Emlékezeti aktus és történeti esemény. A Biksza-gyilkosság, 1956
Act of Memory and Historical Event: The Biksza Murder, 1956

Summary/Abstract: On 10 December 1956 the precinct party secretary was chased across his village, before he was beaten and murdered in Gyón (Pest County). Due to the retributions following the suppression of the revolution, the case of his murder is very well documented. However, the researcher has to bear in mind that this vast documentation was recorded after the events: the documentation is retrospective and entirely consists of products of remembering processes. In order to interpret the real contents of these sources, the main characteristics and psychology of human memory must be considered. Understanding the processes of remembering is invaluable in revealing what happened in the interrogation rooms and courtrooms after the crime and reconstructing the experience of the participating individuals. The historical event on 10 December 1956, thus, cannot be separated from the traces of memory transmitted for the historian through the subjective experience of the eyewitnesses. Consequently, although the answer to the question of what ‘really’ happened in Gyón on this day is not possible, a very complex and detailed account of the case emerges from these sources.

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