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Helen Betts | all galleries >> Budapest Adventure >> Memento Park: Budapest's Communist-era Monuments > Joseph Stalin's boots
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10-NOV-2012

Joseph Stalin's boots

The Stalin Monument in Budapest was completed in December 1951 as a "gift" to Joseph Stalin from the Hungarian People on his 70th birthday (December 21, 1949). It was torn down on October 23, 1956, by enraged anti-Soviet crowds during Hungary's October Revolution. Only the boots [which are about six feet tall] remained. These are the boots from the monument but not the original tribune on which the statue stood.

The large monument stood 25 meters tall in total. The bronze statue stood eight meters high on a four meter high limestone base on top of a tribune 18 meters wide. Stalin was portrayed as a speaker, standing tall and rigid with his right hand at his chest.

On October 23, 1956, around 200,000 Hungarians gathered in Budapest to demonstrate in sympathy for the Poles who had just gained political reform during the Polish October. The Hungarians broadcast 16 demands over the radio, one of them being the dismantling of Stalin's statue. A hundred thousand Hungarian revolutionaries demolished the Stalin statue, leaving only his boots, in which they planted a Hungarian flag. The bronze inscribed name of the Hungarians' leader, teacher and "best friend" was ripped off from the pedestal. Before the toppling of the statue, someone had placed a sign over Stalin's mouth that read "RUSSIANS, WHEN YOU RUN AWAY DON'T LEAVE ME BEHIND!" The revolutionaries chanted "Russia go home!" while pulling down the statue. “W.C.” and other insulting remarks were scrawled over the fragmented parts of the statue. (From Wikipedia)

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J S Quesada14-Nov-2012 19:43
Great and powerful composition. Quite ironic that the boots are the only remains of an oppressor. V
larose forest photos13-Nov-2012 19:36
As with so many of these edifices to people like Stalin, the statues have nothing aesthetic about them.But your photo and text are illuminating and terrific. V
Buba Jafarli13-Nov-2012 16:28
Good solution to comemmorate the tyrant! V
janescottcumming12-Nov-2012 23:39
You did fine job with this images as well!
Colin Storey12-Nov-2012 20:36
Great story about the image, very well taken. v
Bill Miller12-Nov-2012 20:18
Good picture, and an interesting story two boot....
Mairéad12-Nov-2012 20:11
It must have been a domineering edifice in its day - no wonder it was pulled down,
Jim Coffman12-Nov-2012 19:32
Very nicely captured,Helen!
Graeme12-Nov-2012 19:29
How wonderful and a great capture too, Helen.BV