Full Text of HR1466 94th General Assembly
HR1466 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The members of the House of Representatives of the | 3 |
| State of Illinois recognize the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom | 4 |
| Fighters of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution; and
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| WHEREAS, On October 23, 1956, hundreds of thousands of | 6 |
| Hungarians from all walks of life would join university | 7 |
| students in a peaceful call for democracy and an end to the | 8 |
| brutal and oppressive Soviet-dominated Hungarian communist | 9 |
| government; and
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| WHEREAS, Peaceful protests were fired upon by the Hungarian | 11 |
| Security Police, killing hundreds and triggering the bloody | 12 |
| fight for freedom and democracy and the first tear in the Iron | 13 |
| Curtain; and
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| WHEREAS, Thousands of Hungarians, students and workers, | 15 |
| men, women, and children, would rise up against impossible odds | 16 |
| and risk their lives to take part in their noble fight for | 17 |
| freedom and democracy; and
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| WHEREAS, The Hungarian Freedom Fighters, students and | 19 |
| workers, men, women, and children, who rose up against | 20 |
| impossible odds and risked their lives to take part in their | 21 |
| noble fight for freedom and democracy, were able to establish a | 22 |
| revolutionary government that released political prisoners, | 23 |
| including major church leaders, took steps to create a | 24 |
| multi-party democracy, called for the withdrawal of all Soviet | 25 |
| troops from Hungary, announced Hungary's withdrawal from the | 26 |
| Warsaw Pact, and requested United Nations assistance in | 27 |
| establishing neutrality; and
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| WHEREAS, The Soviet Union launched a massive military | 29 |
| counter-offensive against the revolt, sending tens of | 30 |
| thousands of additional troops from the Soviet Union, and |
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| launched air strikes, artillery bombardments, and coordinated | 2 |
| tank-infantry actions involving some 6,000 tanks which, | 3 |
| remarkably, the outnumbered and under-equipped Hungarian Army | 4 |
| and Hungarian Freedom Fighters resisted for several days; and
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| WHEREAS, Prime Minister Imre Nagy was seized by Soviet | 6 |
| security forces, despite assurances of safe passage for him to | 7 |
| leave the Yugoslav Embassy of Budapest where he sought asylum, | 8 |
| and was taken to Rumania and subsequently tried and executed; | 9 |
| and
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| WHEREAS, Thousands of Hungarians were tortured, tried, and | 11 |
| executed by the post-1956 Hungarian government; and
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| WHEREAS, More than 200,000 Hungarians fled their country in | 13 |
| the aftermath of the Soviet suppression of the Hungarian | 14 |
| uprising, and over 47,000 of these people eventually were able | 15 |
| to settle in the United States, where they have contributed | 16 |
| greatly to the intellectual strength, cultural diversity, and | 17 |
| the economic might of the country; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 19 |
| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 20 |
| we do hereby proclaim October 23, 2006, as Hungarian Freedom | 21 |
| Fighters Day in Illinois and encourage all citizens to express | 22 |
| thanks to those refugees who brought their talents, skills, and | 23 |
| love of freedom to help build a stronger America.
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