[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 57 (Wednesday, May 4, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E877-E878]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 ``TORN FROM THE FLAG''--NEW DOCUMENTARY FILM FOR THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY 
                    OF THE 1956 HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. TOM LANTOS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Wednesday, May 4, 2005

  Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I want to call the attention of my 
colleagues to a new documentary film now in production dealing with the 
1956 Hungarian Revolt against Soviet occupation. Entitled ``Torn from 
the Flag,'' the film is being prepared as part of the 2006 celebration 
marking the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian uprising. This film will 
include important archival material and recently opened files that have 
not been available until recently. It will also include insightful 
interviews with Hungarian freedom fighters, former political prisoners, 
secret police, and foreign citizens who participated in or witnessed 
the events.
  On October 13, 1956, students and workers commenced a spontaneous 
uprising against the repressive communist dictatorship. Against all 
odds, they successfully took on and defeated the police and installed a 
new government. There were eighteen days of freedom before Soviet tanks 
and military forces launched a major attack on November 4 crushing, 
once and for all, the uprising. Some

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20,000 Hungarians and 3,500 Russians died in the fighting. The defeat 
of the Hungarian Revolt was one of the darkest moments of the Cold War, 
but it was also one of the early indications that the freedom-loving 
peoples of Central and Eastern Europe could not be forever repressed.
  The documentary takes its name from one of the most memorable images 
of the 1956 Hungarian Revolt. The revolutionaries cut from the center 
of the Hungarian tricolor flag the coat of arms of the communist 
People's Democratic Republic of Hungary. The flag with a hole in its 
center was emblematic of the Hungarian people's desire to rip out 
communism from their homeland, and this has been one of the most 
enduring symbols of the 1956 Revolution.
  Like the student revolution in Tiananmen Square, China, in April 
1989, where Chinese students were brutally suppressed after a massive 
demonstration for democratic reform, the Hungarian Revolt provided the 
world with sharp insights into communist tyranny. The governments of 
the Soviet Union in 1956 in Hungary and China in 1989 at Tiananmen 
Square used similar tactics in cracking down on dissidents. In my 
office, everyday I see a large picture of the brave Chinese student who 
stood boldly in front of a long row of tanks during the Tiananmen 
revolt. That Chinese student and the brave Hungarian revolutionaries of 
1956 represent the fighting spirit of all men and women against 
tyranny.
  The 1956 Revolution in Hungary is full of lessons and inspiration for 
people living under repressive regimes even today. The heroic fight of 
thousands of young men and women has played a crucial role in leading 
to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet 
Union.
   Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues to note with me the upcoming 
50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, to watch for the 
documentary ``Torn from the Flag'', and to rejoice that men and women 
everywhere are willing to unite in the fight, despite overwhelming odds 
against them, in order to free themselves from tyranny and repression.

                          ____________________