25. November
Gulag Memorial Day

(25 November – Memorial Day for Hungarian Political Prisoners and Forced Labourers Deported to the Soviet Union)

On 21 May 2012, the Hungarian National Assembly declared 25 November the Memorial Day for Hungarian Political Prisoners and Forced Labourers Deported to the Soviet Union. This date was chosen because, on 25 November 1953, the first group of prisoners released from the Gulag camps returned to Hungary.

The majority of civilians in Hungary who were captured and gathered for so-called “short-term labour” were deported as prisoners of war by the Soviet armed forces, while others were taken as internees.

According to Resolution 41/2012 (V.25.) of the National Assembly – adopted on the initiative of Erzsébet Menczer MP, President of the organisation of former Hungarian political prisoners and forced labourers in the Soviet Union (SZORAKÉSZ) – Parliament intends to pay tribute to the approximately 800,000 Hungarian compatriots who, from the autumn of 1944 onwards, were deported to the Soviet Union as prisoners of war or internees for years of forced labour. Many others were later exiled to the Gulag labour camps for terms of 5 to 25 years, often based on fabricated charges during the post-war consolidation of the communist dictatorship, with the active cooperation of the Hungarian authorities.

Parliament honours the memory of all those who lost their lives for their homeland, for their Hungarian identity, for their ethnicity, or because of their political or religious beliefs. It also commemorates those who, deprived of their human and civil rights, were forced to work under inhuman and degrading conditions on foreign soil, thousands of kilometres from their homeland.

The resolution also calls upon central government bodies, educational institutions, churches, civil organisations, public service media, and local governments to commemorate this day in a dignified and respectful manner.