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Imre Nagy, statue at Vértanúk tere (Martyrs' square) in Budapest

He was born in a peasant family and was apprenticed to a locksmith, before fighting in the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I on the Eastern Front, was taken prisoner 1915. He then became a Communist, fighting in the Red Army. He returned to Hungary after WWI and served in the brief government of Béla Kun. In 1929 he went to the Soviet Union, becoming involved in agricultural research, and working in the Hungarian section of Comintern.

In 1944 he returned to Hungary again, and served in the Communist government, as Minister of AgricultureThe Minister of Agrictulture is a position in several cabinet governments. Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food is the position in the British Cabinet. Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food is the position in the Canadian Cabinet. and in other posts, becoming an expert on peasants' welfare.

After two years as Prime Minister (1953-1955), during which he promoted his "New Course" Nagy was forced to resign and was expelled from the Communist Party by hardline colleagues, including First Secretary Mátyás RákosiMatyas Rakosi ( March 14, 1892 February 5, 1971) was a Hungarian politician. Rakosi was born in in Ada, in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now in Serbia). He served in the Austro-Hungarian Army during the First World War until captured on the E as a result of the liberalizing tendency that he showed in this office. He then spent time teaching.

He became Prime Minister again during the brief anti-Soviet revolutionBudapest The 1956 Hungarian Revolution also known as the Hungarian Uprising was a popular revolt against Soviet influence and control in Hungary. The revolt was brutally suppressed by Soviet troops. About 25-50,000 Hungarian insurgents and 7,000 Soviet tr in 19561956 is a leap year starting on Sunday. see link for calendar) Events January January 1 End of Anglo- Egyptian Condominium in Sudan. January 16 President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine January 26 1956 Winter Olympic Games open in, through popular support, replacing the hardliner Erno Gero.

On 1 November he appealed to the West for help for Hungary

When the revolution was crushed by the Soviet invasion of the country, Nagy, with others, secured sanctuary in the Yugoslav Embassy. He was arrested, 22 November, in violation of a guarantee of free passage and taken to Romania. He was then returned to Budapest and executed, with others, after a secret trial in June 1958.

He was buried along with others in a distant corner (section 301) of the Municipal Cemetery outside Budapest to which access was not allowed until 1989. Next to his grave stands a memorial bell inscribed in Latin, Hungarian, German and English. The Latin reads: "Vivos voco Mortuo plango Fulgura frango," which is quaintly translated as: "I call the living, I mourn the dead, I chase the lightnings."

During the time when the Communist leadership of Hungary would not mark or allow access to his true burial place, a cenotaph in his honor was placed in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. In 1989 he was rehabilitated and his remains reburied in a state funeral.

The collected writings of Nagy were published as "Imre Nagy On Communism."

In 2003 and 2004 famous Hungarian director Márta Mészáros created a film on his life after the revolution, called "The Unburied Dead".