Alsóban sose értettem, miért kell annyira megemlékezni erről a napról, valahogy nem tűnt olyan jelentősnek hogy 13 embert, akik a veszteseket vezették, a győztesek halálra ítélték, és erről több szó esik, mint az ezrekről, akik a megelőző másfél évben elestek a hazáért. Utólag már azt gondolom, hogy talán azért hangsúlyozták annyira ezt a napot, mert arról a másikról ami ugyanebben a hónapban történt, az akkor kivégzettekről, egyáltalán, magáról az egész eseményről, nem nagyon lehetett beszélni.
Ma már lehet, sőt. És még mindig megemlékezünk arról a tizenháromról, akik, most már tudom, a többi ezreket is jelképezik.
...
Bit late, but i got used to this in myself...
On the 6th October in Hungary we remember the 13 Martyrs of Arad, the generals of the hungarian army in the 1848-49 war for independence.
In the first years of elementary school (i started school in 1987), i never understood, why we have to remember this day; for me the execution of the loser's leaders by the winners, the death of 13 people, did not seem so important relatively then the sacrifice of the thousands of lives in the former one and a half year in a struggle for the country's independence. Later on I realized that probably we held this day as a remembrance so importantly because of that other thing wich happened in the same month, but those events and those people who died there were not to mention by the current system.
Then the system changed (in late 1989), and now we are free to remember - what free, sometimes we are more then reminded.
And we still remember those thirteen people too, who, i understand this now, represent the thousands as well.
(The history bits: the 1848 revolution (which happened in other euorpean countries too and were closley linked) turned into a war of independence in Hungary, which was broken down in August 1849, with the russian forces helping the Habsburgs whose rule we fought against. On the 13th October, the leaders - 12 generals and a colonel - of the hungarian army were executed in Arad, a city now belonging to Romania.
In 1956 Hungary revolted against the soviet influence on the country; the revolution started on the 23th October and lasted until the 10th november, when it was broken down by soviet forces. Trials and executions followed, and the events were named counter-revolution for decades (counter, as of, against the socialist revolution). The changes in the '80s brought the rehabilitation of its leaders - it meant giving them proper (re)burials, as all were dead - and dropping the "counter" from the name of the event.
Nowadays 23th October is a national holiday, and for the 1848-49 events we remember mainly on the 15th March, when the revolution started, which day is also a national holiday. 6th October is not a holiday but still remembered everywhere.)