October 23, 1956

In 1956 the national uprising in Hungary against their Soviet installed suppressors found me in Budapest. It was only a few weeks earlier that I began the fourth year of studies of the six year medical school curriculum at the institution officially called the University of Medical Science of Budapest ("Budapesti Orvostudomanyi Egyetem" in Hungarian.)

I lived in a student dormitory which was situated on Ulloi Street, number 22. This building was centrally located in Pest, one block away from the main campus of the medical school, and about four blocks from the Radio building and about the same distance from the Kilian Barracks and the Korvin Theatre, all sites of important armed clashes during the Revolution.

I took part in revolutionary activities from the early protest marches on to the sweet victory of the Revolution whereby Hungary had declared its independence from the Soviet Union and announced its neutrality, to the subsequent brutal attack by the Red Army, the desperate cry for help to the World, the realization that we were left to die by Western politicians and, finally, the vicious retaliatory actions of the Moscovites who were once again placed in power by the Soviet forces.

My activities were, in the most part, organizational in nature.  I helped to organize and participated in protest marches, helped to create medical facilities at several sites of resistance, helped in the arming of medical students and, after the crashing of the Revolution, was assisting in the organization of miners' strikes in the heavily industrialized north-eastern part of the country.

During these activities I found myself several times in the midst of fierce fighting.  While I was armed for "ultimate self defense" either with a pistol or a hand grenade or a rifle or by a combination of these, fortunately, I never had to engage in actual shooting. During my missions I was accompanied by revolutionary fighters who served as guides and guarantors of success for our missions.  Most of our movements took place at night on city streets where lighting was made non-functional by the fighting, where barricades sprang up suddenly at places where none existed just a few hours before, where the territories of the fighting groups was not clearly defined and was in flux.

Among the revolutionaries, in addition to the more heavily defended posts, existed smaller mobile armed groups that moved around swiftly searching out and often engaging the enemy. They had the combined function of sentries, carriers of information between centers of resistance and providers of quick reinforcement where it was needed. On my trips through the war zone the number of my companions varied from one to four, all members of this group. They were dauntless, heedful, and circumspect in the use of force.

One memorable individual, who was known to me only by his first name Georgie (Gyuri in Hungarian) once took me and a fellow medical student and good friend, Laszlo Erdos, on a hair raising ride through the pitch dark streets of Budapest on a motorcycle equipped with a side car while periodically shots were fired in our direction. He, like others of his group, knew the roads, knew the short cuts through basements and courtyards and knew the position of our forces and that of our foes. The changing location of checkpoints and the changing pass words were complicating matters. While you are fired at by hostile forces, you want to move fast yet when suddenly in the darkness a voice commandeers you to stop and ask for the password, you better obey unhesitatingly or else you got the treatment reserved for an enemy.  But Georgie always got us through either because he knew the password or recognized someone among those who stopped us.

During these excursions bullets were fired into our direction often. On some of those occasions, as I was reaching for my rifle I was directed by a hashed but firm voice "doki, ne mozdulj!"- meaning "doc, don't move".  During darkness we were not allowed to fire back if the bullets hitting around us appeared to be part of canvassing action rather than being direct aims at our position. The reason for this was that we did not want to reveal our location to the enemy if it was not known to them. Up until that time I did not appreciate how difficult it is not to shoot back when you are fired upon.

During the brief period of calm following the success of the Revolution, the civilian fighters began to be organized as a militia referred to as National Guardians ("Nemzetorseg"). This was an attempt to unify the spontaneously evolved local revolutionary groups into a cohesive, accountable and centrally coordinated fighting force.  The fighters began to be registered, were given an identification card, permit to carry gun and a red-white-green armband, the colors of the Hungarian national flag.  If a person did not have a gun, that was provided too. Like many others, I registered to be a Nemzetor. I still have the arm band, which, in the absence of a uniform, was to serve as our externally visible identifying mark.

While I am very glad to have been actively involved in the making of a historic event of noble aims, I am grateful that I was not forced into a situation where I had to kill somebody to save my own life.  After all I was studying to be a reliever of suffering and not a dispenser of misery.

In the followings are some documents pertaining to my participation in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

PARTICIPATION IN THE 1956 ANTI-COMMUNIST REVOLUTION IN HUNGARY

The following is a quote from the recommendation to award the Hungarian Presidential 1956 Memorial Medal and Certificate, to Dr. Mihaly Bartalos on the 25th Anniversary of the Revolution:

(English translation follows the original Hungarian text)

"INDOKLAS:

Fontos szerepet jatszott az 1956-os Forradalom alatt a Korvin Kozben, a Kilian Laktanyaban es egy a Kisfaludy Kozben levo, ellenallo gocok egeszsegugyi ellatasanak megszervezeseben.

Tovabbi tevekenysegei:

mint a budapesti Orvostudomanyi Egyetem hallgatoja szervezoje es reszese volt a tunteteseknek;

majd a Baross utcai Belgyogyaszati Klinikan a sebesultek ellatasaban segitkezett;

szervezoje es tagja volt az Orvosegyetem Forradalmi Bizottsaganak;

segitkezett fegyvereknek az Egyetem irodai epuletebe valo beszallitasaba es azoknak az orvostanhallgatok koreben valo szetosztasaban;

majd, november 5.-e utan, mint az Edelenyi Jarasi Forradalmi Bizottsag munkatarsa:

hozzajarult a Borsod megyei banyasz sztrajkok megszervezesehez.

1957 elejen, tavolleteben, kotelaltali halalra lett itelve."

English Translation of above text:

"JUSTIFICATION

During the 1956 Revolution he played important role in the organization of medical provisions at the revolutionary military facilities of the Korvin Theatre Passage, Killian military barracks and a facility in Kisfaludy Alley

Further activities:

As a student at the University of Medical Sciences in Budapest he was organizer and participant of protest marches

Thereafter he participated in the care of the wounded at the Baross street University Hospital

He was an organizer and member of the Revolutionary Committee of the University of Medical Sciences

He helped in the delivery of arms to the University and in their distribution to the medical students

thereafter, following the 5th of November, as associate of the Revolutionary Committee of Edeleny County

participated in the organization of miners' strikes

In early 1957, in absentia, he was sentenced to death by hanging.

English Translation of Certificate:

(Heading:)      "FOR THE COUNTRY AND FOR FREEDOM

1956

(Text:)        THE NAME OF THE REPUBLIC OF HUNGARY

I AWARD THE 1956 MEMORIAL MEDAL TO

Dr. MIHALY BARTALOS

WHO DURING OUR NATION'S FATEFUL AND

HISTORY MAKING GLORIOUS REVOLUTION

EXHIBITED EXEMPLARY RESOLUTENESS,

FOR WHICH HE IS TO ACCEPT THE GRATITUDE OF

THE HUNGARIAN NATION.

OCTOBER 23, 1956 - OCTOBER 23, 1991

(Signature:)                               ARPAD GONCZ

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF HUNGARY"

During the brief period of calm following the success of the Revolution, the civilian fighters began to be organized as a militia referred to as National Guardians ("Nemzetorseg"). This was an attempt to unify the spontaneously evolved local revolutionary groups into a cohesive, accountable and centrally coordinated fighting force. The fighters began to be registered, were given an identification card, permit to carry gun and a red-white-green armband, the colors of the Hungarian national flag. If a person did not have a gun, that was provided too. Like many others, I registered to be a Nemzetor. I still have the arm band, which, in the absence of a uniform, was to serve as our externally visible identifying mark.

While I am very glad to have been actively involved in the making of a historic event of noble aims, I am grateful that I was not forced into a situation where I had to kill somebody to save my own life. After all I was studying to be a reliever of suffering and not a dispenser of misery.

&&&&&&&&&

In the followings are some documents pertaining to my participation in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956.

"INDOKLAS:

          Fontos szerepet jatszott az 1956-os Forradalom alatt a Korvin Kozben, a Kilian Laktanyaban es egy a Kisfaludy Kozben

          levo, ellenallo gocok egeszsegugyi ellatasanak megszervezeseben.

          Tovabbi tevekenysegei:

                     mint a budapesti Orvostudomanyi Egyetem hallgatoja szervezoje es reszese volt a tunteteseknek;

                     majd a Baross utcai Belgyogyaszati Klinikan a sebesultek ellatasaban segitkezett;

          1957 elejen, tavolleteben, kotelaltali halalra lett itelve.

English Translation of Certificate:

I AWARD THE 1956 MEMORIAL MEDAL TO

Dr. MIHALY BARTALOS

WHO DURING OUR NATION'S FATEFUL AND

HISTORY MAKING GLORIOUS REVOLUTION

EXHIBITED EXEMPLARY RESOLUTENESS,

FOR WHICH HE IS TO ACCEPT THE GRATITUDE OF

THE HUNGARIAN NATION.

OCTOBER 23, 1956 - OCTOBER 23, 1991

PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF HUNGARY"

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