Eastern Europe's First 1956 Memorial Plaque

In October 1986, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence, the first 1956 commemorative plaque in Eastern Europe was unveiled at St. Christopher’s Parish Church in Podkowa Leśna. The initiative was spearheaded by Ákos Engelmayer, who has lived in Podkowa Leśna since 1995, and journalist Jacek Maziarski, a founding member of the Polish-Hungarian Solidarity movement, also played a major role in bringing the project to fruition. The parish church served as one of the central meeting places for the Polish opposition movement in the 1980s. Father Leon Kantorski maintained close ties with the opposition. The unveiling of the memorial plaque, created “in memory of those who fell and were murdered,” was accompanied by a solemn Mass. On this occasion, a large Kossuth coat of arms was hung in front of the altar, and Wojciech Frazik, a historian from Kraków, gave a lecture on the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. An exhibition of documentary photographs he had compiled on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution was displayed in the church basement. The commemorative plaque was hidden away after the event because its creators anticipated reprisals from the communist state security forces. They were right in their assessment of what would happen: that very night, state security agents appeared, searching for the plaque, but since they could not find it, they vandalized the statue of St. Christopher located in the churchyard. The plaque was not returned to its original location until 1989. That same year, a group called Polish-Hungarian Solidarity was also formed in the church. Ákos Engelmayer, the first Hungarian ambassador to Warsaw after the fall of communism, was named an honorary citizen of Podkowa Leśna in 1994.

In Memory of Those Who Fell and Were Murdered
On the 30th Anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution