On 16 June 1989, a warm summer day, 250,000 people gathered in Heroes’ Square in Budapest for the ceremonial reburial of Imre Nagy and five other martyrs of the Communist regime.

After speeches by veterans of the failed 1956 revolution, an unshaven young man came to the microphone. He demanded democracy, independence and the withdrawal of Soviet troops. The speech, which lasted a mere six-and-a-half minutes, caused a political sensation.