REAL-PhD

Stöckert, Dávid

A Harmadik Birodalom németségpolitikája Magyarországon - magyarnémetek Németország árnyékában (1938-1945)

Fábián, László

Az Édes Anna legendárium – Kosztolányi Dezső regényének elő- és utóélete

Bokodi-Oláh, Gergely

  
Gergely Bokodi-Oláh 
National Guard – 1956 
Theses of Doctoral (PhD) Dissertation 
Pázmány Péter Catholic University  
Doctoral School of History – Dr. Fröhlich Ida DSc.  
Doctoral Program of the Military History – Dr. Horváth Miklós DSc.  
Supervisor: Dr. Horváth Miklós DSc. műhelyvezető 
Budapest, 2014. 
1 
 
1. Preliminaries and aims of the dissertation 
It was in 2006, the 50th anniversary of the revolution of 1956, when 
I first encountered the issue of the National Guard. My university 
instructor then supervisor Miklós Horváth recommended me for a 
job. The Ministry of Defence sought someone to work with retired 
General Bela Kiraly. The task was to establish and operate a 
trustworthy association commemorating the National Guard of 1956.  
 
With the support of the Ministry of Defence and that of the Military 
History Institute and Museum we awarded their National Guard 
badges to the former members of the National Guard twice a year, 
able to prove their activities with documents. For six years more than 
300 former National Guard members was awarded their badges.  
 
Since 2009 the Association has been conducting science promotion 
too. Every spring I organised conferences on the subject, whose 
senior protector was the President of Republic. Our objective – to 
invite at least one expert, historian, or archivist from each county – 
was achieved for five years. Every year I edited the conference 
contributions into proceedings.  
 
Besides the above mentioned activities a collection work was also 
conducted among the members of the Association. They were 
requested to write down their memories which many of them did. 
These manuscripts, the subjective documents of that era, are 
currently available in the archives of the Association.  
2 
 
 
During my work I search for the answer to the question what role the 
National Guard played in the revolution of 1956. Did they 
accomplish their mission and maintain public order? Were they able 
to maintain law and order in a situation which was aimed at the 
dramatic change of social order? What was the role of Bela Kiraly in 
this situation? What position did he have within the regime? How 
much can National Guard members be identified as freedom 
fighters? Where are overlapping areas? Is there a significant 
difference between Budapest and the country in this respect?  
 
2. Methods and structure of the dissertation 
In my work I compare the information about the 1956 National 
Guard published on this subject in volumes that I edited; provide a 
comparison of the basic research involving scientific treatises and 
lectures of a series of conferences that I organized on this topic 
during a five-year period of time. I complete these findings with my 
own research, as well as unpublished to-date reminiscences written 
by militiamen. I try to present the National Guard in details by the 
summary and conclusions drawn from the above materials. I intend 
to use my work as a basis for further, more detailed research 
activities. 
 
I apply source criticism mainly in the case of primary sources, that is 
of contemporary documents or of those created some years later. I 
also indicate my disagreement with the conclusions of certain special 
3 
 
literature. In the case of quotations from some sources I let the 
readers have a chance to make their conclusions about their 
credibility. I do so because I regard these quotations as an example 
of contemporary positions and attitudes with the help of which 
readers are able to get the general situation of the era and feel how 
authorities regarded both National Guard members and 
revolutionaries.  
 
I begin my dissertation with the presentation of the predecessor of 
the 1956 organisation, the National Guard of the Revolution and War 
of Independence of 1848-49, outlining both the similarities and 
differences. This section is followed by a short historiographic 
overview followed by my presentation of the events in the capital, 
focusing on experiments pointing towards or resulting in the 
establishment of National Guard. Since these efforts have already 
been widely discussed in special literature the core of the dissertation 
comprises the detailed presentation of the country National Guards 
in county-based breakdown. After the analysis of the organisational 
development in the counties I summarise the common features then 
return to the events in Budapest, in particular to the details of the 
establishment of the central command bodies of the National Guard. 
The chain of events resulting in this episode is also highly 
emphasised in the dissertation. After making my conclusions and the 
summary my dissertation is completed with the bibliography, list of 
abbreviations and acronyms, index of persons, and geographic 
names.  
4 
 
 
3. Conclusions of the dissertation 
What was not clear in the first days of the revolution is a well-known 
fact today – societal self-organising is able to take over public 
administration in a functioning way at national level. Yet, the system 
of national committees was set up in a few days time in an 
unprecedented way without any central guidelines. It was also 
unclear which side the law-enforcement would take. In the police 
and military forces this was mainly a personal issue but since neither 
side could have trust in the police forces, disintegrating due to the 
separation of state security, or in the personal opinion of military 
commanders left on their own due to the paralysis of the central 
command and control system, first the party organisations then the 
revolutionary/national committees also established their own armed 
forces. The party could rely mainly on the workers and apparatchiks. 
The first group – rather unexpectedly – took the side of the 
revolution while the second group sooner or later took refuge in their 
homes, requested protection, or fled as a result of the wave of 
nationwide protests. On the basis of their own models the 
revolutionary/national committees provided support to the self-
organising civil law-enforcement which was named as National 
Guard in many places. In many cases they had a leading and 
controlling role in the police and military joint patrols. This process 
was facilitated by the fact that by late October the revolutionary 
military councils took over the control of military units too.  
 
5 
 
The National Guard played a significant role in the consolidation of 
the revolution of 1956, allowing Hungarian society, relieved of its 
fetters, to keep the events as peaceful as possible.  
 
The nationwide establishment and the approval of the National 
Guard by the Imre Nagy Government took place thanks to the 
experience and ingenuity of Bela Kiraly, inseparably from his 
person.  
 
The National Guard units had exclusively law enforcement 
functions, therefore no one expected the organisation to get involved 
in armed resistance to the Soviets and it was unsuitable for such 
actions.  
 
In the country the National Guard perfectly completed its mission 
through preventing atrocities and securing public order in every 
settlement where it was established.  
 
In Budapest the National Guard perfectly completed its mission 
through achieving that armed freedom fighters either laid down their 
arms or started backing the government thus securing law and order 
in the capital too.  
 
On the basis of all the above statements the National Guard is one of 
the most important achievements and institutions of the revolution of 
6 
 
1956. Not in the military but the political and law enforcement sense 
of the word.  
 
From the above statement comes the long-lived misinterpretation – 
upon the intents of Kádár – of the development processes of the 
revolution of 1956: it was not the politics but society that had an 
influence on the events. Although Kádár and his comrades tried to 
present the events as a result of the “error” of Imre Nagy and the 
other leaders, then after the regime change most of the 
historiography and politics placed the emphasis on the refutation of 
this position it is clear from the establishment of the National Guard 
units that in the country it was self-organisation while in Budapest it 
was the changes forced by the revolutionaries that comprised the 
moving force of the events. Of course, for Kádár and his comrades it 
was impossible to admit that it was society that wanted the changes 
and not just a few leaders. At the same time for the “average citizen” 
presented on the front page of a contemporary issue of Time 
magazine it is time to take his position both in historical 
interpretations and societal consciousness.  
 
4. List of publications 
BOOKS 
 Gergely BOKODI-OLÁH: Egy vezérkari főnök, két év alatt négy 
bíróság előtt. Proceeds against general Ferenc Szombathelyi 
1944-1946. Budapest, 2009
2 
ISBN 978-963-06-7168-2 
7 
 
 Gergely BOKODI-OLÁH: Megelevenedő történelem. Historical 
programs in the Hungarian Television 1957-1990. Budapest, 
2009. ISBN 978-963-06-8429-3 
 BOKODI-OLÁH Gergely: Fonyód, 1956. A local central in the 
freedom fight. Fonyód (Fonyód town-goverment) 2011. ISBN 
978-963-08-2511-5 
 
EDITORIAL WORKS 
 Gergely BOKODI-OLÁH (ed.): „A néppel tűzön-vízen át!” 
Nemzetőrjelvény – Scientific conferece about 1956's National 
Guard, 2009. Budapest (1956 NHT) 2009. ISBN 978-963-06-
8637-2 
 Gergely BOKODI-OLÁH (ed.): „A néppel tűzön-vízen át!” 
Nemzetőrjelvény – Scientific conferece about 1956's National 
Guard, 2010. Budapest (1956 NHT) 2010. ISBN 978-963-08-
0671-8 
 Gergely BOKODI-OLÁH (ed.): „A néppel tűzön-vízen át!” 
Nemzetőrjelvény – Scientific conferece about 1956's National 
Guard, 2011. Budapest (1956 NHT) 2011. ISBN 978-963-08-
2910-6 
 Gergely BOKODI-OLÁH (ed.): „A néppel tűzön-vízen át!” 
Nemzetőrjelvény – Scientific conferece about 1956's National 
Guard, 2012. Budapest (1956 NHT) 2012. ISBN 978-963-08-
5247-0 
 Gergely BOKODI-OLÁH (ed.): „A néppel tűzön-vízen át!” 
Nemzetőrjelvény – Scientific conferece about 1956's National 
8 
 
Guard, 2013. Budapest (1956 NHT) 2014. ISBN 978-963-89929-
0-1  
 
ELSE 
 Gergely OLÁH: Remarks of Lóránd Dombrády’s Book: Ferenc 
Szombathelyi at the Court. Hadtörténelmi Közlemények 121. 
évfolyam (2008. március) 1. szám. 96-99. o. ISSN: 0017-6540 
 Gergely BOKODI-OLÁH (ed.): Győzött a forradalom – General 
Bela Kiraly's ideas about 1956. Múlt-kor történelmi portál 2009. 
július 24. http://www.mult-
kor.hu/20090724_gyozott_a_forradalom__kiraly_bela_gondolata
i_1956rol 
 


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