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SOCIETY AND THE FAMILY On stepping outside the family circle, the children of the 1956 convicts came into contact with several different communities, such as the extended family, neighbours, school, workplace and army. Here they met with rejection, neutrality , or support. Officially, as we have seen, they usually encountered discrimination , although in their capacity as private persons officials did on occasion prove to be helpful. In civilian life, however, neutrality and solidarity were more common responses. Of course, there is no way of knowing what those who came into contact with the families of the convicts were themselves doing in 1956, what they thought about the revolution, and what kind of relationship they had with the authorities. However, their reactions towards those who were stigmatised reflected their opinions, albeit indirectly. Even people who would much rather have forgotten about the revolution were forced by the convicts and members of their families to remember and to express opinions. This prompted rejection by some while evoking sympathy from others. The meaning and significance of the reactions elicited from various places were of course different, nor were the numerous social contexts homogeneous. Judgements about the convicts and their relatives also changed with the passage of time. In the first years of the Kádár era discrimination was more obvious and harsh, while gestures of solidarity were more limited—and therefore of greater significance. As the dictatorship became more lenient both discrimination and support gradually became less intense. Only a thin stratum of society remained loyal to the ideal of the revolution and to those who had been involved. Nevertheless , there are certain cases that stand out from the ordinary—either of excesses on the part of the local authorities or of untiring solidarity. Social solidarity in the face of oppression, and the spiritual and material support provided to those in need played an important part in enabling members of the families to cope with the difficult circumstances. In the days of the revolution the Hungarian nation won unprecedented domestic and foreign respect. All over Europe university students, workers and intellectuals declared their sympathy in the form of protests. They organised collections and sent aid to support the fighters and the wounded. In Hungary, while the revolution was taking place the feeling of national unity was intense and was accompanied by general social solidarity. People in the countryside Society and the family supplied those in the capital with food. Those taking part in the revolution received shelter, clothing and food from the general population. The activities of the Association of Hungarian Writers were to become legendary: in the first days of November they collected donations of money in open boxes on the streets of the capital city for the relatives of those who had died in the revolution . Due to the effective resistance of society it took a long time for the new authorities to break the mood of national unity following the invasion on 4 November. Factory workers protested by means of strikes against the arrests of worker leaders and the Soviet deportations. Families in the countryside gave shelter for months to children from the capital whose homes had been damaged during the fighting. Those who, in the increasingly alarming situation, decided to leave the country, could count on the assistance of the population during their escape. Those who were forced into hiding from likely arrest could find temporary homes with acquaintances and friends. In mid-December 1956, the Kádár government banned regional workers’ councils and retribution began in the form of arrests and summary judgements. Although the strikes were ended by force, open solidarity continued until spring 1957 and the beginning of the mass arrests, predominantly in the form of organised aid. After several of the organisers of such aid were arrested fewer and fewer people risked open solidarity, preferring to offer help in secret. By the time of the partial amnesty in 1959/1960, when those who had been sentenced to shortterm imprisonment were released, and the general amnesty of 1963 when most 1956 convicts were freed, Hungarian society—in parallel with the easing of oppression and the slow improvement in living standards—reached a compromise with the authorities in return for minor rights of freedom. The majority opted for silence and tried to forget. The degree of solidarity decreased and the memory of the revolution faded. “In 1958 social solidarity was certainly in evidence, and the fact that my father was in prison was by no means...

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