From the Hungarian Wikipedia page [1]
The series of battles in Széna Square was one of the major clashes of the 1956 revolution , during which the Hungarian insurgents fought aginst the communist state power and the Soviet army. On the Buda side of Budapest , the strongest focal point of resistance emerged at the strategically located Széna Square , where the revolutionaries led by János Szabó erected barricades . In addition to the commander Szabó, the best-known Széna Square insurgents were Péter Mansfeld and Ekrem Kemal. The heaviest firefight took place on November 4, when Soviet tanks defeated the defending freedom fighters. During the retaliation, 14 Széna térites were sentenced to death.
Formation of the insurgent group[]
The Széna Square insurgent group was established on the evening of October 23, 1956, its first members were workers, assistant workers and industrial students. The rapidly growing group acquired weapons on the 25th and, led by their first commander, a 24-year-old university student with an unknown name, gained control of the area and began building barricades. Their center was set up in the workers' hostel belonging to the M2 subway, which is under construction . On October 26, János Szabó and Ekrem Kemál joined them . Szabó soon became the new commander.
The first clashes[]
In October, the heaviest fighting avoided Széna Square, but minor skirmishes took place. The first firefight broke out on October 27, when the revolutionaries repelled an attack by the ÁVH , killing a state defender. Sporadic clashes continued in the following days, with Soviet armored cars and tanks occasionally machine-gunning houses where they expected insurgents. The armed civilians managed to immobilize an armored car in the square with hand grenades, the Soviet crew of the vehicle then fled to the building on the corner of Széna tér and Retek utca, from where they were later successfully rescued by their comrades, after the revolutionaries did not risk the siege of the house.
Ceasefire[]
Negotiations[]
After the first days of the revolution, the government recognized the seriousness of the situation and tried to disarm the freedom fighters through negotiations. On the part of the army, Lieutenant Colonel Sándor Kővágó, the commander of the Bem barracks, tried to personally convince the insurgents of the futility of resistance, but they tied the surrender to the dissolution of the ÁVH and the departure of the Soviet troops. In the second round of negotiations, Major Ferenc Deák represented the government, however, after the Széna térics persisted in their resistance, on October 28, 110 soldiers of the Hungarian army and 20 police officers surrounded the workers' hostel that served as the headquarters. János Szabó did not undertake the fight against the armored formation and the insurgents dispersed, many went home or escaped to the Buda Mountains and hid their weapons.
Imre Nagy's call for a ceasefire brought about a radical change, the Soviet troops temporarily withdrew and hostilities between the Hungarian freedom fighters and the soldiers ceased. During the new series of negotiations, sub-commander Ekrem Kemal] represented the insurgents and signed the 8-point " Ceasefire Agreement ", according to which the Széna térís regained their base and conducted joint patrols with the military. The revolutionaries also received their own identity card, on which " XY. " member of the Széna tér Freedom Fighter Armed Group " was written.
During the ceasefire[]
During the ceasefire, the number of civilians who joined the Széna Square resistance fighters increased rapidly. The revolutionary crowd captured many prominent communist officials and ÁVÓ policemen. On October 30, the protesters attacked the II. district party house and set fire to books, pictures and flags, the vandalism was finally stopped by János Szabó who arrived on the scene. The national commander of the border guard and the head of the political group were also captured in Széna Square, they were also saved from lynching by the insurgent commanders . On the same day, 30 ÁVH were also arrested. The Maros utca barracks of the Government Guards were attacked by the revolutionaries several times, the state defenders repulsed them with the help of two tanks on the 26th, but finally surrendered on the 30th, at which time 90-120 government guards were captured. During the ceasefire period, the Széna térís gathered the persons considered to be the main criminals of the Rákosi system in the area under their control , with the aim of bringing them to court later. They also arrested high-ranking politicians such as György Marosán and Dániel Nagy , and they also detained the wife of Mihály Farkas . They began to reorganize the Széna tér resistance center on a military model, and János Szabó's position as commander-in-chief was confirmed by a vote. The National Commission came into operation, bringing together the country's revolutionary groups and replacing the public administration. The Széna Square insurgents were also represented in the organization.
Soviet attack[]
On November 4, the Soviet intervention began, so the armed civilians and the Hungarian army again faced the 128th Rifle Guards Division led by Nikolaj A. Gorbunov in the Széna Square area. The revolutionaries called the 2nd district police to help in the fight. The police refused the call but handed over their weapons to the freedom fighters. On behalf of the Hungarian army, Major General Dániel Görgényi ordered János Szabó to lay down his arms, who categorically refused. In response to Imre Nagy's call to fight, Szabó gathered the revolutionaries and gave a speech in which he called on everyone to fight the occupiers to the last drop of their blood. On the day of the attack, hundreds of civilians volunteered to be fighters, and around 200 insurgents staying in the center on Maros Street also marched to Széna Square. A group of revolutionaries from Pesthidegkút led by Lajos Köteles also arrived as reinforcements .
The Soviet tanks advanced from the direction of Kelenföld towards Széll Kálmán tér/Moskva tér. First they encountered resistance at the South Railway Station, here the freedom fighters could not damage the armored vehicles, but 5 Soviet soldiers got out of their tanks and were killed by the revolutionaries. At Alkotás Street, the generator car of the Soviet military column was set on fire with Molotov cocktails. The communist command was informed about the plans of the freedom fighters thanks to Ferenc Antal, a spy embedded among the revolutionaries.
After the initial clashes, the Soviets reached the fortified Séna Square in the afternoon. The defenders set up a machine gun emplacement in the metro construction tower and positioned themselves in firing positions on top of the apartment buildings on Mártírok útja (today Margit körút ), while Kemál Ekrem's team defended in Ostrom utca. When the attacking column arrived, a firefight broke out, the insurgents were unable to damage the tanks, but the accompanying motorcycles were shot. Soviet tanks responded by firing their machine guns and main guns into the houses, killing many revolutionaries. During a pause in the fighting, they addressed an ultimatum to the insurgents on the radio, promising them a free retreat in exchange for laying down their arms. The freedom fighters rejected the offer, which also played a part in the fact that at that time they were still hoping for the intervention of the UN. After that, the Soviets did not launch another frontal attack, but shot the positions of the revolutionaries with mortars from a safe distance. Most of the insurgents fled, so the next day, November 5, barely 25% of the previous day's workforce remained at the site. After reviewing the situation, János Szabó deemed Széna Square indefensible and the remaining insurgents first retreated to the KSH building, then headed for the SZOT resort in Pesthidegkút, where they wanted to join General Béla Király , the head of the National Guard. By November 10, the occupiers had completely eliminated the sporadic resistance in the area and those revolutionaries who did not flee abroad were arrested.
Retaliation[]
After the revolution was crushed, retaliation began, the authorities sentenced 14 Széna Square freedom fighters to death, including János Szabó, Ekrem Kemál and Péter Mansfeld, and 16 people were sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. Mansfeld helped the Séna Squares as a courier during the '56 revolution, and at the age of 18 he became the youngest victim of the reprisal.
==Commemoration56 resistance fighters was erected on Széna Square in front of the Mammut shopping center, the work was created by Ferenc Árvai and Géza Bakos. In 2022, a par the Széna tér bus station , which also commemorates the revolution, commemorative plaques and chronoscopes were also placed on the square, with the help of which you can see what the given location looked like in 1956. Organized by the second district municipality and the government, a commemoration is held every year on Széna Square.