An emblematic picture of the Hungarian 1956 revolution:: Photojournalism during the Hungarian Revolution

By presenting various interpretations of an emblematic photograph of the 1956 Revolution, this contribution discusses the relationship of photography, history, and photojournalism during the Cold War. It focuses on a Paris-Match picture that was used as the opening picture of a report about the Budapest uprising. The authors explore different interpretations of the picture and the different political and cultural uses that were made of it in the West and in communist Hungary after 1956. The second major issue concerns the relationship between that same picture and Western photojournalism during the Cold War. The Paris-Match picture was not only a specifically Western product, the product of primarily French, Italian and American photojournalism, but it also became a memorable icon of Western photojournalism, as well as an important moment in the history of the press.