A year after the crushing of the revolution, the United Nations held closed hearings to understand what had happened in Hungary in the autumn of 1956. The testimonies revealed the true face of the uprising – the one Soviet propaganda tried to conceal.
The UN investigation
In January 1957, the UN established the Special Committee on the Problem of Hungary – known as the “Committee of Five” – to investigate the revolution and the Soviet intervention. The committee was composed of representatives from Australia, Denmark, Ceylon (today Sri Lanka), Tunisia and Uruguay.
They heard 111 Hungarian witnesses in both private and public sessions. Among the first witnesses were Anna Kéthly, Social Democratic minister in the Imre Nagy government; Béla Király, commander of the National Guard; and József Kővágó, former mayor of Budapest.
The committee published its report in the summer of 1957, concluding that:
“The events in Hungary were not the result of a planned conspiracy, but a spontaneous, democratic uprising of an oppressed people for freedom.”
The report defined the Soviet military action as external aggression, in violation of the UN Charter and international law. The newly formed Kádár government was effectively regarded as a puppet regime, established under the shadow of foreign arms.
Propaganda and reality
By the end of October 1956, news of the revolution had spread across the world. At the same time, the Soviet Union launched a full-scale information campaign. The Moscow-based Pravda and the Hungarian party press competed to describe the revolutionaries as “reactionary gangs” seeking to overthrow the people’s democracy, and claimed that Soviet troops entered Budapest to defend “workers’ and peasants’ power.”
The official Soviet statement, broadcast by Radio Moscow on October 30, 1956, declared:
“The firm foundation of Soviet foreign policy is peaceful coexistence, friendly cooperation, and mutual assistance among socialist countries.”
While Soviet tanks were fighting in the streets of Budapest, Moscow used the slogan of “peaceful coexistence” to disguise the nature of its military intervention. The Soviet press and propaganda described the Hungarian revolutionaries as a “fascist mob,” “Western agents,” and “counter-revolutionaries”.
Budapest, corner of Kossuth Lajos Street and Károly (Tanács) Boulevard, October 1956. Revolutionaries and civilians cheer Hungarian troops in the capital. Photo: Fortepan / Pesti Srác2
A few days later, Pravda and Izvestia were already reporting that “order has been restored in Budapest, the Hungarian people support their government, and they never wanted a revolution.” In this narrative, Hungary was not experiencing a national uprising but a foreign-inspired disturbance, allegedly contained by “brotherly assistance” from the Soviet army. The story quickly spread throughout the Eastern Bloc, with Czechoslovak, East German and Romanian newspapers repeating Moscow’s version word for word.
Outrage without action
The Western world reacted quickly and harshly. The United States, France and the United Kingdom condemned the Soviet intervention, and the United Nations placed the “Hungarian question” on its agenda within days. On November 4, 1956, the Security Council adopted Resolution 120, which condemned the invasion and called for an emergency session of the General Assembly.
But behind the diplomatic rhetoric there was no real power. The Suez Crisis erupted at the very same time, diverting Britain’s and France’s attention to Egypt. Military action was never an option, and the Cold War balance of power tied the hands of the Americans.
Across Europe and North America, protests filled the streets, newspapers demanded the withdrawal of Soviet troops, and around 200,000 Hungarian refugees found new homes in Austria, Germany, Canada and the United States.
Dutch demonstrators march in support of the Hungarian Revolution in Eindhoven, November 5, 1956. Photo: Wim van Rossem / Wikimedia Commons
Radio broadcasts – the BBC, Voice of America and Radio Free Europe – reported with sympathy and encouragement during the uprising, but the help the revolutionaries hoped for never came. The U.S. government avoided any direct confrontation with the Soviet Union.
The Legacy of the UN Report
The committee’s archives were later preserved by Hungarian-born UN official Claire de Héderváry, who saved them from destruction. According to UN archival rules, the materials were to be destroyed after three years, but she received permission to keep them. In 1998, the 30,000-page collection was transferred to the National Széchényi Library in Budapest, where it remains accessible and digitized today.
