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Péterfi, Miklós (1930-1983) |
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Born in Csömör into a working-class family, he left middle school and joined Brown-Boveri and then the Orion factory. He then completed a college course in the timber and metal industries. The lower age limit was waived to allow him to join the Hungarian Communist Party in 1946. In 1952, he entered the mechanical engineering department of Budapest Technical University. He became a member of the leadership of the youth organization DISZ at the university. He took part in the Budapest demonstration on October 23, 1956 and attended the siege of the Radio. He joined the Újpest National Committee on the 26th, where he succeeded in winning over the men at the river guard barracks in Újpest. On October 31, he headed a military detachment that marched to the Transit Prison in Kőbánya to release political prisoners. He played an important part in organizing public supplies for Újpest. On November 4, he raised an armed unit of university students, but it never engaged the Soviet forces. He produced leaflets in foreign languages in the Revolutionary Committee. He set off for Austria on behalf of the Újpest National Committee to make contact with the International Red Cross, but was halted by the Russian and Hungarian authorities. He was arrested on November 12. He was sentenced to death on March 15, 1959 in the trial of the Újpest revolutionaries, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment on July 28. He was freed under an individual amnesty in 1968. He became a building site supervisor and manager. Meanwhile he resumed his university studies on an evening course and obtained a degree. He worked for the planning office of Budapest Municipal Council until his death. |
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Péterfi Miklós: Recollections of an insurgent