Tag: communism
Recently I went on a trip to Prague, which was supposed to be a spring getaway for a long weekend, but turned out to be a winter one with lots of snow and cold. We’ve spent as much time outside walking around this beautiful city as we could, but the cold forced us to seek for some indoors activities as well. One of these were visiting the Museum of Communism. Having grown up in Hungary I do have quite a vision of communism in Eastern Europe, so I didn’t really expect any great surprises there. The exhibition starts with the…
ourpresidents: The Fall of the Berlin Wall – Twenty Five Years Ago this Weekend Following World War II, tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union intensified. In 1949 Great Britain, France, and the United States unified their individual occupied zones of Germany into the Democratic Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). The fourth portion remained under the Soviet Union’s control and became known as the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). After years of contention the Soviet Union began constructing a permanent wall on August 13, 1961 which split East from West Germany, therefore dividing the city of Berlin in…
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956: Photos From the Streets of Budapest | LIFE | TIME.com Recalling the 1956 Hungarian uprising against the Soviet Union through photographs by the great Michael Rougier. It lasted less than three weeks, from Oct. 23 until Nov. 10, but the Hungarian Revolution that convulsed Budapest and the rest of Hungary in late 1956 sent shock waves through eastern and central Europe that reverberated for decades. More than a few historians, in fact, cite the popular revolt as the first rip in the Cold War’s Iron Curtain. Read more: The Hungarian Revolution of 1956: Photos From the Streets of Budapest |…
Kim Jong Un Wins 100% Of Vote In North Korean Elections “Kim Jong Un has been unanimously re-elected to North Korea’s parliament – via a ballot that featured his name only. (…) 100 per cent turnout was recorded, without a single dissenting ballot.” Why, that’s a surprise…
“Never again shall we tolerate subjection to the like of this.”* The Hungarian Parliament decided in 2000 that 25 February in each year will be dedicated to remember the victims of communism based on. This is a very sensitive issue in Hungary, and I imagine all of the former socialist countries of Eastern Europe, since it was something that was un-talked about for long decades of the socialist era. Generations grew up learning from textbooks that were intentionally falsifying history, describing the socialist regime as liberators and heroes who saved our country. When after World War II the world could…
Darkness at Noon | Book by Arthur Koestler – Simon & Schuster “It was quiet in the cell. Rubashov heard only the creaking of his steps on the tiles. Six and a half steps to the door, whence they must come to fetch him, six and a half steps to the window, behind which night was falling. Soon it would be over. But when he asked himself, ‘For what actually are you dying?’ he found no answer.” One of the most famous novels of Hungarian born author Arthur Koestler and one of the most daring political novels of the 1940s. …