The roots of the events go back to World War II when Hungary, an ally of Nazi Germany, participated in the invasion of the Soviet Union. After World War II the Soviet Army occupied Hungary, and the country came under the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence. Hungary became a communist state under the severely authoritarian leadership – we could say dictatorship – of Mátyás Rákosi. From 1945 on the Hungarians were under the control of Moscow. All wealth of whatever nature was taken from Hungary by the Russians who showed their power by putting thousands of Russian troops and hundreds of tanks in the country. The people were ruled over with a rod of iron by Communist Russia and anybody who challenged the rule of Stalin and Russia paid the price. But Hungarians hated Russian control, especially the secret police called the ÁVH, the Russian control of the economy, which had made Hungary poor and the Russian control of what the schools taught and the censorship and the lack of freedom.

On October 23rd 1956 – as a spontaneous nationwide revolt against the government of the Hungarian People’s Republic and its Soviet-imposed policies – students and workers took to the streets of Budapest. Approximately 20,000 protesters convened around the statue of József Bem—a national hero of Poland and Hungary. They issued their Sixteen Points which included personal freedom, more food, the removal of the secret police, the removal of Russian control etc. After the students read their proclamation, the crowd chanted a censored patriotic poem the “National Song”, which refrains: “This we swear, this we swear, that we will no longer be slaves.” Someone in the crowd cut out the Communist coat of arms from the Hungarian flag, leaving a distinctive hole and others quickly followed suit. The revolt attracted thousands as they marched through central Budapest to the Parliament building, calling out on the streets using a van with loudspeakers via Radio Free Europe.Some demonstrators decided to carry out one of their demands, the removal of Stalin’s 30-foot-high (9.1 m) bronze statue that was erected in 1951 on the site of Marianum church, which was demolished to make room for the monument. By 21:30, the statue was toppled and crowds celebrated by placing Hungarian flags in Stalin’s boots, which was all that was left of the statue.

A student delegation, entering the radio building to try to broadcast the students’ demands, was detained. When the delegation’s release was demanded by the demonstrators outside, they were fired upon by the State Security Police (ÁVH) from within the building. When the students were fired on, a student died and was wrapped in a flag and held above the crowd. This was the start of the revolution. As the news spread, disorder and violence erupted throughout the capital.

The revolt spread quickly across Hungary and the government collapsed. Thousands organised into militias, battling the ÁVH and Soviet troops. Pro-Soviet communists and ÁVH members were often executed or imprisoned and former political prisoners were released and armed. Imre Nagy was appointed prime minister and János Kádár foreign minister. The new government formally disbanded the ÁVH, declared its intention to withdraw from the Warsaw Pact, and pledged to re-establish free elections. By the end of October, fighting had almost stopped and between 28 October and 4 November a sense of normality began to return to the country.For five days, there was freedom in Hungary. The new Hungarian government introduced democracy, freedom of speech, and freedom of religion. Cardinal Mindszenty, the leader of the Catholic Church, was freed from prison. But it didn’t last long.After announcing a willingness to negotiate a withdrawal of Soviet forces, the Soviet Union changed its mind and moved to crush the revolution. On 4 November, a large Soviet force invaded Budapest and other regions of the country. 1,000 Russian tanks rolled into Budapest, they destroyed the Hungarian army and captured the building of the Hungarian Radio. The last words broadcast from there were “Help! Help! Help!”. The Hungarian resistance continued until 10 November. People – even children – fought the Russian troops with machine guns. Over 2,500 Hungarians and 700 Soviet soldiers were killed in the conflict, and 200,000 Hungarians fled as refugees. Mass arrests and denunciations continued for months afterwards. Eventually 26,000 people were brought before the Hungarian courts, 22,000 were sentenced, 13,000 imprisoned, and several hundred executed. Hundreds were also deported to the Soviet Union, many without evidence. By January 1957, the new Soviet-installed government had suppressed all public opposition. The 1956 revolution lasted from 23 October until 10 November 1956. Only 19 days, but they determined the fate of Hungary for long years. People had to wait until 1989 to experience the long awaited freedom they had longed for so much.

Who was this girl? The photo that became well-known all around the world was taken by Danish journalists. Paul Raae and his photographer, Vagn Hansen arrived in Hungary in the autumn of 1956. They didn’t have permission to enter the country but with some luck they still managed to. They joined a Red Cross convoy with their small Volkswagen, so they were among the first to get to Budapest. The Danish were shocked and stunned by what they saw. Paul Raae reported on how the crowd rushed at the State Defence Authority with bare fists. There was a girl for example, who jumped in front of a Russian tank to stop it. They took photos of victims, revolutionaries, youngsters and the elderly. They were at Üllői Road, near the Kilián barrack, and at Köztársaság Square. They met Erika somewhere on the way. The Danish photographer remembered the moment precisely, even decades later. “I accidentally managed to take a photo, which circulated the world and became the symbol of the revolution. I saw a beautiful, armed girl in a blouse with a serious look on her face, and I convinced her to pose for a few photos.”

This serious looking, beautiful girl was born in the 13th district of Budapest. Erika was three years old when she lost her father due to the war. She was brought up by her mother. She studied cookery and worked in Béke Hotel in the autumn of 1956. She often visited her uncle’s literature club. Endre Bondi was known as a conductor, composer and writer.

“The 15-year-old girl joined our arguments with surprising maturity. She had an opinion about the debates in the Petőfi Club, and she had fire in her eyes and she hoped for a democratic revival.” wrote journalist Tamás Földes about the girl. When the revolution broke out, she joined the rebels on the side of her friend, who was 3-4 years older than her. Erika probably spoke some Danish, because she spent a few months in Denmark at the end of the 1940s. This fact probably made it easier to take her photo. She got to Denmark with the help of a society called Red Barnet, which helped poor kids after the war.

A few days after the photo had been taken, Erika changed her rifle to a white gown and a Red Cross armband, to help the injured in the streets. She was in the process of helping the injured when a Soviet soldier attacked her. He shot a series of shots from a rifle that killed the girl immediately. According to her death certificate issued by Péterfy Sándor Street hospital, the cause of her death was a neck shot.

Henning Schultz was also 15 years old when Erika’s photo was published on the cover of Billed Bladet. He was deeply affected by it and sometimes wondered how great it would be to visit Hungary and find the girl, whose name he didn’t even know back then. People simply called Erika “the cover girl”. 50 years passed and the retired geographer embarked on a quest to locate the girl. He planned to find the heroic girl and give her three copies of the Danish Billed Bladet which he set aside for her in 1956. He first started looking for information on Internet forums but he barely found anything. So he travelled to Hungary and enlisted help from the Hungarian National Museum’s Historic Picture Gallery. He talked enthusiastically about the girl who he and his friends once admired so much.

“We all came to love her and thought that she was very strong, brave and pretty” said Schultz.

But his trip wasn’t successful. He contacted several Hungarian magazines in an effort to publish the photo so that someone might recognize Erika. Finally, Magyar Nemzet published it, but it didn’t bring about a breakthrough. So Schultz gave the newspapers to the Hungarian National Museum as a gift in 2008. He also arranged for the museum to receive the signed copies of photographer Vagn Hansen’s twelve 1956 photos, which were exhibited in the museum later. However, the quest wasn’t completely unsuccessful. Schultz found a Danish article from 1981, in which a ’56 refugee, József Árki said that he went to the same cookery school as the 15-year-old girl.

Hírszerző, the news portal investigated the story of the famous photo and eventually one of the journalists of the portal, Adél Tossenberger, came upon Erika’s surname based on Henning Schultz’ and Tamás Földes’s recollection. She then found the grave of the girl, who died a hero’s death at the age of 15, in the Kerepesi cemetery.

Her epitaph lovingly commemorates her as: “My dear little girl, my Erika, never to be forgotten, 1941. I. 6. – 1956. XI. 7.”

source: Daily News Hungary, Szeretlek Magyarország