“Memories of the Gulag link “people living east of the River Elbe” – Commemoration of Hungarian deportees to Soviet Union

Budapest, November 25 (MTI) – Memories of the Gulag link “people living east of the River Elbe”, Human Resources Minister Zoltan Balog said on Wednesday, the memorial day of Hungarian political prisoners and forced labourers deported to the Soviet Union.

Balog opened an international conference at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and said the histories of the affected countries show a striking resemblance, with military occupation, deportations, forced labour and few people returning home.

“We would like all Hungarians who fell victim in the past century, in 1920, 1944, 1945, or 1956, considered as a common loss,” Balog said.

Despite the many hundreds of thousand Hungarian families affected by Soviet occupation, the events of the period have not been fully researched and published, the minister said.

“Sometimes it won’t hurt to talk not only about the victims but it is necessary to talk about the perpetrators, too, and the time has come for that,” he added.

Earlier on Wednesday, a wreath-laying ceremony was held at the memorial of Gulag victims in Budapest and an exhibition opened at Nyugati Square.

November 25 was declared a day of political prisoners and forced labourers deported to the Soviet Union by a parliamentary resolution in 2012.

The number of those who were executed, or died from starvation or illness in the Gulag is estimated at 200,000.

Photo: kolozsvariradio.ro

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters