Candles were lighted on the evening of 26th of October for Zoltán Tatay and Zsigmond Bóna, martyrs of the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, at a traditional commemoration held in the park of our institution.
After the X-ray anatomical lecture in the Great Hall, Dr Péter Sótonyi rector greeted the students, colleagues and guests of the university, Dr Gábor Náray-Szabó president of the board of trustees for Marek József Foundation and Dr Sándor Fazekas, former Minister of Agriculture, member of the board of trustees of the Marek József Foundation.
The rector of our university said that in 2006, on the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence, a plaque was erected in honour of veterinary student Zoltán Tatay, on the wall of the Department of Chemistry, and then he continued:
“Now, more than 60 years after the revolution, the parents of our students have no direct experience of 1956, nor have I, since I was only two years old, but my parents talked a lot about it. My father marched from the Technical University of Budapest with the students to Kossuth Square, where machine guns started to shoot. As the people of Mosonmagyaróvár, we remember every year the still unknown number of victims of the volley at the border guard barracks.
From your perspective, it can be as far away as when my grandfather told me that he fought for two years on the Russian front and two for the Isonzo in World War I. Movies, books, photographs evoke the past, which must be remembered, because we must pay tribute to the sacrifices of those who founded our lives today.
The defence of the university was organized by the students in 1956 under the leadership of Professor László Urbányi. They went to Vienna for medicine under the leadership of Mária Tary, assistant professor, and László Urbányi. The feeding of the Péterfy Sándor Street Hospital was helped by slaughtering the experimental animals here.
Zoltán Tatay wanted to be a poet, but as his parents requested he applied here. On the 24th of
October he went in a white cloak to rescue wounded people when a series of bullets fired from a machine gun took his life. He was temporarily buried in front of the Department of Chemistry, where the plaque was placed in 2006.
Zsigmond Bóna was a national guard commander in Pomáz; he did not allow the weapons depot to be taken over, he also saved the life of an ÁVH couple. He was brought before court in February and then he was hanged.
Remember our heroes who were as old as you are!
Participants of the memorial sang the Hungarian Anthem and Summons after the wreaths and candles were placed.
During the memorial, the Tatay Zoltán medallion was passed out to Panna Moldován by Dr Péter Sótonyi rector and Dr Gergely Sziebert, president of the World Organization of Hungarian Veterinarians.
Click here for the photos of the event made by Gusztáv Balázs and Dr Tibor Bartha.