Deborah Koff Ross: “I thank my good friend from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for yielding. And I do wish to say hello to our good friend from Hungary…”

“I thank my good friend from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) for yielding. And I do wish to say hello to our good friend from Hungary, Ambassador Szemerkenyi. I am grateful, quite frankly, to have this opportunity, Mr. Speaker, as I rise today to recognize the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution and Freedom Fight. Sixty years ago this October, Hungary stood tall in the shadows of communism and said: Enough is enough--eleg volt. Hungarian schoolchildren and college students took up arms against the totalitarian government and its Soviet policies. On October 23, 1956, approximately 20,000 protesters convened next to the statue of General Jozef Bem, a national hero of Hungary. Despite orders to disband, protestors tore down a 30-foot bronze statue of Stalin near the city's Heroes' Square. The following morning, power was consolidated and a new multiparty government was formed. The Hungarian Revolution spread like wildfire throughout the countryside. On November 1, Prime Minister Imre Nagy announced Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact and a declaration of neutrality. Embarrassed by the uprising, the USSR sent Soviet tanks and troops across the Hungarian border. Unfortunately, thousands of Hungarian civilians were killed, and the communist-backed government in Budapest was reinstalled. In the months that followed the Hungarian Revolution, more than 20,000 Hungarians were imprisoned, 229 were executed, and more than 200,000 were forced to flee across the world.…”