NUMBER 144 • ISSUE 3 • 2006 Whe re AreThey Now? THE HUNGARIAN REFUGEES, 50 YEARS ON GUEST EDITORIAL BY UNHCR GOODWILL AMBASSADOR ANGELINA JOLIE THE EDITOR’S DESK The 50th Anniversary of the HUNGARIAN Uprising he last week of October 1956 was one of the Twelve days later, on 4 November, the Soviet tanks most dramatic in the second half of the 20th cen- rolled into Budapest. The city endured days of heavy Ttury. Two entirely separate crises erupted, both of shelling and street battles, and Hungarians started to flee at which had important and long-lasting ramifications for the the rate of thousands a day to neighbouring Austria. By the future course of the Cold War and the relationship between time the borders were fully sealed, some 180,000 Hungarian the two emerging Superpowers – as well as for the develop- refugees had made their way to Austria and 20,000 had ment of the United Nations. headed south into Yugoslavia. On 23 October, while the British, French and Israeli gov- Within days of the exodus starting, an extraordinary op- ernments were in the middle of a secret three-day meeting eration sprang up in Austria, not only to care for the in Sèvres, near Paris, which refugees, but to move them out would lead directly to a mo- of the country almost as fast as mentous upheaval in the Mid- they arrived. In the end, dle East (the echoes of which 180,000 were resettled from still resonate today), a group of Austria and Yugoslavia to a total engineering students in the of 37 different countries – the Hungarian capital Budapest first 100,000 of them in under decided to hold a demonstra- ten weeks. The performance of tion – not about the situation MTI FOTÓ/B. SÁNDOR/HUN•1956 the Austrians, the aid agencies in Hungary, but about Poland. and the resettlement countries News had been swirling was truly remarkable. around Budapest about unrest The 1956 uprising and its af- in several other Soviet satel- termath helped shape the way lite states: riots in East Ger- humanitarian organizations – many, rumblings in Prague, not least UNHCR – were to deal and above all a serious revolt with refugee crises for decades in the Polish city of Poznan in to come. The episode also left an June, which had been crushed indelible mark on international by the army. refugee law and policy. The Budapest students had But the people it marked heard rumours of further un- most of all were, of course, the rest in Poland and decided to THE FATEFUL PROTEST IN BUDAPEST’S BEM SQUARE Hungarians themselves – both demonstrate in support of the ON 23 OCTOBER 1956. those who stayed and those who Poles. Word quickly spread left. To commemorate the 50th an- through the city, and people started coming out of their niversary of the 1956 Revolution, Refugees magazine has shops, factories and houses to join the march. interviewed seven Hungarian refugees who subsequently Thus, to some extent, the 1956 Hungarian Revolution settled in seven far-flung foreign lands. began by accident – although tensions had been simmering They range from one of the biggest names in the global for some time. The country had suffered considerable eco- computer industry to a retired garage mechanic. But they nomic hardship and a succession of vicious purges during a have all, in their own way, spent the last 50 years carving decade of communist rule. Nikita Khruschev’s denuncia- out successful new lives which belie the notion that tion of Stalin in February 1956 had sent ripples of expecta- refugees are a “burden” on their host states. tion across Central Europe, and one large demonstration As UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie re- with distinctly anti-communist overtones had already marks later in this issue of the magazine, 50 years is “a blink taken place in Budapest itself a couple of weeks earlier. of the eye in human history.” In the world of refugees, a As 23 October progressed, tens of thousands of people huge amount has been achieved over the past half century – poured on to the street – and the initial demonstration very but as the response to the Hungarian crisis reminds us, a quickly turned into something else altogether: a full-scale certain degree of spontaneity, altruism and pure generosity revolt against the regime and its Soviet masters. of spirit seems to have been lost along the way. 2 REFUGEES N°144-2006 Editor Rupert Colville French Editor Cécile Pouilly Contributors Andrea Szobolits, Ariane Rummery, Bryan 4 COVER STORY Deschamp, Catherine-Lune Grayson, Ivor HUN•1956 Jackson, Klára Szentirmay, Martine Pochon, The 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and the Melita Sunjic, Rika Hakozaki, Sylvana refugees who flooded across the Iron Curtain, Whyte, Tarek Abou Chabake, Terri Murphy, triggered an extraordinary response that Tim Irwin, and UNHCR staff worldwide. benefited future generations of refugees. Editorial Assistant Manuela Raffoni 1956 INSTITUTE PUBLIC FOUNDATION Photo Department Seven former Fifty years on Suzy Hopper, Anne Kellner Hungarian refugees On the 50th anniversary of the revolution, look back at the mother Design 4 of all modern refugee relief seven former Hungarian refugees describe Vincent Winter Associés, Paris operations. how they ended up in places as diverse as Production Wellington, Tokyo, San Francisco and Bogota. Françoise Jaccoud Distribution John O’Connor, Frédéric Tissot SOLVING THE GLOBAL Photo Engraving 24 REFUGEE CRISIS Aloha Scan, Geneva Maps Angelina Jolie argues we should avoid unhcr Mapping Unit repeating past mistakes by adopting more Historical documents thoughtful policies, and investing more UNHCR archives resources in refugees’ home regions. UNHCR/E.PARSONS/SDN•2004 REFUGEES is published by the Media Relations After visiting and Public Information Service refugees in over 20 JOIN UNHCR’S EMERGENCY of the United Nations High Commissioner for 24countries, UNHCR’s Refugees. The opinions expressed by contribu- Goodwill Ambassador 27 RESPONSE TEAM tors are not necessarily those of UNHCR. presents her views in a The designations and maps used do not imply guest editorial. Angelina Jolie becomes the first supporter to the expression of any opinion or recognition on join UNHCR’s new Emergency Response the part of UNHCR concerning the legal status Team initiative, and urges others to sign up too. of a territory or of its authorities. REFUGEES reserves the right to edit all articles before publication. Articles and photos not 28 THE LIBERIAN DREAM covered by copyright © may be reprinted without prior permission. Please credit UNHCR and the It is not just Liberia’s ravaged infrastructure photographer. Requests for copyrighted that must be rebuilt from scratch, but society photographs should be directed to the agency itself needs reconstructing from the credited. C. GTZ/W. BANKS/LBR•2006 foundations up. English and French editions printed in Italy Despite daunting by AMILCARE PIZZI S.p.A., Milan. obstacles, Liberians Circulation: 114,000 in English, French, 28are slowly grappling Italian and Spanish. their way towards a better future. ISSN 0252-791 X Cover A Hungarian girl who lost her parents during the escape to Austria in Nov. 1956. © bettmann/corbis/aut•1956 Back cover Hungarian refugee children. clockwise from upper left: iom/hat0085; unhcr photos 103, 102, 92, 99, 80 UNHCR P.O. Box 2500 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland www.unhcr.org REFUGEES 3 COPYRIGHT © THE NEW YORK TIMES COMPANY. REPRINTED BY PERMISSION “A Matter BY R UPERT C OLVILLE “The sight took my breath away,” writes Andrew Grove – a 1956 Hungarian refugee who subsequently y the evening of 23 October 1956 – co-founded the computer giant Intel (see interview on the first day of the Hungarian Revolu- p.12) – in his autobiography. “Those flags were perma- tion – the parliament building, the head- nently altered. The act seemed unequivocal and des- quarters of radio Budapest and various tined to provoke a reaction of some sort… I felt we had other key buildings had all been sur- crossed a line of no return.” rounded or occupied, and shots had been For a few days, from the point of view of many fired into the crowds, apparently by secret police agents. Hungarians, it all looked very promising: large sections A couple of symbolic acts – the toppling of a huge statue of the Hungarian army either joined the rebellion or Bof Stalin, and the appearance of Hungarian flags with handed over their arms; the hated secret police had holes where the hammer-and-sickle insignia had been their backs to the wall (many agents were hunted down – raised the stakes dramatically. and lynched); and on 29 October came the astounding 4 REFUGEES of the Heart” HOW THE HUNGARIANCRISIS CHANGED THE WORLD OF REFUGEES © HULTON-DEUTSCH COLLECTION/CORBIS/HUN•1956 news that the Soviet military would be withdrawn from war could spread and refused to back Britain, France Far left : Two huge Hungary next day. and Israel. Perhaps encouraged by the tangle the geopolitical crises, Western powers were getting themselves into in the plus a US DISTRACTED BY WAR Middle East, the Soviet leadership quickly and quietly presidential However, also on 29 October, an enthralled election, compete reversed its decision to withdraw from Hungary. for the world’s outside world was suddenly and dramatically distracted attention on 3 from what was going on in Hungary, when the news THE SOVIETS RETURN November 1956. The broke that the Israelis – in accordance with a secret The Soviet tanks re-entered Budapest on following day, the agreement with the British and French signed five days 4 November, 12 days after the demonstration that had Soviet army moved earlier in Sèvres – had invaded Sinai and were racing turned into a revolution. back into Budapest. towards the Suez Canal. Hundreds of buildings were badly damaged or de- The Cold War had now sprouted two hot spots in the stroyed over the next week or so, as Hungarian fight- space of a week.