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Secondary sourceSculpture

Hungarian Soviet Republic Monument, Cegléd

A bronze statue in Cegléd, Hungary, showing a bare-chested man with raised, chained wrists, photographed in 2015. It commemorates the 1919 Soviet Republic but is not specific to Kun.

A later monument to the 1919 Soviet Republic Kun led, shown in a photograph; it is not specific to Kun himself.

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Bronze statue of a bare-chested male figure with arms raised above his head, wrists bound with chains, standing on a white pedestal inscribed 1919, in a park with tall trees and grass.
Monument of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, Cegléd. Photograph by Globetrotter19, 2015.

About this source

What it is

This is a 2015 photograph of a bronze statue in Kölcsey Square, Cegléd, Pest County, Hungary. It shows a bare-chested male figure with arms raised above his head and wrists bound with chains. The figure stands on a white pedestal inscribed 1919, in a park with tall trees and grass. The photograph was taken by Globetrotter19.

Why it matters

Béla Kun led the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919 as its de facto leader and served as People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs. A monument showing bound hands was made later to honor that regime, so it reflects how the 1919 period was remembered by a later state. It is a secondary source about memory, and the sources do not say it depicts Kun.

Look closer

  • What do the chains and raised arms suggest about how the figure is meant to be understood?
  • Who chose this image to honor the 1919 regime, and what might they have wanted people to feel?
  • What does the statue leave out, such as the names of the people involved or the complicated outcome of the revolution?

This sculpture is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Béla Kun on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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Béla Kun · 7 December 1918

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Photograph of a yellowed Nazi propaganda pamphlet titled 'Die Totengräber Russlands' with a headline 'Nicht wegwerfen!' and 'Weitergeben!'. It has rows of ink caricatures of men's faces with text captions naming Soviet communist leaders, and the slogan 'Vor dem bolschewistischen Chaos bewahrt uns nur Adolf Hitler!' at the bottom. A handwritten note 'März 1937' is at the top left.Photograph

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Die Totengräber Russlands

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Sepia photograph of a dense crowd of men in hats and coats gathered in a city square in front of a stone building with arched windows. Lamp post and banners rise above them; a large statue on a pedestal stands at right, and a man on the far right holds a flag.Photograph

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Sándor Garbai and Béla Kun, Leaders of the Hungarian Soviet Republic

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