Peter Orincsay

Hungarian freedom fighters at the Republic Square. The large building in the background was the seat of the Communist party. Soldiers and officers of secret police was under siege inside as groups of freedom fighters tried to clear the building in the afternoon the 30.th October. A group of Hungarian tanks, loyal to the revolution arrived at the scene and started to shell the building. Eventually the ÁVH secret police surrendered after fierce fighting. Not even red-cross personal was spared from the ÁVH fire and was deliberately targeted my the secret police sharpshooters. They were later targeted by the peoples rage for this. The HPR Police uniform thread page 3 shows the street corner of this building earlier this day !!

Street fighting at the Republic Square.Note the Hungarian flag with the hole in the middle, up in the left corner. The hated Rakosi coat of arms of the communist government was cut out and the flag with the hole became the symbol for the revolution.

We can really thank the good fate that we are in a position that we can look at the history of both sides like this, safe behind a computer screen. GMIC really creates perspectives! Thank you all for this! Péter :beer:

Tanks in the narrow street near the historical Museum. This photo looks like it´s taken from one of the tanks.

I found it! It wasn't the Technical University.. It´s the house of the Supreme Court on Markó Street. Here´s a resent photo from Google.

A destroyed column at the entrance of the building. I'm not sure witch exact building it is in Budapest, maybe someone here can help me out?

A convoy with Soviets passing by at the Avenue..

Bread id being handed out from a lorry to the people in Budapest. To ease the shortage of food in the city theses days, people from the country side helped with food deliveries.

Yet another burned out BTR-152 APC. "Alakitás Alatt" means under repair. "Az élenjáró Szovjet ipar terméke, Hurráh" means The product of the outstanding Soviet technique HURRAY ! Bitter times resulted into bitter humour..

People looks anxiously around on the remains of the previous days fighting. The street is most likely Práter street near the Corvin Passage.

Another street view.

The remains of a burned out BTR-152 APC, most likely on the Prater Street near "the Corvin Passage". Freedom fighters attacked the light APS´s with Molotov-cocktails in the near streets. These vehicles had small chances to avoid the attacks since their open tops gave no protection. Someone has written some comments on the destroyed vehicles. "Javitás Alatt" means under construction. "MEO I" is a quality mark for top quality..

Burned bodies of fallen soldiers are being removed. The buildings in the background are the "Killián Barracks". This were the scene of some of the most violent street battles during the revolution.

Soviet troops along the Budapest avenues. Seen on this photo are a BTR-152, light APC. They made easy targets for the "Molotov-cocktails" since they had a open top.

A father with his son are walking among the empty trams.

Soviet tanks near the parliament building.

Soviet troops is seen by strolling bystanders, leaving Budapest.

Buildings along the avenue are filled with evidence of the fierce fighting.

Temporarily dug graves for fallen martyrs seen in front of the statue.

The building of the Hungarian Radio. It was here that the first real fighting started in the evening of the 23rd of October 1956.

For many years these photos were hidden up on the attic, rolled inside a curtain roll, in an old country house not far from Budapest. The discover of these kind of photograph could lead to years in prison for anyone. My grandfather went around the last days October and in the beginning of November with his bike and photographed the scenes of the fighting of the 1956 peoples revolution. The photographs shows the soviet troops leaving Budapest. Houses are damaged from the days of fighting and people are again moving in the streets. These were the days of hope and success, filled with relief. I got these photographs some years ago after the passing-away of my grandfather in 1995. He was blind the last 15 years of his life and was never able to see the photos again when he could finally take them from their hiding. In the last days I scanned the whole series of the 25 photographs and display some of them for the first time ever, here on GMIC.

Here is a detailed photo of the trifold. The colours are faded, but folded out the green can clearly be seen.

I got this beautiful little Bulgarian, Red Cross - Medal for Merit from a friend today. Searching my bookmarked regular collectors and dealers sites in the internet i have not found this medal or anything even close. The only thing that come close was this screw-back badge at: E-medals The trifold that was attached to my medal looks a lot like the one to 1912-1913 Medal of remembrance, but this has a small thin red stripe in the white field to the right. I´m looking for any informations i can get concerning this medal! Péter

Hello Artan! It´s really nice to see photographs of this great quality! I wound´t mind at all if you would post some more! Greetings Péter

A soldier from the Black sea fleet.