The Impact of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution on Religious Life in Eastern Europe

The 1956 Hungarian Revolution had a remarkable effect on contemporary Europe, especially on the Eastern European communist states. Due to the threat of dire consequences it was impossible to research the history of the revolution until 1989. In the past twenty years historical research has produced impressive results and several detailed critical interpretations have been published. However, there has been no analysis of the impact of the revolution on the Church in Hungary, nor on those of neighbouring countries. After 1945, communist dictatorships (under Soviet guidance) tried to eliminate the Churches in every possible way. Church properties were nationalised, schools were appropriated and religious associations and foundations were dissolved. Religious practice was confined to the churches. The Hungarian revolution generated an enormous panic in the communist governments of the region. They made every effort to ensure that it did not spread beyond the border. News was spread mostly by those who were able to listen to the Free Kossuth Radio, Radio Free Europe or the Voice of America. In spite of the prohibition, news of the revolution spread quickly, and in this the priests of neighbouring countries played a great role. Sometimes solidarity was expressed in sermons, while at other times priests and believers discussed the development in the churches after service. Unfortunately we do not know a great deal about these activities as the oppressive regimes reacted strongly against them.

The well-developed secret services of the communist states were widely present in the Churches. In this way all information quickly reached the gath-erers of intelligence. Judicial records also provide an important source for re-search; we can learn from these the severity of the sentences which followed the revolution. It is clear that the courts' preoccupation was not the dispensing of justice, but instead politically motivated retaliation. The harsh sentencing was intended to act as a deterrent. Strangely, retaliation by the state was more severe in some neighbouring countries than in Hungary. In Romania, repressive activity continued until the second half of the 1960s; it was here that the notorious and unparalleled death sentence of ten people was carried out fol-lowing the so-called Szoboszlai trial. Those convicted were executed on 1 Sep-tember 1958 over the course of an hour.

The present volume is offered with a view to providing an aspect of the history of the Hungarian Revolution which has been absent from research to date. We hope future research will explore the topic further, resulting in further valuable critical material on the topic.