Hungary commemorates 1849 martyrs

Budapest, October 6 (MTI) – Hungary’s flag was hoisted then lowered to half-mast in front of Parliament in a state ceremony on Thursday, to mark a national day of mourning in memory of martyred leaders of the 1848-49 freedom fight.

Commemorations in Budapest

The ceremony was attended by President János Áder, diplomats, representatives of state agencies and political parties.

On October 6, 1849, thirteen officers of the Hungarian military were executed in Arad, now Romania. On the same day, count Lajos Batthyány, prime minister of the first Hungarian government, was executed in Pest, in Austria’s retaliation for the revolution and war of independence.

Later in the day, Áder attended another commemoration at a primary school in Ócsa, outside Budapest, and said that developments in 1848-49 were “the purest source of national identity”.

Defence Minister István Simicskó attended a commemoration at Batthyany’s tomb in Budapest’s Fiumei Road cemetery, and referred in his address to the revolution and freedom fight as events creating a unified nation. He said one of the morals of the failed fight was that “national endeavours cannot be prevented by way of armies, retaliation, or foreign powers”.