Hungarian Freedom Fighter Statue

The monument to the Unknown Freedom Fighter of 1956 stands in Cardinal Mindszenty Plaza, located at the corner of Lakeside Avenue and East 12th Street in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The statue was placed directly next to the bust of Cardinal József Mindszenty, in an area that serves as one of the most important symbolic centers for the local Hungarian community. The bronze sculpture was commissioned by the Cleveland 50th Anniversary Committee—founded by the local Hungarian émigré community—to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Revolution and War of Independence, and was finally unveiled in a ceremonial event in June 2007. The statue depicts a young freedom fighter kneeling, his face distraught and pained, clutching a tattered Hungarian flag—stripped of its communist emblem—which has become the foremost symbol of the revolution. Since Cleveland is home to one of the largest Hungarian-American communities in the United States—whose ranks swelled after the suppression of the revolution with the arrival of numerous refugees, known as the “’56ers”—the monument on Mindszenty Square holds special significance. Every October, members of local organizations, Boy Scouts, and the American Hungarian Club gather here for traditional national commemorations and wreath-laying ceremonies to pay their respects to the memory of the heroes who fought for freedom.

"October 23, 1956."
'Freedom is not Free.'

'In honor of the many Hungarian Freedom Fighters who fought against Soviet oppression. The crack in the Berlin Wall began with a hole in a flag in Budapest! 'October 23, 1956, is a day that will live forever in the annals of free men and nations. It was a day of courage, conscience, and triumph. No other day since history began has shown more clearly the eternal unquenchability of man's desire to be free, whatever the odds against success, whatever the sacrifice required.' - John F. Kennedy"