Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume X, Eastern Europe

328. Telegram From the Embassy in Hungary to the Department of State¹

9609.

Budapest, October 24, 1986, 1112Z

SUBJECT

• Budapest: Quiet on 38th Anniversary of 1958 Revolt.

REF

• 85 Budapest 9012.²

1. Begin summary: The first day marking the anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian revolution passed without any significant public incident. Except for beefed up security precautions, business was carried out in an everyday manner. Dissidents who had been cautioned to avoid any public demonstrations heeded police warnings. End summary.

2. To the casual observer walking along the rain-drenched streets of Budapest on October 23, 1986 there was little indication that along these same streets precisely thirty years ago the Hungarian people rebelled against a Soviet-imposed Stalinist system in an aborted quest for freedom and national independence. Parliament began its two-day fall session at ten in the morning, thirty years after crowds gathered in protest outside the same building. In marked contrast to the autumn 1985 legislature which began with a moment of silence for some Hungarians who lost their lives in a mining accident, the 1986 session carried on with business as usual—seemingly oblivious to the tumultuous and tragic events of thirty years ago which resulted in the deaths and emigration of thousands. EmbOffs who visited those sites which featured prominently in the 1956 revolt plus the traditional gathering places for expressions of nationalist sentiment noted little out of the ordinary other than a discreet but clearly heightened police presence, including some uniformed but mostly plainclothed officers.

3. On the Pest bank of the Danube, there was no unusual activity at Petofi Square—one of the usual gathering places of students every March 15 during celebrations commemorating the aborted revolt against the Hapsburgs in 1848. An EmbOff who visited nearby Eotvos Lorand University noted several vans of security forces parked along Regi Posta Utca, adjacent to the square.

4. EmbOffs who drove around the heavily industrialized island of Csepel, where workers took up arms against the authorities three decades ago, noticed nothing out of the ordinary: shoppers were going about their chores, children were playing or on their way from school and factories were busy as usual.

5. Except for the occasional discreetly beefed up security measures, sites which U.S. and UK EmbOffs visited throughout the city including party headquarters, parliament, Bem square, and the Hungarian radio station all appeared normal (UK EmbOffs reported an unusually large number of police vans parked in front of Budapest’s district five headquarters around the corner from their Embassy.) Occasionally there was some indication that October 23 is a special day; a few flowers and one small wreath decorated the eternal light at Count Batthyany’s Memorial along Bathori Utca.

6. EmbOffs who sought to visit the site which is popularly believed to be the grave of former Prime Minister Imre Nagy (who was executed in 1958)³ noted approximately seven policemen at the cemetery’s main entrance (during separate trip, DATT noticed some very alert uniformed policemen at the front gate in addition to three members of the workers militia plus plainsclothes-men. A police car was parked in the main lot; police are not normally there). As EmbOffs traveling in a car with diplomatic plates approached Nagy’s unmarked gravesite at the end of a muddy lane, several men emerged from an official vehicle and stood defiantly, arms folded, in front of the Embassy car until it turned around and left (no words were exchanged). The same official vehicle was seen apparently patrolling the area both before and after confrontation with EmbOffs. Nevertheless, several journalists reported that they had no problem visiting the same gravesite on October 22 and several hours before EmbOff’s attempted visit on October 23.

7. In course of DATT travel elsewhere in the city, he noted that the Budapest guard barracks had at least one squad of troops equipped with gas masks and armed with automatic weapons. Nearby, in each of five blue civilian trucks sat approximately 12 soldiers. DATT also observed that although fewer police cars were on the streets, each had four occupants whereas the normal number is two. Some had two policemen and two soldiers—an unusual combination in the capital city. DATT also noticed more military cars and jeeps than usual.

8. The heightened Hungarian security preparations reflected other indications of official nervousness as displayed by the authorities in past weeks. Recently the police advised the Embassy that no permits had been issued for gatherings on October 23 and that force will be used if necessary to break up illegal demonstrations. A number of dissidents reported that they received direct or indirect threats of expulsion from Budapest plus other administrative sanctions should they elect to hold public gatherings on October 23. Unlike last year during the CSCE cultural forum, even private gatherings have reportedly been discouraged. On October 22, Inconnu co-founder Tomas Molnar and Peter Bokros informed Pol Chief that they were warned not to repeat last year’s commemorative activity honoring the failed 1956 revolution (see ref). According to another source, the police successfully used the threat of withdrawing a passport to persuade one dissident to deny use of his apartment for a special meeting of the Flying University to discuss the 1956 events. A source in a socialist embassy claims that other dissidents, including Laszlo Rajk, received additional warnings and restrictions concerning their whereabouts on October 23. Despite nervousness by the authorities, special issues of the samizdat “Beszelo” and “Demokrata” devoted to 1956 are already in circulation.

9. Comment: Other than the wealth of radio, TV and newspaper attention devoted to the 1956 events plus the increased security presence, the authorities tried to treat October 23 as just another business day. They probably feared a repetition of the clashes with demonstrators as occurred last March 15.3 If the semblance of “normal” activity and ostensive full control over would-be dissenters was the GOH’s primary goal, in at least a superficial sense the authorities pretty much succeeded.

Salgo

1. Source: Department of State, Official Correspondence of Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead, July 1982–January 1989, Lot 89 D 139, JCW’s Eastern Europe Trip 11/9–16/86. Limited Official Use; Priority. Sent for information to Belgrade, East Berlin, Bucharest, Moscow, Munich, Prague, Sofia, Vienna, Warsaw, Geneva, and the mission to NATO. “Oct 25 1986 J.C.W. has seen” is stamped on the telegram.
2. The telegram number is incorrect and the correct one was not identified.
3. Paula Dobriansky’s files contain A paper describing the demonstrations, entitled “Police Actions Against Opposition Groups in Hungary, March 11–15, 1986.” (Reagan Library, Paula J. Dobriansky Files, Hungary 1986 (1))