Paper short abstract:

In this paper I outline the ways in which two towns publicly commemorate/forget Soviets in relation to key events from WWII onward. I focus on existing memorials to Soviets and also address the public silence/forgetting of the Soviet occupation.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I outline the ways in which two towns publicly commemorate/forget Soviets in relation to key events from WWII onward. Štúrovo - with its 15,000 inhabitants - and Esztergom - with 28,000 people - are separated by the river Danube that constitutes the border between Slovakia and Hungary. Those strolling around Štúrovo may be surprised by the sizeable cemetery that commemorates Soviet troops fallen during WWII that is situated just off the town’s high street. In contrast, Esztergom has a memorial to fallen Soviet soldiers on the very outskirts of the town, opposite a huge TESCO. On both sides of the Danube these are dedicated to liberators. However, not long after WWII the Soviets became occupiers, with significant military presence in both towns. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and the Prague Spring of 1968 were brutally suppressed and Soviet troops remained stationed in Esztergom and in Štúrovo until the early 1990s. The military barracks and memorials of the Cold War era are gone and there are few visible traces of the long Soviet presence in the two towns. I focus on existing memorials to Soviets, their recent changes which were on the Hungarian side influenced by the pro-Russian stance of Viktor Orbán’s consecutive governments. I also address the public silence/forgetting of the Soviet occupation and discuss how the Bridge Guard project - funded by a Štúrovo native who left the town during the Cold War and settled in Switzerland - addresses the past without references to the Soviet occupation.