulfed
by the sheer pace of the narrative, making the first chapter
compelling reading. Due to the pace, however, the first chapter is
best read twice to extract the most information. Interestingly, and
apart from the generic subject, the first chapter shares no specific
links to the remainder of the book. There is no attempt at this
initial stage to "demythify" the revolution; in fact, the epilogue to
the first chapter merely presents a list of casualties suffered by
both sides (p. 23).

The core contention of the book begins in the second chapter.
Focusing on "Jósef Dudás as Revolutionary," the chapter aims at
refuting Dudás's role in the revolution: "Stories about Dudás rose
into the foggy realm of legends already at the time of the
revolution, and the picture has not become any clearer since" (p.
33). After providing a brief biographical account of Dudás, the
chapter explores, with the same breakneck pace as the first chapter,
Dudás's involvement in 1956. In his evaluation of statements
focusing on Dudás, Eörsi presents an alternate view and therefore
demythifies Dudás to a degree. The most interesting rebuttal
surrounds the use of the Dudás myth by the Smallholders Party in
1989-90, and probably sums up the confusion that still surrounds
Dudás's motivation. The Smallholders made Dudás their main hero as
he had had connections with the party at various points of his
life.They "appreciated his rhetoric regarding 'commitment to the
nation. [But] they tried to alter his political ideology and role
increasingly in a rightist direction" (p. 79). The aim of the
Smallholders was to portray Dudás as wishing to topple the system,
while Eörsi's chapter demonstrates that Dudás's role was to reform
the system: a point supported by his reformist political program and
articles in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The third chapter on Tóth is arguably the best chapter of the book:
not only in terms of clarity and style but also in terms of the
argument put forward. The main contention surrounding Tóth was the
nature of her trial: was it a show trial, as reported in 1956 and
subsequently mythicized, or was it, as Eörsi claims, a fair trial?
Eörsi admits that he is in continuous discussion over the matter,
with "no resolution in sight"; but, despite this note of caution, his
argument is more convincing than most publications glorifying Tóth
(p. x). Along with two others, Tóth was accused of and executed for
the murder of András Kollár. The trial, conducted in 1957,
according to Eörsi, did not have the characteristics of the previous
show trials of the Stalinist period. Despite the confessions and
court statements of the defendants, several myths emerged, including
that Tóth was pregnant and forcibly had the fetus removed; that all
defendants were drugged or hypnotized to give false confessions; and
that Kollár had not actually been murdered, rather he died in 1981.

Although Eörsi presents a strong case against the show trial myths,
he ignores one factor that could bring into doubt his argument: Even
if Tóth did kill Kollár, or at least contributed to his death by
injecting him and stabbing him in the heart, these actions were done
under extraordinary circumstances, under duress, and against a man
mistakenly believed to be working for state security. The fact that
for much of the revolution Tóth had existed on caffeine injections
to perform such long hours, given the nature of the crime, the
extenuating circumstance, and the fair trial that she received, how
was the death penalty logically arrived upon? Arguably, the charge
should have been manslaughter (a point Eörsi briefly mentions),
_unless_ the court wished to send out a political message. It is from
this conclusion, rather than from the many fantasies, and one that
Eörsi does not consider, that a more believable accusation of a show
trial could be based.

The final two chapters are remarkably short, but they do refute the
myths that have grown up surrounding the subjects. Eörsi paints
Mansfeld as a somewhat youthful delinquent, fond of stealing cars and
boasting, who in 1959 was executed for counterrevolutionary activity,
despite the positive evidence given by one of his "victims" (p. 157).
The myth surrounding Mansfeld is completely undermined by the fact
that, while he was imprisoned for a year for his activities in 1956,
he was executed for crimes committed two years _after_ the 1956
revolution. The fine line between myth and reality collapsed Mansfeld
of 1956 and Mansfeld of 1958 to create Mansfeld _the myth_.

The final chapter again is short and concise. It is aimed at the myth
that the Minister of Defense Pál Maléter led active resistance
against the Soviets in the mountains of Bakony. Eörsi presents the
Bástya group as one of many groups that emerged before, during, or
after the Soviet invasion. Yet the key aspect is that one member of
the group, János Karászy, who had fought with Maléter in the
Partisans in 1945, believed that Maléter was fighting with his
troops in the Bakony Mountains. In fact, however, Soviet forces at
Tököl had arrested Maléter, apparently without the Bástya group
being aware.

In conclusion, the book refutes some myths that have developed
surrounding the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. In choosing a few
specific examples, the book has the feel of five separate essays of a
common theme that offer a challenge to the myths, rather than a
coherent volume. If we heed Eörsi's comments on why certain topics
were chosen and others rejected, this should come as no surprise: "Of
course, this choice of topics must be accepted as some kind of
excuse, for a number of other events from 1956 could have been
included in this study, on the basis of the parameters we have set.
The simple, pedestrian explanation of their omission is that the
documents are in the process of being revealed, or research has not
yet begun. Thus this volume may be considered the first in a series"
(p. xi). If the work is approached with this originality in mind,
readers will not be disappointed: they may even be inspired to
continue Eörsi's attempt to untangle and demystify the myths and
realities of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956?

Citation: Matthew McCullock. Review of Eörsi, László, _The
Hungarian Revolution of 1956: Myths and Realities_. H-Ideas, H-Net
Reviews. June, 2009.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=24490

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States
License.
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