19 June
Day of Independent Hungary

The Day of Independent Hungary has been celebrated since 1992 in memory of the execution of the martyrs of the 1956 Revolution and Freedom Fight on 16 June 1958, and the withdrawal of Soviet troops in June 1991.

On this day, Imre Nagy, the former reform communist politician and Prime Minister, was executed. On 15 June 1958, he was found guilty of “initiating and leading a popular democratic state order” and “treason” and was sentenced to death.

He did not ask for clemency and was hanged the following day in the courtyard of Kozma Street Prison, then buried in an unmarked grave. Nagy’s death caused worldwide outrage.

In 1961, his remains were transferred to Plot 301 in the New Public Cemetery. In the spring of 1989, his and his fellow executed comrades’ bodies were exhumed and solemnly reburied on 16 June amidst national mourning.

He was executed alongside Miklós Gimes and Pál Maléter at the Budapest National Prison. The reburial on 16 June 1989 became a genuine mass demonstration and has since been regarded as an emblematic event of Hungary’s transition to democracy.

The reburial of Imre Nagy and his comrades, along with the day-long mourning ceremonies, became a symbol of the end of the Kádár regime in Hungary and, internationally, of the collapse of the entire Soviet bloc.

The last Soviet soldier left Hungary on 19 June 1991, restoring the country’s independence after nearly half a century.