The Hungarian Parliament has passed a decree declaring that November 25 be a day dedicated to Hungarian political prisoners and forced labourers deported to the Soviet Union. The deportations started near the end of World War Two as Soviet Russian forces entered Hungary. From the autumn of 1944 to 1948, around 800,000 Hungarians were deported to the Soviet Union. Many of those deported were Hungarian soldiers, but a large number were also Hungarian civilians who were deemed as "political prisoners".
The deportees were all sent to work camps/gulags in the Soviet Union. Many of the prisoners died in transit on the trains that took them to the camps. Initially, the number of the prisoners was estimated at around 600,000. The most recent figure according to official sources is now 800,000! The decree was Fidesz-initiated and the Hungarian Parliament adopted it with 330 votes in favour, nine against and one abstention.
Further information about the Hungarians deported to the Soviet Union can be found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_labor_of_Hungarians_in_the_Soviet_Union
István
