As you can read on the old inscription on the statue pedestal, the Red Army did not only liberate Hungary, but they also took part in remodeling Hungarian politics. The communist party seized power illegally with support from the Soviet Union and the stationing military leadership. The country was changed according to the Soviet model, which resulted in forty years of oppression.
Watch the testimony clips of Tibor Kovács, Károly Dobos and Judit Bárdos about the new era.
Tibor Kovács was born in 1915, in Kosice, in a Jewish family. His father, Ernő Kovács was bursar of a manor, his mother, Janka Geiger was a housewife. Tibor had three siblings. He started his studies in Kosice, and later attended schools in Sárospatak and Balassagyarmat. Then he moved to Budapest. During World War 2 he was drafted in a forced labour battalion. His parents and one of his siblings did not survive the Holocaust. He joined the communist party after the war. He had an important position in the party, but then decided to emigrate due to the encroachments of the system. After the revolution in 1956, he emigrated to the United States with his wife and two children. His interview was recorded in 1997, in Norwalk, United States.
Károly Dobos was born in 1902 in Szolnok, in a Calvinist family. He started his education there, and he continued his studies in the local high school. After the final exam he moved to Budapest and studied Theology and later he became a priest. During World War 2 he issued false papers to persecuted Jews, and even provided hiding place to some of them in Budapest. After the war many religious leaders, including Károly, were interned to poor villages. He was sent to Szank municipality. After 12 years he was allowed to move back to Budapest. His rescuer and aid giving activity was acknowledged with “Righteous Among the Nations” by the Yad Vashem Institute. His interview was recorded in 2000, in Budapest.
Bárdos Judit (née Fenákel) was born in Budapest, in 1936. She spent her childhood years in Endrőd (today’s Gyomaendrőd), Békés county where she started elementary school in 1942. Her father died in forced labour service. In 1944 she was deported to Austrian labour camps together with her mother. They were liberated by the Red Army in April 1945 near Schwechat, Austria. After the war, they moved to Szeged, where she completed her education. She studied at the Teacher Training College, and then at József Attila University. After that she started to work at the local newspaper, where later she became the editor. In 1972 she moved to Budapest and became the editor of prestigious weeklies, “Nők Lapja” and “Családi Lap”. She is married to Pál Bárdos, writer and has two sons. The interview was recorded in 2001, in Budapest, Hungary.