Theologian, sociologist. 1946–1950: head of a youth movement. 1956: director in a factory, member of the Central Workers’ Council of Budapest, sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment.

Legal adviser. 1956: member of a factory workers’ council and of a local revolutionary committee, sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment.

Photographer. He opened a studio in Király utca in 1954. During the '56 Revolution he toured the Budapest streets taking photographs for Western newspapers. He defected in 1957. After short periods in Vienna and Germany, he left for the United States in 1959, where he worked mainly in laboratories, before repatriating in 2002.

Driver. Son of József Andi who took part in the Revolution as a freedom fighter and was executed in 1958.

Lawyer, sociologist, university professor. Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. 1956: active in the Revolutionary Committee of Hungarian Intellectuals, 1957: sentenced to 5 months’ imprisonment, 1984-: Head of Sociology Department, 1991-: Rector at the Budapest University of Economic Sciences.

Economist. Angyal was born in France, his family moved to Hungary after WWII. Between 1966 and 1989 he worked for Ganz Danubius Dockyard, where he was executive director since 1982. He was university professor at Budapest University of Economics (later Corvinus University) since 1991. In 1989 he was party secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party in the 1th district of Budapest, and became member of the Central Financial Controlling Board of the party.

Toolmaker. 1955–6: member of Petőfi Circle. Head of Kispest national guard in 1956. Left country in December and settled in Melbourne, Australia. Returned with his family in 2001.

Electrical engineer. 1956: worked for the Revolutionary Radio of the Town of Székesfehérvár.

Teacher, journalist.

Teacher, economist. 1932–1949: Clerk at the National Bank of Hungary, 1949-: senior clerk at the Ministry of Finance, 1954–1975: Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade.

Musician. He worked as skilled worker until he was employed as a pianist in the catering industry in the second part of the 1960s. He recited solo as well as in different groups. He played the piano in the restaurant Kispipa as successor to Rezső Seres. He works also as taxi driver and as a trainer for a driving school.

Conductor. He took part in the siege of the building of the Hungarian Radio. He was deputy chairman of the workers' council at BESZKÁRT during the revolution. In 1958 he was condemned to 8 year imprisonment.

China decorator, employee at the embassy in Sofia of the Hungarian Republic. His father Sándor Bali (1923-1982), a toolmaker, was chairman of the Budapest Communication Engineering Factory in 1956 and also one of the leaders of the Central Workers' Council of Budapest. He was condemned to twelve year imprisonment in the course of the political reprisals.

Horticulturist. He was landowner until 1948 having estates at Gyöngyös and Gyöngyöshalmaj. In 1942 he was brought to labour service, in 1944 was brought forcibly to the extermination camps of Mauthausen and later of Gunskirchen. In 1948 he was classified as "kulak". He moved to Budapest. He worked as agronomist of the State Farms of Mány since 1953. In 1959 he became chief gardener at the Central Offices of the State Farms of Fejér County. In 1964 he was employed as assessor of the State Insurance Company.

Lawyer, politician. During the political transition he was an expert, later one of the leaders of the Indipendent Smallholders' Party. 1997-2000: MP, leader of his party's fraction in the parliament. In the course of the inner-party conflicts he expelled from the party the president József Torgyán. He failed to found a new political party. He left the public life and returned to be a solicitor.

Journalist, smallholders’ politician. 1949: People’s Judge in the Rajk Trial, 1948-: President, Hungarian Radio, 1950–1980: General Director, Hungarian News Agency. 1953–1975: and 1978–1989: Member, Presidential Council of Hungary, 1949–1990: MP.

Ceramist, jewellery designer. 1934–1944: member, Group of Socialist Artists, 1944: active in the anti-fascist underground.

Shoemaker. Her father was a member of the National Guard in 1956, and was executed in 1957.

Technician, pre-1945 illegal communist. 1933–1934: political prisoner, then in exile in France and the UK with her husband, Endre Havas, pre-1945 illegal communist, writer, 1950: arrested, 1953: died in prison.

Chemical engineer. 1956: chairman of a factory workers’ council, sentenced to 21 years’ imprisonment.

Modeller. He was founding member and dancer of Bihari Folk Dance Group. In 1956 He took part in the fightings at the building of the Hungarian Radio and in Corvin Circle. He left Hungary but he returned after he had past one year in Belgium. He left Hungary again in 1980 and settled in West-Germany. He moved back to Hungary after the political transition of 1989.

Army officer. 1956: Deputy Commander, National Guard of the Town of Miskolc, 1957: dismissed from the army.

Poet, editor. 1956: member of the National Committee of the Town of Miskolc, 1958: sentenced to 21 years’ imprisonment.

Economist, university professor, politician. He studied at Károly Marx University of Economics, at László Rajk College. Between 1975 and 1990 he worked for the Institute of Economy Planning. In 1989 he took part in the National Roundtable Talks and was among the authors of the economic plan of the Hungarian Democratic Forum. He was Minister of Industry and Trade in 1990-1991. Between 1991 and 1994 was Governor of the Hungarian National Bank. 

Army officer. 1956: Deputy Commander, National Guard of the Town of Debrecen, 1957: sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment.

Turner. 1956: Chairman, Workers’ Council of Dimávag Wagon and Machine Works and Deputy Chairman, Workers’ Council of Borsod County, 1958: sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment.

Literary historian, translator. He worked for the Institute of Literature of the Hungarian Academic of Sciences. He specialized in the comparative studies of Eastern European literatures. He is the founding father in Hungary of the Baltic studies. In 1968-69 he participated in the preliminary works of the issuing of a new periodical which was prohibited. He was silenced for five years and was considered among those critical to the party. He took part in the editing of the samizdat Máshonnan Beszélő. He was editor of the literary periodical 2000.

Engineer. 1956: chairman of a factory workers’ council, sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment.

Forestry engineer, teacher. 1953–1966: Head of Department, Forestry Planning Bureau.

Architect, university professor. 1982-: Chairman, Hungarian Architects’ Association.

Engineer. 1956: freedom fighter in the Revolution, left Hungary. 1957: settled in UK, later in New-Zeland.

Mathematician. He began his career as a philosopher, then became translator and editor of the Marx and Lenin series published by Szikra. From the 1970s until retirement, he worked as a mathematician at the SZTAKI Computer and Automation Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.

Puppet designer and scenist. She worked as an actress first for the Art Theatre in Budapest, then for the State Theatre in Győr. Between 1951 and 1968 she was the designer of several, popular performances of the State Puppet Theatre in Budapest. She created shows both for adults and children. The puppets Mazsola (Raisin), a piggy, and Misi mókus (Squirrel Mike) are among her most famous creatures.

Army officer, printer. 1956: freedom fighter in the Revolution, 1957: sentenced to life imprisonment. Freed in 1970.

Economist. 1951–1967: worked at the Central Statistical Office. 1974-: Deputy Chairman, National Bank of Hungary.

Mechanic. 1956: Commander, National Guard of Berettyóújfalu Village, 1957: sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment.

Peasant, salesman. 1956: one of the leaders of the Revolutionary Committee of Berettyóújfalu Village. 1958: sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment.

Forester. 1956: freedom fighter in the Revolution, November 1956-: left Hungary, 1957: enlisted by the English Intelligence Service to return to Hungary, 1958: sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment.

Writer, poet and translator. He went to work in the Museum of the Labour Movement in 1967, but in 1968, he was arrested for conspiracy against the state, as a member of a Maoist group, banned from publication, and dismissed from his job. He became a freelance translator. In the 1970s he belonged to the Hungarian democratic opposition.

Journalist, unskilled worker. 1956: member of the Revolutionary Committee of Csepel (an industrial district of Budapest). He left Hungary after the revolution and settled in the USA. 

Party worker. 1945-1956: Party Secretary, Győr- Sopron and Szolnok Counties, later factory manager. He talks about the Hungarian Revolution and Attila Szigethy, one of the leaders of the revolution in the city of Győr.

Mechanical engineer. 1947-1949: political prisoner.

Mechanic. 1951–1955: army officer. 1956: chairman of a factory workers’ council, 1957: arrested.

Shopkeeper. poet. 1944–1945: worked for the Provisional National Government, 1956: active in the Writers’ Union.

Lawyer. 1956: Member of the National Workers’ Council of Baranya County.

Transylvanian, ethnographer, musicologist, teacher. 1944: settled in Hungary.

Economist. 1951–1953: interned in the Recsk Labour Camp, 1956: one of the leaders of the National Committee of Székesfehérvár and of Vörösmarty Radio, sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.

Transylvanian, mechanic engineer. 1956: one of the organizers of a student demonstration in Romania, sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment. Deputy Chairman, Council of Temes County.

Teacher, physicist. 1956: member of the National Council, Town of Mosonmagyaróvár, sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment.

Acrobat, teacher. 1956: eye-witness of the Hungarian Revolution, settled in Germany.

Journalist, editor. 1940–1944: member of the anti-fascist underground, 1950–1953: interned in the Recsk Labour Camp, 1956: worked for the newspaper Magyar Függetlenség, 1957: settled in Canada.

Lawyer, clerk. 1956: initiated moves to help political prisoners to escape, 1958: sentenced to life imprisonment.

Transylvanian, psychologist. Pre-1945 illegal communist, 1986: settled in Hungary.

Publicist, editor. 1962–1989: worked for the weekly Élet és Irodalom.

Legal adviser. 1956: initiator and organizer of the Revolutionary Radio of the Town of Szolnok, sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment.

Historian and journalist. He was imprisoned in 1932–3 for illegal communist activity. He worked with the poet Attila József as founder editor of Szép Szó, and on the staff of Szocializmus and the Social Democratic paper Népszava. In 1938, he was charged with incitement for one of his pieces, but fled to France. Fejtő worked in 1944–7 and 1950–74 as an East European commentator for the French news agency AFP. In 1947–9, he headed the press bureau at the Hungarian Embassy in Paris.

Army officer, engineer, lecturer. 1956: Deputy Chairman, Workers’ Council of Borsod County, sentenced to 1 year’ imprisonment.

Nóra Vratarics Mrs. Jákó recollects his husband Ferenc Jakó's and her personal experience in the 1989 Roumanian revolution when they organized and carried medicine and food transports to various towns in Transylvania. 

Critic and literary historian, was deputy editor-in-chief, 1981-83 editor-in-chief of the periodical Mozgó Világ (Moving World). In 1983 he was dismissed for political reasons. In 1987 was present at the meeting in Lakitelek.

Physician. 1956: took part in rescuing of the wounded, left Hungary.

Architect, social democratic politician. 1956: Minister of State in the 2^nd Imre Nagy Government.

Writer, librarian, literature critic. As a secondary school student he was member of the Youth Committee of Győr in 1956. He worked for the National Széchényi Library. 

Stage manager. His father, Gábor Földes (1923–1958), director, one of the leaders of the revolution in the town of Gyor, was condemned to death and executed in 1957.

Lawyer. 1956–1958: solicitor of István Angyal who was executed for his activities in the Revolution.

Engineer. He left Hungary with his wife in 1984 and then left Italy for Australia at the end of that year. He worked in Malaysia in 1992–2001 and now lives in Sydney, working as a structural engineer.

Army officer, worker. 1956: one of the leaders of the Socialist Revolutionary Committee, Town of Debrecen, 1957: sentenced to life, then 4 years’ imprisonment.

Librarian and sociologist. He dealt with the sociology of reading, education, the arts, religion and libraries, at the Centre for Library Studies and Methodology of the National Széchényi Library in Budapest, and then at the László Teleki Foundation. Since 1998, he has been a senior lecturer in the Sociology Institute of the Arts Faculty of the Péter Pázmány Catholic University.

Librarian. He worked for the Hungarian Railways where he was HR assistant, director of the cultural centre of the railways in Szombathely. 1968-1978 head of the cultural department of the Council of Vas County, then he worked for the Pedagogical Institute of Szombathely

Military historian. 1956: Fought at the Kilián Barracks against the Soviets. Emigrated to Switzerland. Author of several works on World War II and 1956.

Teacher, farmer. 1946–1948: leader of the Social Democratic Youth Movement, 1950–1955: political prisoner, 1956: Chairman, Workers’ Council of Heves County, sentenced to life imprisonment.

Accountant. Daughter of Lajos Gulyás, member of the National Committee, Town of Mosonmagyaróvár, who was executed in 1957.

Librarian. Pál Maléter's widow. After the arrest of her husband in 1956 she was dismissed, she was employes as unskilled worker for years. She was librarian of the Museum of Medical History since 1985, then librarian of the 1956 Institute since 1990. She was founding member of the Committee for Historical Justice which fought for the rehabilitation and reburial of the martyrs of the 1956 revolution.

She comes from the Hadik and Bissingen-Nippenburg families. She left Hungary with her parents in 1948 and settled with them in Paris. She lived on temporary jobs. She was assistant to Daisy Károlyi in her dressmaker salon. In 1955 she married Jean Louis Lassus and had six children.

Painter. He taught painting and graphics at the College of Fine Arts in Budapest in 1972-6. In 1976, he was one of the organizers of the Fluxus alternative group based at the Rózsa coffee bar. In 1975-9, he contributed to avant-garde art exhibitions. He left the country in 1976, settling in Paris and then New York. In 1983-7, he exhibition in the East Village galleries. He has regularly contributed to Hungarian exhibitions since 1990.

Theatre director. He was a member of the Universitas company in 1962-8 before setting up Kassák House Studio in 1969. The latter was banned on political grounds in 1972, after which he confined himself to given lectures in his home. In 1976, some of the company left for France and later settled in the United States, where he, István Bálint and other members set up the Squat Theater. Halász left the company in 1985 to set up the Love Theater.

Technician. Arrested by Soviet soldiers in Budapest in 1945, he was taken to the Soviet Union. On his return in 1947, he fled to Austria, where he recounted his experiences to a journalist. This prompted the Soviet authorities to rearrest him, and he was sentenced to twenty years’ hard labour on charges of espionage. He spent time in Siberian labour camps in Tayset and in a Moscow prison before returning home in 1955.

Sculptor. A fitter's apprentice in 1951-3, he became a decorative locksmith in that year. He taught technical studies at an industrial school in 1957-63, also teaching at the Huber Dési Fine Arts Circle in 1960–70. From 1967 to 1989, he was an interior designer for the South Pest Catering Enterprise. He took part in exhibitions in the Boglárlelle chapel in 1970-72 and became a set designer for the Gergely Csiky Theatre in Kaposvár in 1975-6.

Waitress. 1956: freedom fighter.

Geodesist, university professor. 1964–1967: Rector of Technical University of Budapest.

Politician, sociologist. 1953-1955 deputy prime minister, then prime minister until 24 October 1956. He signed the request for Soviet military intervention on 24 October 1956 and handed the leadership of the government to Imre Nagy.

Editor. 1956: took part in rescuing of the wounded in a hospital during the Revolution, member of the post-revolutionary underground. 1959: sentenced to life imprisonment.

politician, agronomist and bookkeeper. He became a member of the National Peasant Party in 1939. In 1954, he became a member of the Patriotic People’s Front and in 1966 a county secretary of it. He was on Borsod County Council from 1953 to 1958 and from 1971 to 1980, member of Parliament for districts of Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County.

Foreman, army officer. 3 November 1956: member of the Military Delegation which negotiated with Soviet military leaders brought forcibly to the Soviet Union.

Film director. He studied at Péter Pázmány University in Budapest in 1945–9 as a science undergraduate while simultaneously studied at the Viktor Gertler film school, which became part of the College of Drama and Cinematic Art, where he graduated as a director in 1949. He then studied on a scholarship at the College of Cinematic Art in Moscow until 1951. He began directing short films in 1949 and feature films in 1953.

Sinologist, interpreter, translator, film director. 1956: fought against the Soviets and shot a film about it.

Economist, Universiy Professor. 1964–1983: Vice-President, National Planning Bureau, 1980–1986: Minister of Finance.

Physicist, electrical engineer. 1956: active in the Revolution, 1957: sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment. 1990-: Mayor, Town of Debrecen.

Army officer. 1956: freedom fighter in the Revolution.

Toolmaker. 1956: freedom fighter in the Revolution, 1958: sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment.

Journalist, media expert. He won the first tv quiz looking for newsmen in 1964. He worked for the Hungarian Television between 1969 and 1994. He won a Niemann scholarship to Harvard University, he gave lectures of journalism at Columbia University. He was the chairman of Sport TV. He was ambassador to Cuba of the Hungarian Republic since 2007.

Innkeeper in Pincehely. He worked in pubs of the Co-op of  Consumer Goods, 1983-89: she run a pub.

Director. 1952-57: member of the choir of Honvéd Dance Group. He was in China during the Hungarian revolution with his Group. In 1957 he was employed by the Hungarian Television. He was tv director since 1958, 1994-95: president of the Hungarian Television.

Lawyer. 1956: took part in Veszprém County revolutionary actions, 1957: sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment.

Chemical engineer. While studying at Veszprém University of the Chemical Industry he was held on a conspiracy charge and sentenced on April 4, 1951 to six years' imprisonment. He was sent to Márianosztra and several times taken on convict work. Released on June 12, 1956, he found work in Budapest as a labourer. He joined the street fighting during the revolution and left the country on November 4, soon arriving in Britain, where he took a chemistry degree at Birmingham University.

Mechanic. 1956: chairman of a factory workers’ council and member of the Workers’ Council of Veszprém County.

Architect. Worked with Revolutionary Students’ Committee at Budapest Technical University in autumn 1956. Emigrated to Britain, worked regularly for Irodalmi Újság (Literary News) and other emigré papers, and finally became secretary of Foreign Association of Hungarian Writers. Graduated in economics and international law from London School of Economics. Since 1961 directs Third-World urban-development programmes.

Miner, driver, army officer. 1951–1955: worked in the State Security Office, 1956: Commander, National Guard, Town of Tatabánya, sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment.

He began studying at Veszprém Heavy Industrial University, but feared being caught up in the purges of the early 1950s. He left off his studies and took manual employment, frequently changing jobs. He wanted to defect from Hungary. In spring 1956, he met György Polyák, a former pilot.

Chemical engineer. He worked for the Chemical Trust of Borsod, then for the Institute of Chemical Industry in Veszprém. He left Hungary after the 1956 revolution. He was analytical engineer at EBV in Alsdorf (West-Germany). In 1961 he returned to his family in Hungary. After a short period of occasional works he was again employed as engineer first in a factory of enamals, later at the Borsod Chemical Works. In 1990 was elected vice mayor of Kazincbarcika.

Minister of religion. He was ordained in 1973. A founder member of SZETA (the Support Foundation for the Poor) and the Wallenberg Association, he was a member of Parliament in 1990-94. He was director of the Capital City Social Centre and is now director-general of the John Wesley Theological College in Budapest.

Architect. He worked for the industrial design enterprise IPARTERV, then as a private architect and head of the Doctorate of Liberal Arts programme at the University of Applied Arts, Budapest.

Director of cartoons, graphic, cultural historian, writer and politician. He was chairman of the Committee of the National Fund for Culture.

Polish journalist. 1956: reported from New York about the United Nations General Assembly for the newspaper Zycie Warszawy.

Historian. His field of interest is the Hungarian and international labour movement. He was member of the Socialdemocratic Party. After the 1956 revolution he joined the newly founded communist party. 1958 he was dismissed from the Institute of Party History and moved to the Institute of History of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He was engaged in re-organizing the socialdemocratic movement in the course of the political transition of 1989.

Agricultural engineer. 1956: Deputy Commander of the National Guard, University of Horticulture, Budapest. 1958: dismissed.

Economist and sociologist. A theorist of the inner circle of the democratic opposition, he was placed on a banned list in the early 1970s and unable to publish. In the early 1990s, he took a political role and then joined the teaching staff of the Budapest University of Economic Sciences.

Worker. 1956: freedom fighter in the Revolution, sentenced to life, then to 15 years’ imprisonment.

Foreman. 1956: freedom fighter in the Revolution, sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment.

Medical doctor. 1956: took part in the post-revolutionary underground of intellectuals, sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment.

He was arrested by Soviet forces in December 1944 and brought forcibly to the Soviet Union where he spent 10 years in the Gulags. He returned to Hungary in 1955. He was guide and interpreter since the 1970s.

Technician, POW. 1956: freedom fighter in the Revolution, 1957: sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment.

Doctor of chemistry. She began to work at the Central Chemical Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1972. At present she heads the Neuro-chemical Department at the Bio-molecular Chemical Institute.

poet, translator and journalist. She was dropped from favour after she signed Charter 77 in 1979. An anonymous activist in the democratic opposition, unemployed since the change of system, apart from a four-year period in local government.

Engineer, politician. 1990–1994 MP of Hungarian Democratic Forum, of the Alliance of Young Democrats, and as indipendent. 1998–2000: Minister of Trafic and Communication. Between 2000 and 2002 chief executive of the Hungarian Electrical Works.  

Panel-beater. Deported from Békásmegyer to Billigheim, West Germany, in 1946 because of his family’s Swabian (Hungarian-German) origins. Labourer in a local brickworks. From 1960, panel-beater at NSU motor-cycle factory and later Audi car factory, becoming foreman in 1964. Regained Hungarian citizenship in 2000 and spends most of year in Hungary.

Engineer, inventor. 1956: took part in the students’ revolutionary movement.

Journalist, political scientist, university professor. 1947–1955: worked for the newspaper Szabad Nép, 1956: edited the newspaper Magyar Szabadság and an underground newspaper Október Huszonharmadika, 1957: settled in Paris, one of the founders, Imre Nagy Institute of Brussels.

Architect, politician. Son of the lawyer and politician Sándor Keresztes who was one of the founders of the Democratic People's Party in 1944 and of the Christian Democratic People's Party in 1989, MP between 1994 and 1998, 1990-1994 ambassador in Vatican City of the Republic of Hungary.

Physician. He was elected chairman of the Militray Committee at his corps in Hódmezővásárhely during the 1956 revolution. In 1957 he was condemned to seven year imprisonment. He worked as general practitioner later. He was founding member of the Committee for Historical Justice and of the Alliance of Free Democrats. 

Roofer. 1956: freedom fighter in the Hungarian Revolution, 1957: sentenced to 7 years’ then to 5 years’ imprisonment.

Lawyer, public administration expert, civil servant.

Engineer. 1956: Chairman, Workers’ Council of Borsod County, 1958: sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.

Lawyer. 1956: Founder member of the student organization MEFESZ in Szeged. 1957: Arrested. 1959: Sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment. 1990-94: Deputy mayor of Balassagyarmat. 1996-99: Adviser to the prime minister.

Engineer. 1956: Deputy Chairman, Revolutionary Council of Szolnok County, sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment.

Shoemaker. He founded and led the Jazz Club in Szombathely. He was characteristic member of the hippy gang in the 1970s.

Sociologist. One of the broader circle of supporters of the democratic opposition and staff member of the Cooperative Research Institute.

and Kolompár, Erzsébet (b. 1957). Daughters of Mátyás Kolompár who was executed in 1957 for his activities in the Hungarian Revolution.

Photographer. Has exhibited photos regularly with Gyula Lőrinczy and Zoltán Nagy since mid-1960s. Was a member of Muskátli Gallery group of avant-garde artists. Left country in 1967 and lived in France, Switzerland and West Germany, spending several years in a commune. Abandoned photography for esoteric subjects and astronomy.

Actress and writer. She joined Universitas in 1967 and worked for Kassák House Studio in 1969-76. She then joined the Apartment Theatre and emigrated with the company to Paris in 1976. She moved to New York in 1977, and repatriated in 2002.

Teacher, writer. 1956: worked for the newspaper Magyar Függetlenség, member of a revolutionary committee.

Worker, army officer. 1956: Commander, National Guard of Kispest (a district of Budapest), sentenced to death, then to 15 years’ imprisonment.

Engineer, transactor. His parents moved to the Soviet Union in the 1930s. They were arrested and he lived with her mother in a labour camp until 1945. They returned to Hungary in 1959. He graduated in engineering and worked for the lamp factory Egyesült Izzó (later Tungsram) for decades. 

Sociologist. He took part in the attempts to reform the communist youth movement in the 1970s. He worked for the Kossuth Publishing House. He participated in several underground seminars of the democratic opposition. In 1977 he published a samizdat entitled "Marx in the fourth decade" after which he lost his job. He contributed to the Bibó Memorial Book, signed the Charta petition. After the political transition he became lecturer at Loránd Eötvös University  and at the Central European University. 

Taxi driver. 1956: Joined the József Dudás group. 1957: settled in Australia.

Skilled labourer, economist, translator. Was freedom fighter during the revolution and participated in the political underground after November 4, 1956. In 1957 was sentenced to ten years. Was active in the democratic oppositional movement. 1985–1989: worked for Radio Free Europe and BBC in London.

Philosopher. He taught in the philosophy department of Budapest Technical University from 1974 to 1979, when he was dismissed for his opposition attitude. He taught in Leicester, England, in 1985 and then at the University of Arizona in Tucson, United States, from 1986 to 1989.

Catholic priest, librarian. 1956: took part in the revolutionary movement as a university student, sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Clerk, economist. 1938–1939: editor of the monthly Magyar Fórum. Founder of a Folkrolistic Collection.

Electrician. Father, Lajos Lajtai (1911–1978) headed the workers’ council at the Agricultural Machinery Factory, Mosonmagyaróvár, was sentenced in 1958 to 6 years’ imprisonment and released in 1961.

Engineer IT manager. His family's estates were confiscated after WWII by the new Checzoslovak government. He moved to France in 1948 with his family. They settled in Nice. He graduated at École Nationale des Telecommunications having a scholarship from the Free Europe Committee. In 1956 he returned to Hungary and he joined an armed group of studenst in Sopron. He worked for Thomson since 1957. He was marketing manager at IBM, then IT director at BNP group. In 1992 he was IT consultant for the Hungarian National Bank.

Economist. Daughter of Jeno Landler, the communist politician. 1918–1928: resided in Vienna, 1928–1946: in the Soviet Union, 1949–1971: civil servant. Her husband was executed in the Soviet Union in 1937.

Polish journalist. 1953–1956: Editor of the newspaper Po prostu, he talks about Polish events in connection with the Hungarian Revolution.

Worker. 1956: commander of a fighters’ group in the Revolution, left Hungary.

Könyvtáros, tanár. Az 1956-os Debreceni Szocialista Forradalmi Bizottmány sajtóreferense. 1958-ban egy év börtönbüntetésre ítélték. 1990 óta Hajdúböszörmény polgármestere.

Librarian, teacher. 1956: member of the Socialist Revolutionary Committee, Town of Debrecen, 1958: sentenced to 1 year’ imprisonment.

Turner. 1956: chairman of a factory workers’ council, 1958: sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment.

Writer, editor. He talks about the role of the Writers’ Union during and after the Revolution.

Engineer. 1944: member of the anti-fascist resistance, 1956: member of the Revolutionary Committee of Hungarian Intellectuals, proposed the declaration of the neutrality of Hungary. 1957: settled in Sweden.

Historian of philosophy, university professor. Closely connected with the hard core of the democratic opposition, she took part in several protests, which led to her professional activity being curtailed.

Cameraman. He joined the demonstration of 23 October 1956 in Budapest. In 1959 he prepared fly-sheets, was arrested, and condemned to 3 year imprisonment. In 1974 he graduated from the College of Theatre and Film Arts. He worked for the Hungarian Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio between 1975 and 1994. He is the director of several documentaries on the 1956 revolution.

Economist, teacher of Religion. Daughter of Tamás Lukách.

Mechanic, engineer. 1956: Chairman, Workers’ Council of Ganz-Mávag Machine Works, 1957: sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment.

Literary historian, editor, author. 1949–1951: worked in the Ministry of Culture, as a senior civil servant, 1953: active as a writer in the intellectual opposition. 1956: member of the Revolutionary Committe of Hungarian Intellectuals.

Agricultural worker. Daughter of János Magyar who was executed for having fighted in the Revolution.

Architect. Professor, Technical University of Budapest and Hungarian Academy of Craft and Design.

Army officer, translator. 1956: commander of a university students’ fighter group in the Revolution, 1958: sentenced to life imprisonment.

Musician, composer, music educator. Chairman of the Hungarian Jazz Association. He played in various ensembles like Pomákáné, Nardis, Folk Stop Trio, Fúzió, Claudia Rath's band, Equinox.

Journalist. 1956: worked for the newspapers Igazság and Egyetemi Ifjúság, settled in London, later lived in Paris and worked for the bimonthly Magyar Műhely, 1994: returned to Hungary.

Worker. 1956: freedom fighter, member of the National Guard, later took part in the post-revolutionary political underground, sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment.

Librarian, editor. Publicity worker, then editor at the literary publishers Szépirodalmi Kiadó. Since 1995, she has been director of the publishing firm Kortárs Könyvkiadó.

Journalist, writer, politician. He lives in Novi Sad (Újvidék, Serbia). He joined the Democratic Community of Hungarians in Vojvodina. He has studied the slaughter of Hungarians in Yugoslavia in 1944-1945.

Sculptor. His father János Melocco was executed in 1951. He took part in the demonstration of students of 23 October 1956. He was wounded in a firefight in Kálvin square.

Worker, Politician. 1945: Mayor of the Town of Debrecen, 1956: Chairman, City Council of Debrecen, then Head of Department, Ministry of the Interior.

Phyisician. She and her family requested political asylum in Austria in 1986 and emigrated to Australia in 1987. She is a general practitioner in Sydney.

Worker. 1956: freedom fighter in the Revolution, active in the post-revolutionary underground, 1962: sentenced to 31 years’ imprisonment.

Physician. 1956: Chairman, Workers’ Council of the Péterfy Sándor Street Hospital, left Hungary.

Miner. 1956: freedom fighter in the Revolution, sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment.

Teacher. Son of Zoltán Molnár (1920–2009) who was the secretary of the Hungarian Writers' Association in 1956.

Writer, journalist, party worker. 1956: one of the secretaries of the Writers’ Union, 1957: sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment.

Polish Economist, journalist. 1956–1960: member of the Central Committee of the Polish Communist Party, 1957–1960: Secretary, Polish Communist Party.

Photographer. She contracted a marriage of convenience in 1974 with a UK citizen so that she could leave Hungary legally. She has lived in Sydney, Australia, since 1975 and runs a garment business.

Polish General. 1956: Commander, State Security Corps of the Polish Army, 1964–1967: Polish Military Attaché in Budapest.

Sociologist, expert of reading habits. He worked for the Széchényi National Library,  led the Department of Reading Habits since 1986. He was lecturer at the Teacher Training College of ELTE between 1978 and 1988, later of the Faculty of Arts, Loránd Eötvös University. 

Sociologist, university professor. He was elected chairman of the national committee in Erdősmecske on 29 October 1956. He left Hungary in November 1956 and settled in the USA. He taught at Middlesex County College since 1970.

Worker, craftsman. 1954–1955: political prisoner, 1956: Chairman, National Committee of Levél Village, 1967 : settled in the USA.

Transylvanian, engineer. 1956: as a university student sentenced to 1 year’ imprisonment on charges related to the Hungarian Revolution.

Chemical technician. 1956: member of the National Guard, then active in the post-revolutionary underground, sentenced to 6 years’ imprisonment.

Psychoanalyst, specialist writer. Having graduated in psychology, philosophy and sociology at the Loránd Eötvös University of Sciences in Budapest, she joined the staff of the Institute of Education Studies, and after her dismissal from there, became an unskilled textile worker. In 1956 she became an official in the Ministry of Education, and then in 1958 a secondary school teacher. She was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in the Mérei Trial in 1959.

Transactor. Took part in the Spanish Civil War and in the anti-fascist resistance. 1949–1952: political prisoner, 1956: freedom fighter in the Revolution.

Journalist. She became active in the Social Democratic Party in 1937, and was deported to Auschwitz in June 1944. In 1945, she became a department head of the Debrecen organization of the Hungarian Communist Party, and in 1952 head of the Agitation and Propaganda Department of Kecskemét Town Party Committee. She went to work at the Budapest party centre in 1955.

Technical instructor. He worked in several engineering works as a skilled worker and later as an instructor. At present he is a machine-tool calibrator. He also worked in the 1960s as a waiter at the Csili Restaurant in the Pesterzsébet Vasas House of Culture. As a young man, he was a certified soccer player with the ESMTK team.

After completing secondary school, he taught himself to paint and then became in the 1970s an editor of the samizdat publication Családunk (Our Family), which brought frequent harassment by the police. In 1971 his father (the physician and nature healer Dr Andor Oláh) and his family were charged with conspiracy against the state and then ordered by the court to be kept under psychological observation and given treatment.

Benedictine monk and teacher. He taught in Budapest after the war but was arrested in 1946 and sentenced to ten years as a prisoner of war by a Soviet military court. He returned home at the end of 1955 and then worked at a sawmill and in the laundries of Budapest hospitals.

Milling machine operator. He defected to Austria in 1956 and then emigrated to Australia in 1957. He lives in Sydney as a retired taxi driver.

Psychologist. He was active in the organization of demonstrations on 23 October 1956, joined the Natioanal Guard, and worked for the daily Népszava during the revolution. He left Hungary and settled in London. He studied in Oxford and at the University College London. He was trained in psychoanalysis and worked as therapist. In 2005 he became the editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Psychotherapy. In 2000 he returned to Hungary.

Mechanic, technician. 1939–1948: active in the Social Democratic Party.

Policeman. 1956: Prevented the police from firing on a crowd in Kecskemét on October 26. 1957: Dismissed and sentenced to two-and-a-half years’ imprisonment. Released in 1959, then factory worker.

Veterinarian in Romania. 1956: one of the organizers of a demonstration in Timisoura (Temesvár, Romania), sentenced to 2 years’ imprisonment, then confined to Latesti.

Medical doctor. 1956: worked at the Péterfy Sándor Street Hospital during the Revolution. Eye-witness of the revolutionary events, took part in the woman’s demonstration on 4 December.

Lawyer. 1945–8: Soviet prisoner of war. 1956: Injured in the firing in Kossuth tér, outside Parliament, on October 25. 1957: Spoke out publicly against Soviet occupation. 1961: sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. Continued his opposition political activities after his release in 1971. Denied employment.

Systems analyst and consultant. Prevented from completing secondary schooling by his class background, he avoided deportation in the summer of 1951 by taking a job in Kazincbarcika as a surveyor's assistant. He later worked on railway construction in Sajószöged. Meanwhile his mother, Julianna Apponyi, was arrested at Christmas 1951, interned, and early in 1953 deported under strict supervision.

Transylvanian, building technician. 1956: sympathized with the Hungarian Revolution, took part in an anti-state conspiracy, 1961: sentenced to 15 years’ penal servitude.

Technician. 1956: member of the Workers’ Council of Borsod County, sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment.

Chef, trainer of cooking. He worked for Hotel Royal, Hotel Annabella in Balatonfüred in the 1960s, later in the Netherlands and in the USA. After returning home he was chief cook in the Gundel restaurant. In the 1980 he visited with Hungarian official delegations several foreign countries and cooked for hunting parties of communist politicians. 

Mechanical engineer, teacher. His father József Pelcz Sr. was chairman of the revolutionary committee elected at the Directorate of the Hungarian Railways in 1956. Pelcz Jr. worked in East-German cities and worked on the contruction of the nuclear bases in Griefswald and Paks. 1971-1994: work for a mechanical factory. Technological manager of R&M since 1995.

Competitive sportsman. He defected to Austria in 1981, from where he emigrated to Australia. He lives in Sydney and runs a riding school.

Journalist. Worked for and edited several newspapers, 1967–1971 and 1975–1980: MP.

Skilled labourer. In 1956, like his elder brothers, fought in a freedom fighters´ group in Ráday street.

Worker, warden. In 1956, fought in a freedom fighters´ group headed by his brother in Ráday street and joined the Revolutionary Youth Association.

Army officer and works economist. He entered the Ludovika Academy in 1942 and was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1944, earlier than usual because of the war. He was taken prisoner of war by the British and was allowed home in 1946. However, he was dismissed from the army, based on the "B" list. He entered the University of Economics and continued his studies in 1948 at the Péter Pázmány University. Meanwhile he worked as a barman, obtaining a catering certificate in 1948.

Typographer, tradesman, manager. He was active member of Inconnu, an underground group of arts. 

Waitress. She was arrested by the Soviet forces in September 1945 and brought forcibly to the Soviet Union where she spent eight and a half years in various labour camps. She features in Hungarian Women in the Gulag, a film directed by Sándor Sára.

Railwayman. 1956: Chairman, Workers’ Council of Záhony Railway Station, 1957: interned then sentenced to 7 months’ imprisonment.

Chemist. 1956: one of the leaders of the Petofi Circle, organized the treatment of the wounded during the Revolution, left Hungary.

Architect, town planner, university professor. 1951–1975: Head of the Planning Office of the City of Budapest.

Lawyer. he worked as an agricultural cooperative legal adviser in 1962-7. In 1974, he became an assistant lecturer in the Faculty of State and Legal Studies at Pécs University. In 1977 to 1990, he was a senior researcher at the Trade Union Research Institute. He started to teach in the Faculty of State and Legal Studies of Miskolc University in 1988 and was appointed a professor there in 1991. Since 1995, he has taught also in the law department of Lajos Kossuth University.

Mechanic. 1956: as a soldier took part in a battle against the Soviet Army, 1958: sentenced to death, then life imprisonment. Freed in 1970.

Site manager. 1956: Chaired the workers’ council at Kecskemét Cannery and joined town revolutionary committee. Arrested in 1957, sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment in 1958.

Sculpture. She graduated from the College of Arts in 1962. She was eyewitness of the revolution in her college. She made an attempt of leaving Hungary in January 1957, but she was arrested. 

Építész. A harmincas években a Modern Építészet Nemzetközi Kongresszusa (CIAM), magyar csoportjának tagja. Ipari épületek, tanintézetek tervezésével és műemlékek helyreállításával foglalkozott.

Aesthete. He joined the publisher Magvető in 1969, moving as an editor to Gondolat in 1973. He worked as a freelance in 1980-90, becoming co-editor of the literary periodical Holmi in 1989. He became a reader in the Aesthetics Department of Budapest Loránd Eötvös University and then a full professor in 1993.

Architect, architectural historian, university professor. 1945–1967: Head of Department, Technical University of Budapest.

Hairstylist. 1956: freedom fighter in the Revolution, sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment.

Civil engineer, pre-1945 illegal communist, economist. Refugee in Austria and in the Soviet Union, 1946: returned to Hungary, then Director, Textile Factory of Budakalász, later civil servant and researcher.

Specialist for handicapped children. Daughter of László Regéczy-Nagy, army officer, translator. 1956: took part in the post-revolutionary political resistance with István Bibó and Árpád Göncz, 1958: sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment.

Joiner, writer, librarian. 1940s: took part in the anti-fascist resistance in France.

Technical inspector. He obtained a trade certificate as a construction-industry technician in 1956 in Debrecen, while also learning the electrician's trade. He went to work for the Agrober Enterprise, where he was also secretary of the Communist Youth League for a time. He took part in the Debrecen jazz scene in the 1950s and 1960s. At the end of the 1950s he began to work as a lighting engineer at the Csokonai Theatre in Debrecen.

Art historian, journalist. He attended university courses in Wien and in Paris, he graduated from the Faculty of Arts of Loránd Eötvös University. He worked for the Hungarian Pen Club. He was editor of the Hungarian Radio since 1978. 1980-1984: editor-in-chief of the radio program Gondolatjel. 

typist and bookkeeper. He was arrested by the Soviets after World War II for having belonged to the Levente youth movement and sentenced by a Soviet military court in 1946 to 10 years' forced labour and perpetual exile. He served his sentence in 16 labour camps, in one of which, in Kazakhstan, he was with Solzhenitsyn. He was freed under an amnesty in 1953, after Stalin's death, and returned to Hungary.

Cameraman and film director. He graduated from the Budapest College of Theatre and Cinema in 1957 as a cinematographer. He played an important part in the 1960s and 1970s in advancing Hungarian cinema, as a prominent film maker of his generation with a special eye. He made several historical documentaries in the 1980s. In 1993, he began a seven-year term as president of Duna Television.

Journalist, police officer. 1956: member of the Revolutionary Committee, Ministry of the Interior, dismissed.

Journalist, writer, translator. 1956: settled in the UK, worked for the Hungarian Section of BBC and for Radio Free Europe.

Teacher. 1956: member of the Revolutionary Committee of Debrecen University as a university student, sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment.

Bank clerk, pre-1945 illegal communist. Took part in the Spanish Civil War and in the anti-fascist resistance in France, 1945-: party functionary, civil servant. 1953–1970: Deputy Minister of Internal Trade.

Businessman. He was arrested in 1968 on a charge of conspiracy against the state and sentenced to eight months' imprisonment in the Pór trial, for participating in left-wing organization. He was expelled from the University of Economics, where he was a third-year finance student, but a presidential pardon meant that the legal sanctions associated with his sentence were lifted in 1971. He graduated from the Budapest College of Commerce and Catering in 1973.

retoucher. She married Gábor Somlai (qv.) in 1981 and emigrated to Australia along with her child. She lives in Sydney, working as a leatherwork trader.

Waiter. He defected to Italy via Bulgaria in 1970, and emigrated from there to Australia in 1971. He lives in Sydney as a leatherwork trader

Transylvanian, teacher. 1956: one of the leaders of the students’ movement in Temesvár, sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment.

Forester. As a member of the Levente youth movement, he was in the Bakony Brigade in 1945. He was arrested by the Soviet authorities and sentenced to serve ten years in a labour camp. He returned home in 1953.

Teacher. One of the leaders of the illegal communist youth movement in the 1930s, 1945–1949: double agent, 1949–1956: imprisoned, 1956: settled in West Germany.

Peasant. 1956: member of the Revolutionary Committee of Vámospércs Village, 1957: sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment.

Mathematician. On the staff of the SZTAKI Computer and Automation Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, he was dismissed in 1980. He was an activist in the unofficial organization SZETA and a member of the democratic opposition, helping to print and distribute samizdat material. In 1991–9, he worked for publishers Aura and then became manager and co-owner of the Pont bookshop. In 1995–2000 he managed the Mérleg Restaurant. He now manages the “M” Café.

Technical draughtsman, translator and writer. He was in Paris in 1945–8 and has lived in Stockholm since 1956. He graduated as an engineer in Sweden and is a member of the Swedish Writers’ Association.

Clerk. She talks about János Bárány who was executed for being the leader of one of the fighter groups during the Revolution.

Engineer, economist and politician. During the '56 Revolution, he was on the Revolutionary Students Committee of Budapest Technical University and on the board of MEFESZ (the Union of Hungarian University and College Students. Arrested in January 1957, he was released again after two months on remand. He worked in various state-owned enterprises in 1957–85 and then chaired the Engineers and Construction Mechanics Small Cooperative until 1990.

Son (chauffeur), and Szabó, Magda (b. 1956). daughter (tailor), of Lajos Szabó, a freedom fighter in the Hungarian Revolution who was executed in 1959.

Rocker, drummer. He left Hungary and settled with his wife in West-Germany, then in Australia since 1981. He lived again in Hungary in 1986-1987 and 1992-1996.

Diplomat. A member of the illegal Hungarian Communist Party from 1941 onwards, he was vice-president of the Hungarian Democratic Youth Organization (MADISZ) and a staff member of the central communist daily Szabad Nép after 1945. He was then first secretary at the Hungarian Embassy in Berne until 1949, then on the staff of the Foreign Ministry. In 1956, he was appointed Hungarian ambassador in Beijing.

Lawyer, regional development consultant. He worked for the City Council of Budapest since 1979. 1988-90: Secretary of the City Council, 1990-92: City Clerk, 1996-98: Executive Director of the National Land Development Center, 2004-05: President of the Hungarian Regional Development Office.

Engineer. 56: took over the leadership of Dimávag Wagon and Machine Factory during the Revolution, 1958: sentenced to 2 years’ imprisonment.

He started working as an editor for Hungarian Television in 1966 and also made some documentary films of his own. He left the country in 1970, moving first to Italy and then to Sweden, before eventually receiving political asylum in the United States. There he failed to make contact with the film industry, but found work in the offices of the Hungarian-language American paper Népszava.

Medical doctor, anatomist, university professor. 1956: Chairman, Revolutionary Committe of Intellectuels, Town of Pécs. 1976–1985: President, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1985-: MP.

Economist, university professor, 1956: met the Commander of the Corvin Passage Fighter Group as the representative of Budapest University.

After failing several times to get into university, Szervánszky became a labourer and later a freelance journalist, TV editor and disc jockey. He left Hungary in 1979 and took casual work in Paris before receiving political asylum in Sweden. There he was a labourer again, an oil-rig worker in Norway, and then a student of philosophy and sociology at the University of Stockholm. He later settled in Switzerland, working as a hotel porter in Lugano. He repatriated in 1991.

Mathematician, university professor. He has worked at the University of Arizona.

Teacher, jazz music expert. He was waiter at Hotel Gellért and in the Gundel restaurant, later manager in different hotels of Hungarhotels and the Pannónia Company. He organized and led a number of jazz clubs since 1969. He was among the founders of the Hungarian Jazz Association. He taught in music schools.

Sociologist, writer, translator. He has published regularly in the weekly Élet és Irodalom (Life and Literature).

Art historian. He worked for the Ancient Ages Department of the Museum of Fine Arts since 1941. He was elected chairman of the revolutionary committee of the museum in October 1956. He was dismissed and replaced to the Déri Museum of Debrecen. In 1958 he was re-assumed at the Museum of Fine Arts. He was university professor at Loránd Eötvös University. He was secretary general of the Association of Classical Studies and editor of the Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts. 

Film director, screenwriter. He was assistant to Peter Watkins and Miklós Jancsó. He made TV shows and commercials between 1971 and 1980, 1981-90: was the director of movies. Then he was marketing consultant at CIB Bank.

Catholic priest. 1950–1953: interned in the Recsk Labour Camp, 1960: sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment because of his underground religious activities.

Radio technician, engineer. 1956: operated underground radio transmitters, 1957: settled in France.

Electrician, unskilled worker, postman. 1956: freedom fighter in the Revolution, 1957: sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Army officer, worker. 1956: one of the leaders of a freedom fighter group, sentenced to 5 years’ imprisonment.

Architect. One of the planners of the Budapest subway system.

Confectioner. 1944–1951: POW in the Soviet Union, 1951–1953: interned in Tiszalök Labour Camp.

Teacher. 1956: Secretary, Revolutionary Committee of Egyek Village. 1958: sentenced to 5 months’ suspended imprisonment.

Engineer. He talks about his father, Árpád Tihanyi who took part in the Revolution and was executed in 1957.

Poet, author and editor. He taught in 1950–51 in Bácspalánka (Bačka Palanka), in 1953-5 in Verbász (Vrbas), and in 1955–61 in Újvidék (Novi Sad), where he then worked as an editor for the publishers Forum from 1961 to 1991, when he retired. His works had been appearing since his student days in Hungarian papers in Vojvodina and abroad, and he also published in Vojvodina in Serbian. Apart from his press publications, he was the author of five books.

Bookbinder, clerk. Daughter of András Tomasovszky, farmer and electrician, who was executed in 1958 for having taken part in the Hungarian Revolution.

Journalist. 1956: Head, League of Hungarian University Students in the Town of Szeged, sentenced to 61 years’ imprisonment.

Army officer, bricklayer. 1956: joined the voluntary ambulance service, commander in Péterfy Sándor Street Hospital, 1958: sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment.

Solicitor, librarian. 1956: Chairman, National Committee of Tolna County, sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment.

Police officer, confectioner, civil servant. He took part in the antifascist resistance in Újpest. He was officer at the State Security Department. 1957-1972: HR manager of the National Turistical Agency.

Neurosurgeon. 1951-87: head of department at the National Institute for Neurosurgery, 1982-87: deputy director. 1987-94: university professor, head of department at the Medical University of Debrecen.

Transylvanian, solicitor. 1940–1947: civil servant, in the 1970s and 1980s: General Superintendent of the Transylvanian Calvinist Diocese.

Engineer. 1956: Chairman, Workers’ Council of Dimávag Wagon and Machine Works, sentenced to 4 years’ imprisonment.

Engineer and surveyor. He was arrested in 1960, charged involvement in a conspiracy to overturn the order of state and sentenced in the second instance to five years' imprisonment. He was freed in 1963. Since 1992, he has chaired the committee of the Újlak Caritas Foundation.

Actor. 1962: sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment as an alleged anti-state conspirator.

Engineer, writer. 1956: took part in the Revolution as an university student, Town of Miskolc, 1957: interned.

Worker, army officer, pre-1945 illegal communist. 1956: Chairman, Revolutionary Military Committee, 1958: sentenced to 7 years’ imprisonment.

Historian, archivist. 1955–1956: Deputy Dean, Faculty of History of Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 1956: Chairman of the Revolutionary Student Committee, member of the Revolutionary Council of Hungarian Intellectuals, 1978–1990: General Director, National Archive, 1990–1994: MP.

Economist, worker. 1956: freedom fighter in the Revolution, left Hungary.

Greek refugee who studied in Hungary. 1956: active in the Petofi Circle, 1957: active in the intellectuals’ underground, arrested, left Hungary. 1988–1993: President of Cyprus.

Inventor. 1956: organizer as a university student of the National Guard, Town of Gödöllo, sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment.

Psychologist, grandson of Péter Veres the writer and politician. He has been a researcher at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Psychology since 1974. He also teaches at the Baptist Theological Academy and the Gáspár Károli Reformed University.

Foreign trader and jazz-record collector, later representative of the Ministry of Trade. He was a regular visitor to the night clubs of the period in 1947-8. He later served as a commercial attaché in Poland in 1972–5 and Oslo in 1983–7.

Architect, city planner.

Journalist, poet, clerk. From 1946, worked for Győri Munkás (Győr Worker) and later Győr-Sopron Megyei Hírlap (Győr-Sopron County News). Dismissed after disciplinary proceedings in 1955, then worked in public administration. Restored to newspaper staff in October 1956. On November 2 became editor of Hazánk (Our Native Land), an independent political daily founded in his flat. Left country with his wife in January 1957, receiving asylum in Britain. Resettled in Hungary in 1990.

Restaurateur. He worked for different restaurants, later in Hotel Savaria in Szombathely. He established Wagner Vendégudvar (Wagner Court) which among others hosted the Austrian-Hungarian summit in 2003.

Polish politician, historian. 1956–1981: member of the Central Committee of the Polish Communist Party.

Pianist and accordion player. He began his musical career in Szombathely, later playing in Eger, Székesfehérvár and Csákvár, by Lake Balaton, and in various bars and restaurants in Budapest and abroad. He was a member of the Budapest Ragtime Band in 1984-6. He worked as a programme editor for Hungarian Radio in the 1980s.

Polish economist, chemist. 1955–1959: Polish Ambassador stationed in Budapest, sympathized with the Hungarian Revolution, 1959–1975: diplomat in several states.

Film director and screenplay writer. He taught at the Budapest College of Theatre and Cinema in 1968–72, in the Department of Film Direction. He played an active part in the 1970s and 1980s in the Béla Balázs Studio and the Társulás Studio, making numerous documentary films.

Joiner. Son of Maria Wittner, dressmaker. 1956: freedom fighter, sentenced to death then to life imprisonment. Freed in 1970.

East German journalist. 1957: sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment on charges related to the Hungarian Revolution, 1960: settled in the UK.

Polish journalist. 1956: correspondent in Budapest for the newspaper Trybuna Ludu.

Polish journalist. 1956: Editor of the Polish newspaper Odnowa.

Army officer, translator. 23 October 1956: commander of the unit defending the Radio, then cooperated with Béla Király in the National Guard, sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.

Journalist. Son of Zoltán Zsámboki, translator, senior civil servant. 1956: took part in political conspiracies during and after the Revolution, 1959: sentenced to 7 years’ imprisonment.

He began to swim competitively in 1947, joining the pool of Hungarian swimmers for the Olympics and the Police Sports Platoon. When the latter was disbanded at the end of 1953, he was not hired by the police or allowed to pursue legal studies. He became a materials buyer and then headed an independent scarf-dying establishment. At the beginning of the 1950s, he had joined the so-called Sujánszky group.