Hungarians visit and decorate the graves of their loved ones around November 1st, All Soul’s Day. Many Hungarians visit the Municipal Cemetery in Budapest on or about October 23rd since that day is the national holiday in Hungary that commemorates the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
To get to this cemetery we took tram #28 to the end of its route. Forming a solid line along the tram route for several blocks as we approached the stop we saw lots of tombstone and monument dealers.
After the gravestone and monument dealers there were lots of flower stalls. These flower stalls also stretched for several blocks before the cemetery gate.
People use mostly fresh flowers but you see a few silk flowers here and there.
Businesses such as these surround the entrances of every cemetery in the city and since this is the largest cemetery in Budapest, this one is no exception.
In this picture you can see the cemetery entrance in the background.
We went through the gate with the many others who were there that day. (We visited on Saturday, October 25th.)
We had to walk to the very back of the cemetery to view the 1956 revolution graves and memorials. We passed many graves in this large cemetery.
As we walked we noticed that nearly every grave in this very large cemetery was decorated. Most of them had fresh flowers on them.
We saw many visitors taking away wilted or dead flowers, sweeping or raking the area around the grave or just sitting quietly near a grave.
It seemed that the majority of the visitors drove to the cemetery and there was considerable traffic as cars waited for an opening to turn into or out of the main stream of traffic.
The guide books were accurate with their estimate of a 30-minute walk to the back of the cemetery to the plots where the 1956 revolutionaries were buried.
To get to plots 300 and 301, the plots where the 1956 victims were buried, we certainly noticed that these plots were in the very farthest corner where the government officials thought they would not be detected.
We were happy to see any signs for plots 300 & 301 since the road became very quiet and secluded. There were occasional cars and a few folks walking along with us.
Many thousands died during the revolution and thousands more were arrested, tortured and later executed.
The bodies of the leaders of the uprising were buried in secret mass graves at the very back of the Budapest Municipal Cemetery on the southeastern edge of the city.
Of these thousands, some are honored with their pictures displayed at the cemetery.
Hungarians began placing flowers at this remote spot in the 1970’s.
In 1990 after the fall of Communism, the bodies were reburied with a state ceremonial funeral and memorial markers were placed to mark the site.
Notable is the grave of Imre Nagy, who was the prime minister of Hungary in 1956. He was arrested, tortured and shot to death after a bogus political trial in 1958.
We had seen videos on TV of the current Hungarian prime minister and his wife bringing flowers to his grave on October 23rd.
Most of the victims who were not killed during the revolution were arrested, tortured and executed later and have a 1958 date of death listed on their tombstones.
We couldn’t help but notice that there were several women and young people among those whose pictures were displayed at the cemetery.
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