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Throughout Eastern Europe

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00:00:14,409 --> 00:00:17,689
millions vowed to build the
communist paradise.

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They toiled to carry out orders

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00:00:26,647 --> 00:00:28,691
and plans dictated from Moscow.

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They marched behind the banners

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of Joseph Stalin.

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March 1953.

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The Soviet Union mourns
the death of Stalin.

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For almost three decades,
Stalin ruled supreme.

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How would they manage without him?

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"It felt as if the whole world
was about to collapse.

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We wondered what was
going to happen to us.

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We thought of Stalin as our father

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who would always look after us."

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Stalin died without naming a successor.

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A collective leadership emerged,

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led by Georgy Malenkov,

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Lavrenty Beria,

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Vyacheslav Molotov

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and Nikita Khrushchev.

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Millions of Russians grieved
for their dead leader,

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even though his rule had been ruthless

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and their own welfare neglected.

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Stalin had transformed the Soviet Union

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into a superpower.

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But at his death, relations with
America and the West

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had seldom been worse.

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"For 10 years the world
has been dominated

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by the malignant power of Stalin.

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A new era begins,

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an era in which the guiding
spirit is liberty,

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not enslavement, and when
human relations

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will be those of fraternity,

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not one-man domination."

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America too had a new leadership.

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President Eisenhower,

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Secretary of State Dulles

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and Vice President Nixon

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pledged that they would roll back

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the frontiers of Soviet power.

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Eisenhower and Dulles had accused

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the Truman administration of
being soft on communism.

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Now they had the opportunity

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to challenge Soviet power.

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But could Eastern Europe be freed
from Soviet domination

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without a nuclear war?

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"Dulles had talked about liberation,

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but Eisenhower insisted that he do so,

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that when he did so he'd couple it with,

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by peaceful means,

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and so it is not at all obvious

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how liberation in the sense of rollback

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could be achieved merely
by peaceful means."

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The Soviet empire extended
across Europe into Hungary,

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Czechoslovakia, Poland

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and into East Germany,

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which called itself the German
Democratic Republic.

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Stalin had chosen Walter Ulbricht

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as the ruler of East Germany.

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He headed a regime servile to Moscow.

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After Stalin's death,
Ulbricht pressed on,

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rebuilding his part of Germany
along Stalinist lines.

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Heavy industry was built up

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to meet the demands of the
Soviet economy.

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Workers were ordered to increase
their output.

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Everyday needs were neglected.

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"The average person lived very badly.

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If you're talking about the things
everybody needs like

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heating, coal, electricity,

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these things were all rationed.

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Electricity for domestic use
was simply not available.

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The morale of the population
dropped to zero."

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Like Stalin, Ulbricht tolerated
no opposition.

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The secret police, the Stasi,

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had its informers everywhere.

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Many churches were closed.

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Censorship prevailed.

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But East Germany was unable to stop

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people deserting to the West.

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Travel to the British, American
and French sectors

81
00:06:16,317 --> 00:06:18,808
of Berlin was open to East Germans.

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Thousands simply packed
their bags and left.

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"The flow of East German refugees

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to sanctuary in the Western
sector of Berlin

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reaches record proportions with news

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of the death of Stalin.

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Conditions are none too comfortable
for these people

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but they are happy to be beyond
the reach of the Reds."

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Undeterred, Ulbricht demanded
renewed loyalty

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from East Germans.

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Alarmed, the new leaders
in the Kremlin

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ordered Ulbricht to soften
his rigid policies.

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He complied only half-heartedly.

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The hated production quotas
remained in place.

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"If you were timed with a stopwatch
to make a screw

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and it took you four minutes,

97
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you were now expected to
do it in two and a half.

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That was the shocking thing,

99
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this raise in work quotas

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and the pressure to produce.

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It was all too much for
working people."

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Popular anger exploded.

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Workers took to the streets
of East Berlin.

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"When we passed construction sites,

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everybody - metalworkers,

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locksmiths, masons, carpenters -

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all joined us.

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When we arrived at the city hospital,

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there were several thousand
people with us.

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Banners appeared at the construction
sites saying,

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'Down with the work quota increases!'"

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News of the growing unrest

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soon spread to West Berlin.

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"I was having lunch

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00:08:19,510 --> 00:08:21,707
in an open-air restaurant in West Berlin

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on the 16th of June when
a friend of mine,

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who was in military government

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and probably in intelligence,

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drove past and said to me, 'Charles,

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you ought to be in East Berlin.'

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So I got into my car and I went over

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and ran into the building workers,

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who by that time had left
the building sites,

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were on strike

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and were marching through East Berlin.

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And where I caught up with them

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was near the Friedrichstrassebahnhof
station,

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the main station right in the
middle of East Berlin.

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And by that time,

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striking in itself was,
was a political act,

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was an act of rebellion,

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but marching through the streets

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was something more. It was almost

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kicking off a revolution."

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Strikes and mass demonstrations

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erupted in East Berlin and
throughout East Germany.

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Demonstrators tore down the symbol

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of Soviet domination, the hammer
and sickle.

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Government authority in
East Berlin collapsed.

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A senior East German communist,

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Karl Schirdewan, was horrified.

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"Ulbricht, Grotewohl, Herrnstadt
and a few others

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were all inside the Soviet headquarters

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at Karlshorst.

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They just sat there and talked
among themselves

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but nobody made any decisions.

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Nobody called for a meeting
of the central committee.

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I thought the party was leaderless."

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The demonstrators vented their anger

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00:10:05,390 --> 00:10:08,695
on all visible reminders
of communist rule.

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The Soviet authorities were astonished

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that Ulbricht had allowed the crisis

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to get out of control.

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"When Ulbricht arrived at the
Soviet headquarters

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at Karlshorst, he telephoned
Karl Schirdewan

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and asked him what was going on.

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Schirdewan reported that there
were a lot of drunks

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in the crowd

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and they were smashing the windows

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and were about to break in.

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Ulbricht put the phone down
and said in German,

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'It's all over!'

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He said it in a way which,
in Russian,

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roughly translates as,
'It's the end!'

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I wondered what did it all mean.

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Even if they smash the windows,

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they have no weapons.

168
00:11:03,829 --> 00:11:05,805
It will take us no more
than five minutes

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to sort them out."

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"They were trying to elect
a strike committee

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from the leaders of the workers

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when four Russian tanks
drove into the square,

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four abreast, and went
straight for the crowd.

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And I remember one man got caught

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and was run over by a tank."

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"We couldn't do anything
against the tanks

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with our bare hands and stones.

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As soon as the firing started,

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people began to drop down,
wounded or dead.

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The shooting broke up
the demonstration.

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For us the dream of freedom was over."

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00:12:22,741 --> 00:12:24,586
Soviet troops quelled the revolt

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throughout East Germany.

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00:12:30,246 --> 00:12:32,226
At least 40 people were killed

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and thousands were arrested.

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It was the first time

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that East German and Soviet troops

188
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closed off the Soviet sector of Berlin

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from the rest of the city.

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"The British, the Americans
and the French

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were all for a quiet life.

192
00:12:51,826 --> 00:12:53,828
Their concern was to have

193
00:12:53,948 --> 00:12:57,025
security of the access routes
to West Berlin

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but they wouldn't get into difficulties

195
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with the Russians.

196
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That was all they were interested in.

197
00:13:02,272 --> 00:13:04,122
They did not want to get involved."

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00:13:09,576 --> 00:13:11,523
With the situation stabilized,

199
00:13:11,702 --> 00:13:14,189
East Germany's rulers
set off for Moscow.

200
00:13:20,276 --> 00:13:21,950
Outside of the Soviet bloc,

201
00:13:22,070 --> 00:13:23,515
few countries recognized

202
00:13:23,635 --> 00:13:26,534
Ulbricht's German Democratic Republic.

203
00:13:30,353 --> 00:13:32,595
In the Kremlin, the ubiquitous Molotov

204
00:13:32,715 --> 00:13:35,081
signed another agreement
with the Germans.

205
00:13:35,462 --> 00:13:37,106
Stalin's old cronies

206
00:13:37,316 --> 00:13:39,408
- Malenkov, Voroshilov,

207
00:13:41,294 --> 00:13:42,387
Khrushchev,

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00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:45,095
Bulganin,

209
00:13:47,626 --> 00:13:48,836
Mikoyan

210
00:13:50,044 --> 00:13:51,389
and Kaganovitch -

211
00:13:51,790 --> 00:13:54,060
decided to stick with Ulbricht.

212
00:14:00,876 --> 00:14:03,155
Carefully orchestrated for the cameras,

213
00:14:03,275 --> 00:14:05,905
the Politburo bid farewell
and good fortune

214
00:14:06,025 --> 00:14:08,463
to their East German comrades.

215
00:14:11,927 --> 00:14:13,618
One person was missing.

216
00:14:13,738 --> 00:14:16,625
Stalin's secret police chief
Lavrenty Beria.

217
00:14:17,268 --> 00:14:20,126
The Kremlin claimed he spied
for the West.

218
00:14:20,556 --> 00:14:23,180
Later that year, he was executed.

219
00:14:28,651 --> 00:14:30,501
In September 1953,

220
00:14:30,621 --> 00:14:32,271
Konrad Adenauer was re-elected

221
00:14:32,391 --> 00:14:34,796
as West Germany's chancellor.

222
00:14:36,026 --> 00:14:38,258
Adenauer wanted his half of Germany

223
00:14:38,378 --> 00:14:40,175
to become a partner in NATO,

224
00:14:40,347 --> 00:14:42,567
the West's military alliance.

225
00:14:45,247 --> 00:14:47,793
"We wanted a strong NATO
as a defensive barrier

226
00:14:47,913 --> 00:14:50,004
against the Soviet Union.

227
00:14:51,218 --> 00:14:53,441
We also wanted to prevent any expansion

228
00:14:53,561 --> 00:14:56,482
of the Soviet Union into Western Europe

229
00:14:58,587 --> 00:15:00,537
We could only achieve these aims

230
00:15:00,657 --> 00:15:02,436
if we had a West German army."

231
00:15:08,322 --> 00:15:09,790
With American backing,

232
00:15:09,910 --> 00:15:12,037
Adenauer persuaded Britain and France

233
00:15:12,157 --> 00:15:15,583
to let their former wartime enemy
into NATO.

234
00:15:20,497 --> 00:15:22,159
"Gut morgen, Soldaten!"

235
00:15:24,144 --> 00:15:25,630
Narration: In 1955,

236
00:15:25,750 --> 00:15:28,327
West Germany was allowed
to form an army.

237
00:15:38,002 --> 00:15:41,588
The Soviets quickly countered
West Germany's admission into NATO

238
00:15:41,708 --> 00:15:43,978
by forming their own military alliance

239
00:15:44,296 --> 00:15:45,706
the Warsaw Pact.

240
00:15:48,218 --> 00:15:51,860
The pact formally bound the armies
of the communist satellites

241
00:15:52,074 --> 00:15:54,082
to the Soviet high command.

242
00:15:56,202 --> 00:16:01,320
The new treaty legitimized the presence
of Soviet troops in Eastern Europe

243
00:16:01,693 --> 00:16:05,363
Both East and West claimed
their alliances were defensive

244
00:16:05,634 --> 00:16:07,399
both prepared for war.

245
00:16:10,542 --> 00:16:14,361
But the Soviets wanted to reduce
tension in Europe.

246
00:16:14,887 --> 00:16:17,714
Molotov, the Kremlin's hard-line
foreign minister,

247
00:16:17,834 --> 00:16:20,655
was ordered to negotiate
an Austrian peace treaty,

248
00:16:20,941 --> 00:16:23,744
and the withdrawal of Soviet troops.

249
00:16:30,604 --> 00:16:32,678
"Only Molotov spoke against it.

250
00:16:32,798 --> 00:16:34,668
The others were more restrained.

251
00:16:34,949 --> 00:16:37,089
He said, 'Why should we withdraw?

252
00:16:37,209 --> 00:16:39,031
We're very comfortable there.'

253
00:16:39,151 --> 00:16:41,099
That was his position.

254
00:16:43,958 --> 00:16:46,704
But most of the Soviet leaders
disagreed with him

255
00:16:46,824 --> 00:16:49,281
and thought we have to make
a goodwill gesture

256
00:16:49,401 --> 00:16:51,840
and start talks in Europe."

257
00:16:55,826 --> 00:16:58,861
In Vienna, Molotov joined
John Foster Dulles

258
00:16:58,981 --> 00:17:00,968
and the British and French
foreign ministers

259
00:17:01,088 --> 00:17:03,269
in signing a peace treaty.

260
00:17:03,389 --> 00:17:05,892
Austria is free!

261
00:17:11,185 --> 00:17:14,601
Britain, France, America
and the Soviet Union

262
00:17:14,721 --> 00:17:18,677
agreed to end their military
occupation of Austria.

263
00:17:19,610 --> 00:17:22,735
In return, the Austrians promised
permanent neutrality.

264
00:17:27,411 --> 00:17:29,859
Ten years after the end
of the Second World War,

265
00:17:29,979 --> 00:17:33,950
the West and the Soviet Union
withdrew their troops.

266
00:17:34,309 --> 00:17:36,815
Their departure encouraged
some people to hope

267
00:17:36,935 --> 00:17:41,749
hat one day Soviet troops might
also pull out of Eastern Europe.

268
00:17:44,339 --> 00:17:46,783
In the Kremlin power struggle,

269
00:17:46,903 --> 00:17:50,800
Khrushchev had out-maneuvered
Malenkov and Molotov.

270
00:17:53,744 --> 00:17:57,496
In 1955, he led a Soviet delegation
to Yugoslavia.

271
00:18:00,157 --> 00:18:03,187
Khrushchev wanted to repair
the damage Stalin had caused

272
00:18:03,342 --> 00:18:07,399
by expelling President Tito's
Yugoslavia from the communist bloc.

273
00:18:07,674 --> 00:18:10,104
"My father, he thought that

274
00:18:10,670 --> 00:18:13,369
these people fought against fascism

275
00:18:14,476 --> 00:18:18,894
and really there's only one country
in the Europe

276
00:18:19,171 --> 00:18:24,634
who won itself, not by the help
of the Soviet Union,

277
00:18:25,041 --> 00:18:26,194
itself.

278
00:18:26,454 --> 00:18:29,200
So he thought, I have to go there,

279
00:18:29,452 --> 00:18:33,841
not invite Tito in Soviet Union,
because we're big country

280
00:18:34,234 --> 00:18:37,661
and we have to show them
that we were wrong."

281
00:18:40,042 --> 00:18:43,791
Tito's Yugoslavia remained the only
communist country in Europe

282
00:18:43,911 --> 00:18:46,132
independent of the Kremlin.

283
00:18:55,473 --> 00:18:56,907
Inside the Soviet Union,

284
00:18:57,027 --> 00:18:59,250
Khrushchev wanted
to overcome the legacy

285
00:18:59,370 --> 00:19:01,719
of Stalinist terror and hardship.

286
00:19:01,839 --> 00:19:03,941
He put more resources
into the production

287
00:19:04,061 --> 00:19:06,492
of consumer goods and housing.

288
00:19:11,362 --> 00:19:14,864
Thousands of political prisoners
had been freed from the Gulag.

289
00:19:15,125 --> 00:19:19,506
"My father was a strong believer
in the Communism.

290
00:19:20,057 --> 00:19:23,484
For him it was the best life
to the people,

291
00:19:23,718 --> 00:19:25,903
just like the heaven of the earth

292
00:19:26,023 --> 00:19:29,162
and he many times repeat
that it is impossible

293
00:19:29,282 --> 00:19:33,047
to live in the heaven surrounded
by the barbed wires."

294
00:19:34,046 --> 00:19:37,028
Khrushchev used the 20th Soviet
Party Congress

295
00:19:37,148 --> 00:19:39,569
to end the hero-worship of Stalin

296
00:19:39,689 --> 00:19:42,361
and expose the cruelties
of his dictatorship.

297
00:19:47,563 --> 00:19:49,113
During a secret session,

298
00:19:49,233 --> 00:19:52,886
Khrushchev made a speech
that astounded everyone present.

299
00:19:56,079 --> 00:20:00,179
"When he made his speech,
people in the hall started to groan.

300
00:20:02,205 --> 00:20:04,670
There were shouts of 'Shame!'"

301
00:20:07,485 --> 00:20:09,714
Stalin, Khrushchev told his audience,

302
00:20:09,834 --> 00:20:12,339
had ordered the imprisonment
and execution

303
00:20:12,542 --> 00:20:14,885
of thousands of loyal communists,

304
00:20:15,197 --> 00:20:18,404
workers, managers and soldiers.

305
00:20:20,758 --> 00:20:24,529
No one - peasant or general -
had been safe

306
00:20:24,822 --> 00:20:26,675
from Stalin's terror.

307
00:20:30,951 --> 00:20:33,967
"Khrushchev himself
wasn't without guilt.

308
00:20:36,723 --> 00:20:40,066
He had played an active part
in Stalin's repressions in Ukraine

309
00:20:40,186 --> 00:20:42,312
and in other parts of the country.

310
00:20:47,336 --> 00:20:52,397
He had no moral right to speak about
Stalin as if he himself was pure."

311
00:20:57,164 --> 00:21:01,378
"He did not say anything new for me
or for the majority of my friends.

312
00:21:01,724 --> 00:21:04,449
He did not say everything
that needed to be said

313
00:21:04,658 --> 00:21:07,636
but we were happy that
at least it was said.

314
00:21:07,842 --> 00:21:11,633
He said it in a half-whisper,
literally in secret.

315
00:21:11,753 --> 00:21:13,922
It was not printed in the newspapers

316
00:21:14,042 --> 00:21:19,020
but came out in a leaflet read at
party meetings and sometimes outside.

317
00:21:19,432 --> 00:21:22,719
We used to say - 'This is
the beginning of truth.

318
00:21:22,984 --> 00:21:24,965
Truth will win!'"

319
00:21:30,029 --> 00:21:35,479
"This fear, this tormenting fear after
Stalin's death, began to fade away.

320
00:21:39,081 --> 00:21:44,230
After the 20th Congress it looked
as if this fear would never return."

321
00:21:48,841 --> 00:21:51,823
Khrushchev's secret speech
was perfect propaganda

322
00:21:51,943 --> 00:21:54,824
for the American-financed
Radio Free Europe.

323
00:22:00,168 --> 00:22:04,699
The text of Khrushchev's speech
was broadcast after the CIA received

324
00:22:04,819 --> 00:22:08,261
a copy from the Israeli
intelligence service.

325
00:22:10,597 --> 00:22:13,579
"They were just repeating
for 24 hours,

326
00:22:13,699 --> 00:22:17,770
one-hour speech over
and over and over again.

327
00:22:19,132 --> 00:22:24,691
And this was to the party people,
who were brainwashed,

328
00:22:25,564 --> 00:22:29,825
who were led to believe, and they
did believe, that Stalin is God,

329
00:22:30,584 --> 00:22:33,435
that he is, couldn't make any mistake,

330
00:22:33,614 --> 00:22:37,198
everything he did was infallible.

331
00:22:38,066 --> 00:22:43,725
Suddenly, they, their faith,
their religion collapsed."

332
00:22:46,191 --> 00:22:50,449
Poland was fertile territory for
Radio Free Europe's message.

333
00:22:50,711 --> 00:22:54,549
Stalinist policies had brought
Polish workers close to revolt.

334
00:22:54,754 --> 00:22:59,050
After years of shortages and
hard work they wanted change.

335
00:23:02,944 --> 00:23:04,457
In June 1956,

336
00:23:04,708 --> 00:23:08,658
workers in Poznan demanded
bread, liberty and freedom

337
00:23:08,778 --> 00:23:12,232
for the Roman Catholic Church
- and above all,

338
00:23:12,352 --> 00:23:16,164
an end to the Soviet domination
of Poland.

339
00:23:19,045 --> 00:23:21,645
The demonstrators were met
with Polish tanks

340
00:23:21,765 --> 00:23:23,683
and Polish bullets.

341
00:23:24,281 --> 00:23:27,096
Seventy-four people were killed.

342
00:23:29,683 --> 00:23:32,187
Young protesters faced a show trial

343
00:23:32,307 --> 00:23:35,349
to which foreign journalists
were invited.

344
00:23:35,999 --> 00:23:39,660
"What really shocked the
government, the regime,

345
00:23:39,780 --> 00:23:42,947
was that it was the workers who rose.

346
00:23:43,191 --> 00:23:46,459
It was not the people that
they were afraid of.

347
00:23:46,898 --> 00:23:51,222
It was not the sort of
...intellectuals;

348
00:23:51,811 --> 00:23:54,678
it was not people involved in politics;

349
00:23:54,798 --> 00:23:58,021
it was real workers and they
were disgusted.

350
00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:02,579
So that was a terrible blow
to the regime."

351
00:24:04,450 --> 00:24:08,260
The uprising in Poznan fueled
the spirit of rebellion.

352
00:24:08,380 --> 00:24:09,979
Backed by Polish workers,

353
00:24:10,099 --> 00:24:14,377
reformers in the Communist Party
made ever more radical demands.

354
00:24:14,629 --> 00:24:18,055
Some even called for the withdrawal
of Soviet troops.

355
00:24:18,803 --> 00:24:21,548
The reformers turned to
Wladyslaw Gomulka,

356
00:24:21,668 --> 00:24:25,209
a patriotic communist imprisoned
under Stalin.

357
00:24:27,272 --> 00:24:29,233
Without consulting the Kremlin,

358
00:24:29,353 --> 00:24:33,239
Polish communists chose him
as their new leader.

359
00:24:37,526 --> 00:24:39,692
Fearful of an anti-Russian revolt,

360
00:24:39,812 --> 00:24:43,582
Moscow ordered Soviet troops
to advance on Warsaw.

361
00:24:43,797 --> 00:24:48,363
And Khrushchev flew to Poland
to teach Gomulka who was boss.

362
00:24:50,470 --> 00:24:52,687
"We were both horrified and amused

363
00:24:52,807 --> 00:24:55,681
because he behaved
in a very strange way.

364
00:24:55,914 --> 00:24:58,938
He was running around
and shaking his fist.

365
00:24:59,327 --> 00:25:01,664
He accused us of wanting to break away

366
00:25:01,885 --> 00:25:03,839
and said they wouldn't allow it.

367
00:25:04,192 --> 00:25:06,780
He was behaving very badly."

368
00:25:09,923 --> 00:25:12,117
While Gomulka and Khrushchev argued,

369
00:25:12,237 --> 00:25:16,217
Soviet troops positioned themselves,
ready to strike.

370
00:25:19,348 --> 00:25:21,194
America looked on.

371
00:25:22,808 --> 00:25:25,964
"You are about to see the secretary
of state, John Foster Dulles,

372
00:25:26,084 --> 00:25:29,048
face the nation with questions
from veteran correspondents

373
00:25:29,168 --> 00:25:30,978
representing the nation's press."

374
00:25:31,176 --> 00:25:33,379
"On the 17th of June 1953,
Mr. Secretary,

375
00:25:33,499 --> 00:25:37,292
the people of East Germany rose
against the Communist regime and

376
00:25:37,545 --> 00:25:40,150
the Russians were able to
come in and repress

377
00:25:40,270 --> 00:25:43,643
... suppress the uprising
by means of armed force.

378
00:25:44,127 --> 00:25:47,732
We at that time sat back and
allowed this to happen.

379
00:25:47,852 --> 00:25:51,402
Would we sit back again in
a similar fashion if this ...if this

380
00:25:51,522 --> 00:25:54,381
this kind of uprising were
to take place in Poland?"

381
00:25:54,708 --> 00:26:00,096
"Well, I do not think that we
would send our own armed forces

382
00:26:00,358 --> 00:26:05,901
into Poland or into East Germany
under those circumstances.

383
00:26:06,021 --> 00:26:09,066
I doubt if that would be a
profitable or desirable thing to do.

384
00:26:09,186 --> 00:26:11,423
It would be the last thing
in the world that these people

385
00:26:11,543 --> 00:26:14,088
who are trying to win their
independence would want.

386
00:26:14,208 --> 00:26:16,459
That would precipitate
a full-scale world war

387
00:26:16,710 --> 00:26:20,063
and probably the result of that would
be all these people wiped out."

388
00:26:22,900 --> 00:26:26,629
Because he had the backing of the
Polish army and the Polish people,

389
00:26:26,749 --> 00:26:29,902
Gomulka won his argument
with Khrushchev.

390
00:26:30,022 --> 00:26:32,166
Gomulka promised that Poland
would remain

391
00:26:32,286 --> 00:26:34,144
a loyal member of the Warsaw Pact.

392
00:26:34,484 --> 00:26:39,918
In return he secured greater freedom
of action in Polish domestic affairs.

393
00:26:41,462 --> 00:26:44,046
As Soviet troops were ordered
back to barracks,

394
00:26:44,339 --> 00:26:46,710
Gomulka addressed the people.

395
00:27:24,537 --> 00:27:30,477
Gomulka's promise of a freer, more
Polish nation calmed the demonstrators.

396
00:27:34,747 --> 00:27:38,103
"Gomulka told me a few years later
that he had a conversation

397
00:27:38,223 --> 00:27:41,960
with Soviet Marshal Zhukov,
who had been drinking.

398
00:27:45,316 --> 00:27:48,173
Zhukov said, 'We were so well prepared

399
00:27:48,293 --> 00:27:52,168
that we could have been
all over Poland in three days;

400
00:27:52,567 --> 00:27:55,271
we had very detailed plans.'

401
00:28:01,464 --> 00:28:06,166
And Gomulka replied, 'Did you plan
how many people on both sides

402
00:28:06,286 --> 00:28:08,909
would have perished?'"

403
00:28:16,001 --> 00:28:20,036
"Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin..."

404
00:28:24,763 --> 00:28:26,295
After Stalin's death,

405
00:28:26,415 --> 00:28:31,849
Hungary had remained under the ruthless
dictatorship of Matyas Rakosi.

406
00:28:33,607 --> 00:28:37,056
"It was a saying at that time;
it was like a joke.

407
00:28:37,176 --> 00:28:40,053
There's only three kind
of people in Hungary

408
00:28:40,533 --> 00:28:44,129
- who was in jail, who is in jail

409
00:28:44,249 --> 00:28:49,096
and who will be in jail,
for political reasons."

410
00:28:50,481 --> 00:28:53,984
Like Stalin, Rakosi killed
and imprisoned his rivals,

411
00:28:54,104 --> 00:28:57,953
but people were expected
to cheer and conform.

412
00:29:08,569 --> 00:29:11,978
The new Kremlin leadership
disapproved of Rakosi.

413
00:29:12,098 --> 00:29:16,014
A senior Soviet official was
sent to deal with him.

414
00:29:20,502 --> 00:29:24,458
"Mikoyan the Armenian
wheeler-dealer arrived.

415
00:29:25,230 --> 00:29:30,558
Rakosi and I went to meet him at
the airport and took him back by car.

416
00:29:31,105 --> 00:29:35,046
We were almost at the guesthouse when
Mikoyan turned to Rakosi and said,

417
00:29:35,367 --> 00:29:39,116
'The Soviet leadership has
decided you are ill.'

418
00:29:40,321 --> 00:29:43,437
Well, Rakosi didn't think he was ill,

419
00:29:43,557 --> 00:29:47,553
but of course in those days
illness was a political decision.

420
00:29:47,792 --> 00:29:51,215
Mikoyan continued, 'You will
need treatment in Moscow

421
00:29:51,335 --> 00:29:53,985
so you will have to resign.'"

422
00:29:57,154 --> 00:30:01,136
The Soviets allowed Andras Hegedus
to remain prime minister.

423
00:30:01,256 --> 00:30:03,973
But reformers in the Hungarian
Communist Party

424
00:30:04,093 --> 00:30:07,783
sought a leader more independent
from Moscow.

425
00:30:09,074 --> 00:30:11,645
They wanted Imre Nagy to take over.

426
00:30:11,765 --> 00:30:17,412
Like Gomulka in Poland, Nagy was seen
as a leader who would reform the party.

427
00:30:17,971 --> 00:30:21,241
The Soviet Embassy in Budapest
was uneasy.

428
00:30:25,329 --> 00:30:30,044
"Ambassador Andropov sensed the
possible danger and warned Moscow.

429
00:30:30,164 --> 00:30:33,001
He sent a lot of telegrams,
he made phone calls

430
00:30:33,121 --> 00:30:36,077
and even went to Moscow himself.

431
00:30:37,290 --> 00:30:40,859
He tried to warn everybody
but it was all in vain.

432
00:30:40,979 --> 00:30:45,205
Khrushchev thought he could
cope with the situation."

433
00:30:53,180 --> 00:30:55,894
Inspired by Gomulka's success
in Poland,

434
00:30:56,014 --> 00:30:59,939
thousands poured into
the streets of Budapest.

435
00:31:02,586 --> 00:31:05,200
Students and workers
demanded free speech,

436
00:31:05,320 --> 00:31:10,627
the disbanding of the secret police
and the withdrawal of Soviet troops.

437
00:31:13,457 --> 00:31:18,268
They paraded Hungarian flags with
the communist emblem torn out.

438
00:31:21,115 --> 00:31:26,293
"I was stopped halfway across
Margit Bridge by women students.

439
00:31:27,591 --> 00:31:30,388
One of them asked me for my army cap.

440
00:31:30,508 --> 00:31:32,769
She pinned the Hungarian
national colors to it

441
00:31:32,889 --> 00:31:35,199
and thrust a leaflet into my hand.

442
00:31:35,482 --> 00:31:38,429
It contained 14 demands.

443
00:31:38,549 --> 00:31:42,891
I could agree with 13 of these demands
but I couldn't agree with the 14th,

444
00:31:43,011 --> 00:31:46,287
which called for the withdrawal
of Soviet troops from Hungary.

445
00:31:46,570 --> 00:31:50,982
This was a demand which
we couldn't possibly achieve."

446
00:31:51,633 --> 00:31:55,122
The demonstrators carried
portraits of Imre Nagy.

447
00:31:55,402 --> 00:31:58,791
Communist reformers urged him
to take charge.

448
00:32:00,794 --> 00:32:03,519
"Imre Nagy was suddenly
taken from his home

449
00:32:03,639 --> 00:32:05,452
to the Parliament.

450
00:32:06,451 --> 00:32:10,567
And he spoke for some minutes.

451
00:32:10,687 --> 00:32:14,696
He began saying 'Comrades'

452
00:32:15,615 --> 00:32:20,423
and then the crowd roared and said,
'We are not Comrades.'"

453
00:32:21,036 --> 00:32:24,285
Nagy had misjudged the popular mood.

454
00:32:24,711 --> 00:32:27,774
Hungarians wanted immediate
and radical change.

455
00:32:27,894 --> 00:32:33,781
In the center of Budapest, an excited
crowd toppled the monument to Stalin.

456
00:32:34,479 --> 00:32:38,595
Nagy stayed silent when Hungary's
tottering communist leadership

457
00:32:38,715 --> 00:32:42,377
called on the Kremlin
to crush the growing unrest.

458
00:32:45,360 --> 00:32:48,690
"I got a telephone call from my
divisional commander in Cegled.

459
00:32:48,810 --> 00:32:53,538
He told me, 'You've got to go
to Budapest - it's urgent!'

460
00:32:55,835 --> 00:32:58,049
I asked, 'What are my orders?'

461
00:32:58,169 --> 00:33:02,777
I was told that orders would be
given when I arrived in the city.

462
00:33:07,155 --> 00:33:10,551
We were approaching the city
as dusk fell.

463
00:33:10,877 --> 00:33:14,347
We thought that all that was
needed was a show of force.

464
00:33:14,467 --> 00:33:17,004
Then I heard a machine gun open fire

465
00:33:17,124 --> 00:33:20,866
and the screams of a man who
was wounded or dying.

466
00:33:21,288 --> 00:33:25,616
Then I realized that things
were going to get serious."

467
00:33:41,201 --> 00:33:43,136
Armed civilians had prevented

468
00:33:43,256 --> 00:33:46,307
Soviet tank re-enforcements
from entering Budapest.

469
00:33:47,048 --> 00:33:50,100
The Hungarians had equipped themselves
with Molotov cocktails,

470
00:33:50,304 --> 00:33:53,518
rifles, machine guns and enthusiasm.

471
00:33:55,902 --> 00:33:58,186
"I don't know how the guns work

472
00:33:58,434 --> 00:34:01,869
but one older man, his name
was Pista Baczi,

473
00:34:02,182 --> 00:34:05,818
he says 'Don't worry about it,
I'm going to teach you!'

474
00:34:05,938 --> 00:34:09,693
And then I looked at the gun
was bigger than me!

475
00:34:11,096 --> 00:34:13,973
They explained to me and showed
me a couple of times.

476
00:34:14,093 --> 00:34:17,010
And my very first time I had to use it

477
00:34:17,130 --> 00:34:21,458
I close my eyes because, you know,
for scared, I never use gun before.

478
00:34:21,712 --> 00:34:23,390
So then

479
00:34:23,510 --> 00:34:26,986
I now looked around and there
was a couple of soldiers there

480
00:34:27,265 --> 00:34:32,780
and they teared off from their
uniform, they had stars,

481
00:34:32,900 --> 00:34:35,351
the Russian stars, so they
teared that off.

482
00:34:35,471 --> 00:34:39,693
And they said, 'Don't worry about it,
little girl. We'll take care of you!'"

483
00:34:42,284 --> 00:34:45,533
"Quite a few times I want to go home.

484
00:34:45,653 --> 00:34:48,064
Maybe the next bullet is
going to be mine.

485
00:34:48,184 --> 00:34:53,724
And I started to go. And when I saw
the 14-, 15-year-old kids dead,

486
00:34:55,193 --> 00:35:00,254
I said, 'I was in the service
for two and a quarter years.

487
00:35:00,374 --> 00:35:02,511
I know how to handle a gun.

488
00:35:02,631 --> 00:35:04,522
And I'm going home

489
00:35:05,068 --> 00:35:09,423
and I'm going to leave these kids
to die for our country?'

490
00:35:09,543 --> 00:35:12,552
The shame kept me there."

491
00:35:14,737 --> 00:35:19,225
During four days of fighting the Budapest
revolutionaries stood their ground.

492
00:35:24,553 --> 00:35:27,096
There were heavy losses on both sides.

493
00:35:27,336 --> 00:35:30,186
Imre Nagy arranged a cease-fire.

494
00:35:30,786 --> 00:35:34,495
The Soviets agreed to withdraw
their troops from Budapest.

495
00:35:38,689 --> 00:35:41,326
The Kremlin hoped Nagy,
now prime minister,

496
00:35:41,446 --> 00:35:44,149
could restore communist authority.

497
00:35:44,655 --> 00:35:47,066
But the patriot in Nagy was taking over.

498
00:35:47,186 --> 00:35:51,142
Cautiously he decided to back
the Hungarian revolutionaries.

499
00:36:20,881 --> 00:36:24,424
"I'll tell you quite honestly - and
this is not only my opinion,

500
00:36:24,544 --> 00:36:26,954
this is what every revolutionary
thinks,

501
00:36:27,074 --> 00:36:30,310
at least the ones who dare express
their opinions.

502
00:36:35,106 --> 00:36:38,249
We only recognized Imre Nagy
as our prime minister

503
00:36:38,369 --> 00:36:41,831
when he actually acknowledged
the revolution.

504
00:36:47,838 --> 00:36:50,928
He announced, 'This is not
a counterrevolution,

505
00:36:51,048 --> 00:36:53,703
this is a fight for freedom.'"

506
00:37:00,070 --> 00:37:04,838
During the fighting in Budapest, many
people had taken refuge in cellars.

507
00:37:04,958 --> 00:37:08,979
As they emerged they found
much of their city in ruins.

508
00:37:15,079 --> 00:37:17,929
The Hungarians thought they
had won their revolution.

509
00:37:18,462 --> 00:37:21,659
They came out to mourn
their dead heroes.

510
00:37:30,049 --> 00:37:35,044
Western correspondents flocked
to Hungary to report on a victory.

511
00:37:35,164 --> 00:37:37,700
"What do you hope will happen now?"

512
00:37:37,820 --> 00:37:41,469
"We hope that our country
will be entirely free

513
00:37:41,589 --> 00:37:46,394
and we can work and we can have
free connections with West..."

514
00:37:47,005 --> 00:37:50,545
"People were enormously optimistic
that life had changed.

515
00:37:50,665 --> 00:37:54,391
Everywhere in the country the
Hungarian tricolor was flying

516
00:37:54,511 --> 00:37:58,068
with the middle torn out, the
communist emblem torn out.

517
00:37:58,188 --> 00:38:02,936
It was, seemed to be a completely
liberated country."

518
00:38:03,229 --> 00:38:08,674
Many Hungarians looked to America and
the West to guarantee their revolution.

519
00:38:12,433 --> 00:38:15,497
"Behind me is the Blue Danube
in Budapest.

520
00:38:15,617 --> 00:38:17,536
The scene is calm enough here

521
00:38:17,656 --> 00:38:20,246
but the rest of this city is
in a bloody turmoil.

522
00:38:20,366 --> 00:38:22,736
For more than a week, the
Hungarian rebels

523
00:38:22,856 --> 00:38:25,666
have been attacking the signs
of Soviet tyranny.

524
00:38:26,068 --> 00:38:27,997
It's become a platitude to say

525
00:38:28,117 --> 00:38:30,184
of the people that they've earned
their freedom,

526
00:38:30,304 --> 00:38:34,022
but it's the only thing that can really
be said of the Hungarians today.

527
00:38:34,142 --> 00:38:36,933
Whether they will be free
is still in the issue,

528
00:38:37,053 --> 00:38:41,045
but if sheer guts can win freedom,
they'll win."

529
00:38:43,008 --> 00:38:47,267
The West's attention was diverted
by another crisis far from Europe.

530
00:38:47,961 --> 00:38:51,603
An extraordinary military venture
was beginning in the Middle East.

531
00:38:51,896 --> 00:38:56,544
Egypt's Suez Canal was attacked
by Britain, France and Israel.

532
00:38:57,404 --> 00:39:01,037
America hadn't been consulted
and was infuriated.

533
00:39:01,388 --> 00:39:03,498
So too were Hungarians.

534
00:39:05,059 --> 00:39:07,970
"We went to interview the head
of the resistance in Gyor,

535
00:39:08,090 --> 00:39:10,431
which is the main town
in western Hungary,

536
00:39:10,655 --> 00:39:14,132
and he gave us an interview. And
then he said 'You have wrecked

537
00:39:14,252 --> 00:39:16,720
- you the British and, of course,
the French,

538
00:39:16,840 --> 00:39:18,712
have wrecked our rising

539
00:39:19,406 --> 00:39:22,218
by starting a war in the Middle East.

540
00:39:22,338 --> 00:39:25,372
This will put the Russians in a
position where they can, in effect, act

541
00:39:25,492 --> 00:39:28,683
with impunity because every
- the world's eyes will be on

542
00:39:28,803 --> 00:39:30,998
on the Middle East and not
on Hungary.'

543
00:39:31,118 --> 00:39:32,980
So they were angry."

544
00:39:37,134 --> 00:39:39,699
With the Soviet army
no longer in the city,

545
00:39:39,819 --> 00:39:42,434
the revolutionaries in
Budapest took revenge.

546
00:39:50,711 --> 00:39:53,726
Communist party offices were destroyed

547
00:39:54,544 --> 00:39:56,021
the Red flag burned.

548
00:39:57,278 --> 00:39:59,890
Secret policemen were strung up.

549
00:40:06,301 --> 00:40:07,912
"With Imre Nagy in power,

550
00:40:08,032 --> 00:40:10,958
there was an orgy of bloodletting
in the streets of Budapest

551
00:40:11,078 --> 00:40:12,398
and other cities.

552
00:40:14,450 --> 00:40:17,294
I saw people being strung up
by their feet,

553
00:40:17,514 --> 00:40:21,029
people being publicly humiliated
and trampled on."

554
00:40:23,862 --> 00:40:26,340
The Soviets sent more troops
into Hungary.

555
00:40:29,990 --> 00:40:32,981
Prime Minister Nagy tried
one last gamble.

556
00:40:33,101 --> 00:40:34,606
With Austria in mind,

557
00:40:34,726 --> 00:40:36,972
agy declared Hungarian neutrality

558
00:40:37,092 --> 00:40:40,085
and divorce from the Warsaw Pact.

559
00:40:40,558 --> 00:40:42,382
He hoped international pressure

560
00:40:42,502 --> 00:40:45,946
would stop the Soviets crushing
the revolution.

561
00:40:49,504 --> 00:40:53,203
"Imre Nagy's government
was not a legitimate one.

562
00:40:55,778 --> 00:40:59,049
Therefore any decision it took
concerning the Warsaw Pact,

563
00:40:59,169 --> 00:41:01,957
which Hungary had joined
according to its own laws,

564
00:41:02,077 --> 00:41:05,607
was, to put it mildly, invalid."

565
00:41:12,921 --> 00:41:15,815
Other communist states,
especially China,

566
00:41:15,935 --> 00:41:18,766
were urging Khrushchev to use force.

567
00:41:21,904 --> 00:41:24,504
"It was a very complicated
decision to my father

568
00:41:24,624 --> 00:41:28,179
as he thought for three or four days.

569
00:41:28,711 --> 00:41:33,523
He talk with the Chinese, with
other representatives and

570
00:41:33,643 --> 00:41:37,273
one time they decided not to use
force and they told no.

571
00:41:37,393 --> 00:41:39,986
We have to use force?
Yes? No? Yes? No?

572
00:41:40,168 --> 00:41:42,662
At last it was decision,
yes to use it."

573
00:41:46,012 --> 00:41:48,581
"We were told to get ready
to re-enter Budapest

574
00:41:48,701 --> 00:41:51,374
because the terror had started.

575
00:41:53,156 --> 00:41:55,100
We were not a force of occupation.

576
00:41:55,220 --> 00:41:57,011
Instead we were going in as saviors

577
00:41:57,131 --> 00:42:00,657
to protect the people from
banditry and terrorism.

578
00:42:03,956 --> 00:42:07,631
We knew that the Americans might
also enter the city from the West.

579
00:42:08,032 --> 00:42:11,250
We asked our divisional commander,
'Could this mean war?'

580
00:42:11,775 --> 00:42:17,476
He said, 'Yes. This could be
the beginning of World War III.'"

581
00:42:22,791 --> 00:42:27,941
On November the 4th, 1956, the Soviet
army re-entered Budapest.

582
00:42:29,034 --> 00:42:32,179
"I called up Imre Nagy.
And I then tell that,

583
00:42:32,428 --> 00:42:33,722
'Mr. Prime Minister,

584
00:42:34,226 --> 00:42:39,011
all the signs we observe, the
massive troop employment,

585
00:42:39,131 --> 00:42:44,419
the unrestricted shooting
and now the attack

586
00:42:44,539 --> 00:42:47,056
against the final perimeter
of Budapest;

587
00:42:47,176 --> 00:42:52,781
all of this suggests to me that we are
in war with the Soviet Union.

588
00:42:52,901 --> 00:42:55,515
I recommend that you, as prime minister,

589
00:42:55,635 --> 00:42:57,993
state for the nation, for the world,

590
00:42:58,113 --> 00:43:03,584
that Hungary is in war with the Soviet
Union, due to the Soviet aggression.'

591
00:43:03,704 --> 00:43:06,440
He dressed me down practically

592
00:43:06,868 --> 00:43:09,419
'No war with the Soviet Union!'"

593
00:43:14,937 --> 00:43:18,929
Khrushchev had ordered the attack after
the Americans had let him understand,

594
00:43:19,049 --> 00:43:21,273
that as far as Eisenhower was concerned,

595
00:43:21,393 --> 00:43:25,058
Hungary belonged in the
Soviet sphere of influence.

596
00:43:26,290 --> 00:43:29,684
Too late, Imre Nagy appealed
to the world.

597
00:43:56,022 --> 00:44:00,014
The Hungarian fighters waited
in vain for Western help.

598
00:44:01,234 --> 00:44:04,323
"And the fact that, if the West
intervened,

599
00:44:04,443 --> 00:44:07,802
it ran the high risk of generating
a world war

600
00:44:09,645 --> 00:44:14,687
really meant that we didn't want to see
physical uprisings,

601
00:44:15,566 --> 00:44:20,327
and the policy at least was don't,
also don't create any hopes

602
00:44:20,447 --> 00:44:25,081
on the part of the satellite countries
that we will intervene."

603
00:44:25,508 --> 00:44:28,219
"Radio Free Europe and
they were saying,

604
00:44:28,465 --> 00:44:31,624
'Hang on, two... three weeks,
three more weeks,

605
00:44:31,744 --> 00:44:33,846
we come in, we help you!'

606
00:44:38,216 --> 00:44:41,841
So we fight for the last bullet,
the last drop of blood

607
00:44:41,961 --> 00:44:46,627
we was holding on to, and what happened
was, they was lying to us,

608
00:44:46,884 --> 00:44:48,428
nobody came."

609
00:44:50,531 --> 00:44:53,369
The Hungarian Revolution was crushed.

610
00:44:54,590 --> 00:44:56,848
Thousands were killed in the fighting.

611
00:44:57,474 --> 00:44:59,427
Imre Nagy was executed.

612
00:45:18,211 --> 00:45:21,113
Two hundred thousand Hungarians
fled into Austria

613
00:45:21,233 --> 00:45:24,804
before the frontier was sealed
by Soviet troops.

614
00:45:26,084 --> 00:45:29,131
The millions who stayed behind
in Hungary were prisoners.

615
00:45:37,725 --> 00:45:41,581
Khrushchev had re-enforced
the Iron Curtain.

616
00:45:47,522 --> 00:45:50,891
Subtitles by
Juan Claudio Epsteyn

617
00:45:51,660 --> 00:45:55,017
E-mail:
epsteyn@hotmail.com