(4 of 9)
When Janos heard of the trouble, he sprang to life. He went down to Kilian barracks and got himself a rifle. A few hours later a burst of AVH machine-gun fire killed Janos Feher on a roof across the street from Radio Budapest.
Ferenc Kocsis
The atmosphere in Budapest on Oct. 23 was something no one who was there will ever forget. The weather was cold and gusty, and there was a light fog that softened the contours of the fine old buildings of the city. The gatherings at the statues of Petofi and General Bem were not the only ones. Infected by a kind of quiet gaiety, people were walking all over the city, singing in a subdued way. Among them was Ferenc Kocsis, no Petofi Club Communist, but a talented young film worker.
A friend had called Ferenc that morning and told him there was going to be a demonstration. "Well, this at least is something," said Ferenc, and passed the word along. With 80 other film workers, Ferenc pooled funds and bought some red-white-and-green ribbons to wear as arm bands, and took a bus into Budapest. They fell into line with thousands of other workers, students and cadets who had been waiting for this opportunity to blow off a little steam.
"At the head of the column were flags," remembers Ferenc. "An old woman waving a pair of scissors ran up. She reached up, grabbed a flag and cut the Red star out of the center. It was a tremendous moment."
The procession reached the West railroad station where an old man stood by the curb playing a tarogato, an ancient instrument like a clarinet that has a sad sound. He played the famous Hungarian revolutionary song which ends:
Long Live Hungarian Freedom!
Long Live our Native Land!
The demonstrators took up the refrain and roared it across Budapest. Says Ferenc: "It echoed off the walls of the city. I wept unashamedly and so did everyone else. There were no Communists any longer. We were Hungarians, and we were ready to die."
The crowd, by this time 300,000 strong, began converging in Parliament Square, chanting, "Imre Nagy to government!" When Imre Nagy appeared, he was cheered, but when he began his speech with the salutation, "Dear Comrades," he was whistled down. Nagy told them the historical situation was complicated and everyone should go home and wait for developments. The whistling started again, and Nagy, no judge of historical situations, asked, "Why do you whistle at me?" Someone shouted, "We do not whistle at you, but at your words." There was a long, dramatic silence and then Nagy asked everyone to sing the national anthem, leading the singing himself.