Harold Schiffman´s Photo Gallery

The torch-lit Memorial March in Budapest on the Eve of 23 October 2008 commemorated and honored the historic and courageous Hungarian Uprising of 23 October 1956 against Soviet oppression, a heroic uprising that cost thousands of Hungarian lives,* and inflicted immeasurable damage upon the Hungarian nation in the subsequent brutal response by the Soviet regime: the Soviets' invasion of Hungary.

*Estimates of the number of Hungarian dead can range into the tens of thousands, e.g., to 40,000 ("domestic violence" and 2,587 "political executions" – as per The World Handbook of Political and Social Indicators by Charles Lewis Taylor).

[These photos were taken from the Danube's east bank facing that river's west bank, between 5:27 PM and 6:00 PM]

Photo of the torch-lit Memorial March in Budapest on the Eve of 23 October 2008

Thousands of marchers, carrying torches and escorted by police as they had passed just beyond Budapest's Erszébet hid (Elizabeth Bridge) from which place they proceed upstream of the Duna (Danube) on the river's west bank (once the separate city of Buda which dates to Medieval times, and even earlier than Roman times to Celtic settlements), and move towards Buda's Vár (castle) whose earliest parts date from around 1248.

The marchers continue along the Danube's West bank, upstream towards the Vár (castle).

The marchers stream by the Vár, as dusk settles in.

A detail of the marchers as they pass in front of the Vár, where some of the ancient stone fortifications can be seen in the twilight.

As the marchers proceed upstream, dusk settles in around the many church steeples (including that of the Mátyás Templom [Matthias Church]) that are silhouetted in the dimming twilight. Meanwhile the lights illuminating the Széchenyi lánchid (Chain Bridge) outline the grace of that bridge (begun in 1839 and opening in 1849), which bridge was the city's first permanent bridge to span the Danube, thus ultimately joining the cities of Buda and Pest – thereafter officially unified as Budapest in 1873: the Budapest we know today.

Banner photo: Snowbird Mountains at dawn, Graham County, North Carolina (October 26, 2005)
Unless indicated otherwise, all photographs are by Jane Perry-Camp.
Unless indicated otherwise, all compositions are published by Andres Editions, Tallahassee FL 32315.
All scores and parts published by Andres Editions are available from the publisher at the cost of reproduction and shipping.
Copyright © 2010 Harold Schiffman; Webmaster: Elsa Leslie, CABEL; Last Updated: January 7, 2010 3:46 AM