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Lyukas Zászló (The Holed Flag)
On October 23, 1956, university students in Budapest, Hungary organized a march in solidarity with the anti-Soviet events in Poland. The students were joined by workers and other residents of Budapest and eventually over 20,000 people demonstrated in favor of political reforms in socialist Hungary. This demonstration sparked what is known as the Hungarian Uprising.…
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Melba Lórik and the Power of Local Action
One of the things I love about historical research is meeting people; sometimes that is at a conference or in the archive. And being a historian, sometimes those people are no longer living. No, historical research is not necromancy, rather history is similar to how G.K. Chesterton described tradition – it invites those from the…
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Update, 8 September 2025
After an unexpectedly long hiatus, I can finally return to the semi-scheduled programing, but first a brief update. In August, I finally graduated with my doctorate. All of my creative energies had been directed toward writing a dissertation which is why this languished. Additionally, I began moved to South Carolina to start teaching as an…
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Jane Haining, Stolpersteines, and Bearing Witness
As my time in Budapest comes to an end, I find myself returning to some the places with special meaning, one of which is the “Shoes of the Danube Bank” Memorial. I find this simple memorial quite moving, and despite the inhumanity of its historical antecedents there is something deeply human about the place. Along…
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Women of Solidarność
Last week I wrote about the role of religion in the Solidarność movement, while I would not normally write about the same experience twice, there was another facet of my visit to the European Solidarity Centre that I need to tell. -PCL As a historian, I am rarely surprised by the critical role women play…
Patrick C. Leech 