Today marks the 50th anniversary of the October 23, 1956 Hungarian uprising, which foretold the international collapse of Communisim. Many heads of state have been invited to participate in the Hungarian celebration. However, while Hungary is trying to create an outward impression of unity, the collective memory is divided regarding the uprising.

Alongside the official events, opposition groups will also be holding mass ceremonies, each in its own plaza. All this comes in the shadow of the political ferment and the demonstrations calling for the resignation of the Socialist government.

Hungary today does not have only one version of the 1956 events, nor does it have a unified collective memory, says Dr. Raphael Vago, of the Tel Aviv University history department. Vago is an expert on Eastern Europe. The country's memory has undergone privatization, and each group maintains its own version, he says.

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"The Socialists, who are sort of the heirs of the Communist party, are trying to adopt the concept of a revolution against totalitarian communism in favor of socialism with a human face. On the right they are adopting a blunter anti-communist, nationalist and patriotic line, accompanied by Christian symbols.

"The extreme right holds a rally of its own every year, and presents not only the struggle against communism but also Hungarian frustration during the 20th century and its division in the wake of the World War I defeat. They blame the Jews for bringing communism into Hungary by force as early as 1919, with the revolution of the Jewish Bela Kun (Cohen). On the nationalist and anti-Semitic right, the anti-communist struggle is also a struggle against the Jews."

Anti-Semitism rears its head

The Jews also have their own memory of the events of 1956 - even if is does not have political expression or legitimization in the Hungarian public discourse. As an assimilated and influential minority, Jews were active on both sides of the divide during the uprising. In addition, they were prominent among both the oppressive Stalinist leadership and within the rebels' core. However, during the revolt, average Jews underwent an experience different from that of other Hungarians - one that was far less heroic. Alongside the dozens of political parties, the hundreds of newspapers and publications and the many radio stations that cropped up during the revolt, groups on the radical right also appeared in the public arena. These included war criminals who until then had been in communist prisons. Nationalist and anti-Semitic messages started entering the discourse.

This was only 11 years after the end of World War II, during which more than half a million Hungarian Jews were killed. The fascist Hungarian government then in power looted their property, enclosed them in ghettoes and deported them to concentration camps.

After the war, the Jews who remained in the country were in profound denial about their past and identity, and they repressed the betrayal by the Hungarians. They saw in communism a way of reintegrating into society, and the regime suppressed any attempts to create a collective Jewish memory. The identification of the 1950s dictatorial regime with Jews also influenced the Jewish experience during the time of the revolt. In Stalin's day, the top communist leadership in Hungary consisted mostly of Jews, as did the top echelon of the AVO, the cruel and hated secret police. The Jews feared acts of revenge.

During the 13 days of the revolt, until the Soviet invasion, the Jews lived in tension and feared the unknown, says researcher Zvi Erez.

"They knew that in every riot and every political reversal, sooner or later anti-Semitic voices would be heard. Anti-Semitic feelings have very deep roots in everyday Hungarian life," says Erez.

The fear of revenge-seekers was less significant, asserts Erez, since as early as 1953, a short while after Stalin's death, the Soviets deposed a number of Jewish ministers who had stood beside party secretary Matyas Rakosi, and the Jews were pushed out of the top ranks. Rakosi, himself a Jew, was deposed from power, to be replaced by the reformer Imre Nagy - the only non-Jew in the senior leadership - who eventually became the hero of the revolution.

Many Jews took advantage of the uprising and the central regime's tenuous hold to flee to the West. About 200,000 Hungarians fled the country at that time, including a disproportionate 15,000 Jews - who comprised less than 1 percent of the population. About 12,000 refugees came to Israel.

Like a Hungarian

Yaakov Golan, a researcher and commentator at Israel Radio, experienced the revolt as a Hungarian and even participated in the historic demonstration in front of the parliament building on October 23. Golan, then called Perer Gero, was about 19, and alongside his work as a welder he served as a sports reporter for two newspapers in Budapest. The press had already dared to publish implied criticism of the regime, he recalls, and was reporting on the mass forums of the Petofi circles, a group of opposition writers and journalists, many of whom were Jewish. The snowball had started rolling.

"I was assimilated, an enthusiastic youngster, and I identified emotionally with the revolution of 1848, the Hungarians' war of independence from the Austrians [during which Hungarians and Jews fought side by side; in 1867 the Jews won emancipation - R.G.]. I felt the struggle for freedom and liberty would heal my childhood wounds from the Budapest Ghetto during the war."

On October 23, demonstrators gathered around the statue of General Bem - a man with Polish roots who fought alongside the Hungarians in 1948 - in solidarity with Polish workers who had been shot by the Polish police several weeks earlier.

"Later we were joined by students exiting the Technical University," relates Golan, "and they had already formulated 13 points that included, among other things, a demand for a Soviet withdrawal, freedom of political organization and the elimination of the secret police. The students had worked hard behind the scenes before they came out to demonstrate."

The next stop was Parliament Square. Golan remembers masses of people trying to break into the square by force, and the great fear that the secret police would open fire at any moment. "When the square was full, they turned out the lights. We felt this was the end, that the fusillade was coming. People lifted their arms like the Statue of Liberty and burned newspapers. This made an impression on the AVO police, and they turned on the lights. They understood this was something strong."

After the initial enthusiasm, he became very afraid and decided to leave the scene; that summer he had been arrested for participating in an illegal demonstration. He got on the metro to go home. "I shook as the metro passed the secret police buildings on Andrassy Street, and then I saw a man in uniform standing next to me - and I still had the free-Hungary symbol on my lapel and the 13 points. I was shivering with fear. I got off at the first stop and walked home."

The next day he went back to work. He remembers the sense of euphoria. Newspapers changed their names and editorial desk heads were dismissed. Workers' committees began to organize outside the aegis of the Communist Party, as did formerly illegal political parties. People ran to open the secret police files. "Of the country's 10 million inhabitants, 1.8 million were under surveillance. It was a huge apparatus," Golan says.

He remembers an atmosphere of hope, exhilaration and unity, with no manifestations of anti-Semitism. After the invasion of November 4, he escaped with some friends to Italy. In fact, he encountered anti-Semitism among the refugees escaping with him. He later came to Israel.

He recalls that most of his classmates, including the Jews, identified with the revolt. "We felt Hungarian then. At that time, a few of my friends were looking toward Zion, people who were not involved in the revolt and were waiting until things calmed down to move to Israel."

The recollections of Andor Kalmar, a retired mechanical engineer who came to Israel in October 1957, a year after the revolt, are different from those of Golan. He found it hard to identify with the revolt, which thrust him back into the horrors of the past. Kalmar was 29 at the time, an officer in the Hungarian army and the married father of a young daughter. Throughout the revolt, he continued going to work at the Technical Institute in Budapest, and he heard about the events via radio.

"There was tension in the air, a lot of arguments, and we hardly managed to work," he recalls. "A short time after the revolt broke out, demonstrators started calling for the hanging of the AVO members - when a Hungarian in the street said AVO, he meant Jews. We heard that they were hanging secret police officers from electric wires in the streets, out of revenge."

Kalmar, who had survived the concentration camp at Birkenau and was liberated from Sachshausen in Germany, says the uprising reminded him that he would be better off not remaining in Hungary, and that he was a Jew and not a Hungarian.

"I was never a Communist or a member of the party, but when I heard talk against the Jews, I was not in favor of the revolt. Based on my bitter experience in 1944, I knew that if they were to start talking and inciting against Jews, it wouldn't stop there. We heard there was graffiti in the streets, 'Jacob, this time we won't take you as far as Auschwitz' - that is, they'll hang you on the spot. Suddenly, all the Jews became communists, and again they were blamed for everything."

Kalmar was afraid to flee because he knew that as an officer, if he were caught he would be severely punished.

When the regime stabilized somewhat, the officers in the Hungarian army were asked to sign a document expressing their support for the Soviet army, which had suppressed the counterrevolution. Kalmar said he had no problem with that, but asked to be released from the army. In January 1957 he and his family stole across the border to Austria. His wife was pregnant. They managed to cross safely, even though they were discovered during the crossing and Hungarian soldiers fired at them. On the other side of the border, the Red Cross was waiting.