After the crushing defeat of the popular 1956 revoution in Hungary against Russian occupation and the puppet communst dictatorship, more than 14,300 activists were sentenced and 230  were executed.

Much of the House of Terror Museum in Budapest, housed in the same building occupied by the former secret police, is dedicated to the memory of the victims of oppression since World War II. The most touching part is the simple display of victims' portraits along the outside wall where passersby could stop and light a candle in their memory (see video).

Yes, the horrible statistics, dreary solitary cells, silent wooden gallows and torture instruments are sad and horrifying. But more than anything, the museum provides hope. Hope that one day there will be an Evin Museum for the thousands and thousands of victims of political and ideological oppression before and after 1979.

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