Everyday Life - Memorials, Monuments

Imre Nagy, statue at Vértanúk Tere (Martyrs' Square) Budapest. Nagy, a former Communist luminary, became the de-facto Prime Minister of Hungary during the Anti-Soviet revolution in 1956. He was secretly tried and convicted of treason and executed following the Soviet-led invasion that crushed the revolution – allegedly on the orders of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. Nagy was ‘rehabilitated’ in 1989 and his remains reburied in a public ceremony attended by c.250,000 that started the chain of events that led to the fall of Communism in Hungary. This statue of Nagy standing on a bridge (symbolizing his role in the transition to democracy) not only memorializes him, it also makes a potent political statement by the Government of Hungary.