HR1466 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1466 LRB094 21690 HSS 60119 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the State of Illinois recognize the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Fighters of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution; and

WHEREAS, On October 23, 1956, hundreds of thousands of Hungarians from all walks of life would join university students in a peaceful call for democracy and an end to the brutal and oppressive Soviet-dominated Hungarian communist government; and

WHEREAS, Peaceful protests were fired upon by the Hungarian Security Police, killing hundreds and triggering the bloody fight for freedom and democracy and the first tear in the Iron Curtain; and

WHEREAS, Thousands of Hungarians, students and workers, men, women, and children, would rise up against impossible odds and risk their lives to take part in their noble fight for freedom and democracy; and

WHEREAS, The Hungarian Freedom Fighters, students and workers, men, women, and children, who rose up against impossible odds and risked their lives to take part in their noble fight for freedom and democracy, were able to establish a revolutionary government that released political prisoners, including major church leaders, took steps to create a multi-party democracy, called for the withdrawal of all Soviet troops from Hungary, announced Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact, and requested United Nations assistance in establishing neutrality; and

WHEREAS, The Soviet Union launched a massive military counter-offensive against the revolt, sending tens of thousands of additional troops from the Soviet Union, and launched air strikes, artillery bombardments, and coordinated tank-infantry actions involving some 6,000 tanks which, remarkably, the outnumbered and under-equipped Hungarian Army and Hungarian Freedom Fighters resisted for several days; and

WHEREAS, Prime Minister Imre Nagy was seized by Soviet security forces, despite assurances of safe passage for him to leave the Yugoslav Embassy of Budapest where he sought asylum, and was taken to Rumania and subsequently tried and executed; and

WHEREAS, Thousands of Hungarians were tortured, tried, and executed by the post-1956 Hungarian government; and

WHEREAS, More than 200,000 Hungarians fled their country in the aftermath of the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian uprising, and over 47,000 of these people eventually were able to settle in the United States, where they have contributed greatly to the intellectual strength, cultural diversity, and the economic might of the country; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we do hereby proclaim October 23, 2006, as Hungarian Freedom Fighters Day in Illinois and encourage all citizens to express thanks to those refugees who brought their talents, skills, and love of freedom to help build a stronger America.