Day of the Independent Hungary

The present Hungarian memorial day structure shows a varied image: February 1is the memorial day of the republic, February 25 is the memorial day of the victims of Communist dictatorship, April 16 is the memorial day of the Hungarian victims of the Holocaust, June 19 is the memorial day of the independent Hungary and October 6 is the memorial day of the Arad martyrs, the military leaders of the defeated revolution who were executed in Arad in 1849. In addition, there are also designated days that are celebrated by individual groups and which were not, in any, way related to parliamentary initiative. Such days include the day of Hungarian cards, the day of Hungarian soccer, the day of the Hungarian musical comedy, etc.

Following the failed 1956 revolution, Hungary became a comparatively freer, though still repressive, member of the Eastern Bloc. The removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria accelerated the collapse of the Eastern Bloc and subsequently the Soviet Union.