According to László Németh, “The memory of nations is their tradition.” One tradition at the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest is the silent commemoration of the victims of 1956.
This took place on the evening of October 24, 2022, when a significant number of teachers, university staff, and students gathered in the Zimmerman Lecture Hall to listen to a brief retrospective by Dr. Péter Sótonyi, the rector, on the events that took place 66 years ago in the country and at the Alma Mater. They then lit candles and quietly walked to the building of the Chemistry Department in the park of the István Street campus, where the memorial site for Zoltán Tatay, a veterinary student, is located.
Zoltán Tatay (1936-1956), who wanted to be a poet, enrolled at the University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest following his parents’ wishes. On October 24, he set off to Heroes’ Square wearing a white coat to rescue the wounded, but his life was tragically cut short by a burst of bullets from a machine gun. His untimely death serves as a perpetual reminder that the desire to help, represented by medical attire, almost always carries inherent risks. At that time, he found a temporary resting place at the university; he was buried in front of the Chemistry Department. Today, a memorial plaque on the building’s wall commemorates this event, which was installed in 2006 to draw attention to it.
This year, the Tatay Zoltán Veterinary Student Award was presented to Noémi Madarász, the president of the Student Union, by the university’s rector and Dr. Gergely Szieberth, the president of the World Veterinary Association.
