1956 revolution changed history for Hungarians

On an October morning 50 years ago, Sandor Boldizsar walked out of his Soviet-controlled factory outside Budapest and joined thousands of fellow Hungarians in protest.

"The hope was to see if the Russians would leave us alone," Boldizsar remembered.

Boldizsar, who now lives in Bellevue, had grown tired of the Soviet regime, which he thought had mistreated the Hungarian people since taking over in 1949.

He was not alone. On that October day, approximately 200,000 gathered in one of Budapest's city squares and began chanting, "Russians out!"

But the Soviet-backed Hungarian state police began to shoot at the crowd. Boldizsar said he joined with the protesters to fight back with guns distributed by local police and soldiers loyal to Hungary.

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 had begun.

Fifty years later, Boldizsar is half a world away from Hungary. But for him and fellow Hungarian expatriates on the Eastside and in Seattle, the revolution's 50th anniversary will be special.

"It means an awful lot to a lot of us," Boldizsar said. "We showed the world [that] 10 million people can actually ... stand up against the Soviets."

For four days, Hungarians controlled their country. But Moscow sent troop reinforcements and tanks and crushed the revolution.

Boldizsar, now 72, arrived in Washington state just a few weeks after fighting the Soviets. He had fled Hungary fearing for his life. He had reached Washington with a sponsorship by the Seattle archdiocese.

He was one of an estimated 200,000 Hungarians who left the country after the revolution's demise.

The revolution "was the big event of the 20th century," said Csaba Hegyvary, a Bellevue resident who said she was in Budapest during the revolution and fled Hungary in 1967. "It changed the course of history" for Hungary.

Some 2,000 Hungarians live in Washington state, according to the Seattle-based Hungarian American Association of Washington.

Helen Szablya, consul for Hungary in Washington state, estimates that 500 of those 2,000 Hungarians witnessed the revolution.

For the next month, this small community will organize several events around the Eastside and Seattle commemorating the 50th anniversary of the revolution. They want to keep the memories and the message of the revolution alive for future generations.

"It's emotionally charged for them," said Laszlo Csepreghy, president of the Hungarian American Association of Washington.

For Hungarians living in Washington, keeping in touch with their culture has been especially difficult.

It wasn't until the 1980s that the association was created by a few members who looked for Hungarian-looking names in the phone book, said Szablya. Before that, most of the Hungarian community knew each other through church and soccer teams, said Boldizsar.

Since then, the Hungarian community has been more organized. Language and dance classes are offered and a sister-city partnership between Seattle and Pecs, in southern Hungary, was formed. The anniversary of the revolution will be a time to showcase their culture and their history, said Szablya.

But for those who lived through the revolution, it will be a personal time of remembrance.

"The revolution means everything," said Szablya. " We never had real freedom in Hungary."

Boldizsar is now retired, has three grown children and four grandchildren. He spends his time gardening, making traditional Hungarian food and volunteering in the Hungarian community.

His face lights up when he describes seeing the Statue of Liberty for the first time and buying a 1957 Chevy less than a year after arriving in the U.S.

"This country was so good for me," he said. "Everything was there, you just have to reach for it. It was like going from hell to heaven.

"At the age of 16, I thought, if I ever make it to the West side I want to go to America," he said. "I'm so glad [I came] to this beautiful country."

Manuel Valdes: 206-464-8305 or mvaldes@seattletimes.com