Hungary’s permanent mission to the United Nations hosted the closing event of the 60th Anniversary Memorial Year of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution in New York on Tuesday.
The event included the presentation of a newly published book entitled “A Cry for Freedom: Reflections on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution at the UN and Beyond”, a collection of essays and studies about Hungary’s crushed antiSoviet revolution. Ambassador Katalin Bogyay, Permanent Representative of Hungary to the UN, told MTI that the event was attended by ambassadors, UN staff members, as well as important personalities of New York’s cultural and public life. “It was most uplifting when it was mentioned that Hungary had been the first to commemorate former Danish diplomat Povl BangJensen, who had not been officially commemorated by the UN since his death in 1959,”
Bogyay told MTI. Bang-Jensen refused to hand over a list of witnesses to the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 to his UN superiors, fearing that the list could be leaked and the witnesses’ families persecuted in Hungary. On the day the UN General Assembly was due to hear a report on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, he was found dead of a gunshot in New York with a suicide note in his pocket. Tuesday’s event was attended by his son Per Bang-Jensen, who was awarded a bronze statue, showing the symbol of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution: a Hungarian flag with a hole, designed by French-Israeli artist Hedva Ser. Bogyay said the memorial year had had a very positive outcome, and its programme had included several panel discussions with renowned Hungarian and international experts. Files previously kept closed at the UN and Columbia University have been opened and the digitalisation of accessible documents has been completed. She added that the first gala concert hosted by Hungary at the UN palace was held on October 24, 1956.
via: hungarymatters.hu
photos: hirado.hu; magyarforradalom1956.hu