The Croatian President will arrive in Hungary on Sunday evening. Apart from Mesic, the ceremony, hosted by Hungarian President Laszlo Solyom and Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany, is expected to be attended the presidents of Austra, Belgium, The Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Switzerland, the king of Spain, the grand duke of Luxembourg, the European Commission president, the NATO secretary general and several prime ministers and foreign ministers.
The central ceremony will be held on Monday. The officials are expected to adopt a declaration of freedom.
The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the authoritarian communist government of Hungary and its Soviet-imposed policies, lasting from October 23 until November 10 of 1956. It began as a student demonstration which attracted thousands as it marched through central Budapest to the Parliament building.
The revolt spread quickly across Hungary, and the government fell.
After announcing a willingness to negotiate a withdrawal of Soviet forces, the Politburo changed its mind and moved to quash the revolution. On November 4, a large Soviet force invaded Budapest, killing thousands of civilians. Organised resistance ceased by November 10, and mass arrests began. An estimated 200,000 Hungarians fled as refugees. By January 1957 the new Soviet-installed government had suppressed all public opposition. Soviet actions alienated many Western Marxists, yet strengthened Soviet control over Eastern Europe, cultivating the perception that communism was both irreversible and monolithic.
Public discussion about this revolution was suppressed in Hungary for over 30 years. Today, October 23 is a Hungarian national holiday.