Hungarian Ambassador to Croatia, Csaba Demcsák, recalled that on 23 October 66 years ago the Hungarian people rose against the tyranny of communism.
That was a fight for freedom which, unfortunately, was suppressed using Soviet tanks, said Demcsák, adding that a quarter of a million of Hungarian citizens had then been forced to flee the country.
Several thousands of them found safety in Croatia, and many stayed in Osijek, said the Hungarian ambassador, recalling that the insurgents cut out the communist symbol from the centre of the official Hungarian flag, and such flag with cut-out hole became the symbol of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
In Hungary, the 1956 revolution is observed as a national holiday, said the executive president of the Democratic Union of Hungarians of Croatia, Oliver Matijević, adding that Hungarians in Croatia also remember all the students and other young people that rose against the Soviet dictatorship and communism 66 years ago.
They wanted a free and democratic country that would be based on all the rights and freedoms, which belonged to all the people of that time just as they do today, he said, adding that the revolution was important to Hungarian because it was the beginning of the transition that led to freedom.
According to him, Hungarians in Croatia also remember the revolution as many of them, fleeing from the Soviets, also found refuge in Osijek.