Italian publishes photo diary of Budapest in 1956 and 2006

Italian journalist Giorgio Cirillo launched his "Budapest 1956-2006" photo album at Litea Book Salon at a presentation in Budapest on Monday. The event coincided with the 49th anniversary of the execution of revolutionary Prime Minister Imre Nagy.

The Italian book is a special chronicle containing personal photographs taken on October 23 last year as well as materials taken from the Hungarian Ministry of Defense (Honvédelmi Minisztérium) archives in the Institute and Museum of Military History (Hadtörténeti Intézet).

József Holló, lieutenant general and director-general of Hungarian Ministry of Defense referred to the book as a "hard document." He said that the revolution of 1956 was unique in that one generation was fighting for the victory of another, adding "The book narrates the events of the Hungarian revolution and the legacy of 1956 in the Budapest of the third millennium."

He also stresses the important role of radio in the revolution, the medium by which the free world was informed of events in Hungary. A young Giorgio Cirillo remembers listening to the radio with his father as a child.

He has visited Hungary several times, often on October 23, to understand 1956 better. "In other countries such events are celebrated and commemorated. In Hungary people relive the revolution every year", he concluded."

His books about Hungary have been rejected by publishers on several occasions, but RAI-ERI finally agreed to release the document to mark the 50th anniversary of the uprising.

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