?As in every spontaneous people?s movement, the 1956 Hungarian Revolution was characterised by disorder and confusion alongside hope and euphoria. It was a left-wing rebellion and a right-wing uprising at the same time,? Lessing said in the interview, timed to coincide with the publication of a volume of his photographs of the revolution, as well as life in Hungary immediately before and after.
The revolutionaries included reformed communists, Catholics, social-democrats and supporters of the far-right, Lessing said. If free elections would have taken place in 1956, the far-right element would have won, he added.
Lessing said the revolution appeared to him amateurish. Rather than focusing on seizing power, the revolutionaries dedicated themselves to destroying symbols of the regime. The photographer recalled an image he captured of a group of Hungarians caught in the shadow of Soviet tanks as they were trying to remove a sickle and hammer from a wall.
One of Lessing?s favourite photographs during the revolution was of a man reciting Sándor Petőfi?s patriotic poem ?National Song? ? written during Hungary?s 1848 uprising against the Hapsburgs ? in front of the Russian language book shop in Váci Street. He also recalled an artist making rounds of the capital on his bicycle during the revolution painting the cross of St. Stephen, Hungary?s patron saint, on the Russian tanks.
Lessing compared the disorder of the 1956 Revolution to that of the French Revolution of 1789. He described spectacularly violent scenes taking place only a short distance away from streets where life was going on as usual. The students and youngsters who participated in these warlike scenes would return home for lunch with their parents. Lessing said.
Lessing?s photographs of the revolution are on display at the Budapest History Museum.
To read the full interview with Lessing in French visit http://www.liberation.fr/culture/212754.FR.php
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
