Violence in the Education: The Post-Revolutionary Situation in Hungary (1956-1957)

Abstract

Background: The author attempts to introduce an unusual approach towards schools, universities, and dormitories, including their users (professors, teachers, parents, and students): How can the educational issues be seen through the lenses of special police forces in a specific historical moment? After the 1956 Hungarian revolution, a brutal pacification process took place all over the country, supported by the Soviet troops and special armed forces, police battalions of the restarting communist power. Methods: In this historical study, I used mainly military archive documents to show the perspective of the communist restauration and confront their viewpoints with party reports and some oral histories by eyewitnesses, who suffered several injuries during the repression. The paper is based on narrative analysis, as the official explanation presented various stories to justify their actions, while the reality in the background might be very different from this. Results: Between November 1956 and May 1957, these soldiers or officers became a familiar image in educational institutions. They blamed teachers and professors for misleading their students and thus creating a narrative of the counter-revolution of October 1956, while they identified themselves as parents or teachers (instead of the real ones, who lost their rights to do this, due to the participation in the revolution). Conversely, physical and verbal aggression was a widespread routine of the army officers. Conclusions: In extraordinary situations, during historical crises violence became suddenly real, allowed, and/or supported by many political actors to achieve their goals. After the consolidation of power, these special army and police forces were released and their activities were stopped by the authorities of the Ministry of National Defence because their presence was realized as an uncomfortable situation for the politicians. Such studies may give lessons us to learn, about how these scenes escalate into a point of no return.