October 6, Memorial Day in Hungary

On this day in 1849, thirteen Hungarian rebel generals were executed by the Austrian Empire in the city of Arad, then part of the Kingdom of Hungary (now in Romania), after the Hungarian War of Independence (1848–1849). The same day, Hungary's first prime minister was executed in Pest.

The national flag was ceremonially raised on the Day of Remembrance for the Martyrs of Arad on Wednesday morning in front of the Parliament on Kossuth Lajos Square. As an expression of respect, the flag of Hungary will remain at half-mast all day on the day of national mourning.

Commemorations and wreath-laying ceremonies are also held in several towns and villages in the country as well across the border what used to be Hungarian territory.

In 2001, the government declared October 6 a day of mourning for the Hungarian nation, commemorating the 13 martyrs executed in Arad after the suppression of the 1848-49 Revolution and War of Independence - Lajos Aulich, János Damjanich, Aristide Dessewffy, Ernő Kiss, Károly Knézich, György Láhner (Lahner), Vilmos Lázár, Károly, Leiningen-Westerburg, József Nagysándor, Ernő Poeltenberg , József Schweidel, Ignác Török, Károly Vécsey - and Count Batthyány Lajos, the first independent and responsible Prime Minister of Hungary, who was executed in Pest on the same day.