Exhibition of photographs and documents
The Exhibition - which will take place within the premises of the Italian Institute of Culture from 12th September to 24th October 2006 - will be showing photographs, books and other related documents. It is aimed at recounting the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 through pictures and writings by people who have been the eyewitnesses of those tragic events or by scholars who have studied them afterwards. A large part of the items - which has been provided for by the organizing Countries - is on display for the first time in Hungary.
The photographs, representing the main section of the Exhibition, are approximately 400 in number. They relate stories of common people, youngsters and adults who changed their destiny to challenge the dictatorship.
Most of the photographs on display were taken by the Italian photographer Mario De Biasi, who was in Budapest during the days of the Revolution for reportage on behalf of the Italian magazine “Epoca”. The power and the harshness of the photographs emphasize the violence of those days and the heroism of all Hungarians fighting for freedom and democracy, but also the drama of individuals forced to flee their Country.
The same intensity can be found in the photographs taken by Erich Lessing, also on display, which very effectively depict the known and unknown protagonists of the Revolution, the crucial moments and the ravages throughout the whole Budapest.
Very significant as well the photographs of “Paris Match” magazine taken by Jean-Pierre Pedrazzini, also for the related stories, and the material on loan by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which, jointly with photographs from the United States, Switzerland and the International Red Cross, illustrate different aspects of the Revolution, showing together the enthusiasm and the tragedies of those days of October and November.
The Exhibition is enriched by 20 panels from Canada and other items from Australia. A special mention should be given to the material entitled “The history of the Hunagrian Revolution”, consisting of 20 panels, which was made available by the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The books and the documents on display represent only a small part of what has been written on the Hungarian Revolution in the organizing Countries. Books, magazines, articles and diplomatic reports reconstruct the ante-Revolution period in attempting to portray the reasons behind the insurrection of the Hungarian people against tyranny. Such writings give the chance as well to better understand how the tragedies of the Hungarians were also experienced in the Countries taking part in the Exhibition.
1956 THROUGH MOVIES AND DOCUMENTARIES Retrospective
The organizing Countries have contributed to the Exhibition with 16 among films and documentaries. Going back to the events through the witnesses’ eyes, like the Italian journalist Indro Montanelli; listening to remembrances of the protagonists like General Béla Király; telling the story of one’s exiled parents as done by Réka Pigniczky and Miklós Gimes; recalling anxiety and distress of the Hungarian water polo team, Olympic gold medallist in Melbourne, as recounted by Colin Keith Gray and Megan Raney Aarons; remembering the life of Peter Mansfeld through the work of Andor Szilágyi: all this and more the contents of the films and documentaries which will be shown in the Cinema Hall of the Italian Institute of Culture from the 12th to the 26th September 2006.