16th of June is the Day of Freedom and Reconciliation. Heroes’ Square will become a site of celebration tonight, with concerts by Scorpions and the legendary Hungarian band Omega.
This day, Hungarians celebrate their freedom and independence. It is the time to remember Imre Nagy and other leaders, who had been executed for standing out for what they believed in during the 1956 Hungarian Uprising. They had been tried and executed secretly and were only rehabilitated and given their honour back after the regime change in 1989.
photo: Statue of Imre Nagy, looking towards the Parliament (by Estela Canaveira)
Exactly 31 years after they’d been executed, they were reburied with full honours. Their reburial ceremony was attended by thousands of people. It was the final closing of communism - one of the most influential symbolic events in the Hungarian transition from communism to democracy.
Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hungary’s political system change, there will be free concerts at Heroes’ Square tonight.
At 6:30 pm, the legendary Hungarian band, Omega takes the stage, then the iconic hit Wind of Change’s performer, Scorpions will play. The two bands have a lot in common – Scorpions’ White Dove is the English version of Omega’s Gyöngyhajú lány, and they’ve sung Wind of Change several times together.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4RjJKxsamQ
The concerts are organized by the House of Terror Museum. Also a temporary outdoor exhibition opens today, before the Museum, titled Stepping into Freedom. It commemorates the Pan-European Picnic and the breakdown of the Berlin Wall, and wishes to say thank you to those civilians and public figures, who rushed to help selflessly and courageously to GDR civilians. Their photos will be projected to the blade wall in front of the Museum every night for one month.
