Gergely Pongratz, a leader of Hungary's anti-communist revolution.
Born in Gherla, a city in heavily Hungarian-populated western Romania.
He was working as an agricultural engineer in the countryside when the revolution broke out on Oct. 23, 1956, and quickly went to Budapest to join the struggle.
During the revolution, Pongratz was commander of one of the key resistance groups fighting the Soviet army.
Based around the Corvin Passage in downtown Budapest, some 2,000 revolutionaries, including four of Pongratz's brothers, were able to hold off the advancing Soviet troops for several days, destroying some 25 enemy tanks.
After the revolution, which lasted less than a month, Pongratz lived mostly in Spain before settling in the United States in the 1970s. He returned to Hungary in 1991, after the fall of the communist regime.
He died in the southern Hungarian town of Kiskunmajsa where he lived.
Cause of death:Heart attack
Born in Gherla, a city in heavily Hungarian-populated western Romania.
He was working as an agricultural engineer in the countryside when the revolution broke out on Oct. 23, 1956, and quickly went to Budapest to join the struggle.
During the revolution, Pongratz was commander of one of the key resistance groups fighting the Soviet army.
Based around the Corvin Passage in downtown Budapest, some 2,000 revolutionaries, including four of Pongratz's brothers, were able to hold off the advancing Soviet troops for several days, destroying some 25 enemy tanks.
After the revolution, which lasted less than a month, Pongratz lived mostly in Spain before settling in the United States in the 1970s. He returned to Hungary in 1991, after the fall of the communist regime.
He died in the southern Hungarian town of Kiskunmajsa where he lived.
Cause of death:Heart attack
Gergely Pongratz, a leader of Hungary's anti-communist revolution.
Born in Gherla, a city in heavily Hungarian-populated western Romania.
He was working as an agricultural engineer in the countryside when the revolution broke out on Oct. 23, 1956, and quickly went to Budapest to join the struggle.
During the revolution, Pongratz was commander of one of the key resistance groups fighting the Soviet army.
Based around the Corvin Passage in downtown Budapest, some 2,000 revolutionaries, including four of Pongratz's brothers, were able to hold off the advancing Soviet troops for several days, destroying some 25 enemy tanks.
After the revolution, which lasted less than a month, Pongratz lived mostly in Spain before settling in the United States in the 1970s. He returned to Hungary in 1991, after the fall of the communist regime.
He died in the southern Hungarian town of Kiskunmajsa where he lived.
Cause of death:Heart attack
Born in Gherla, a city in heavily Hungarian-populated western Romania.
He was working as an agricultural engineer in the countryside when the revolution broke out on Oct. 23, 1956, and quickly went to Budapest to join the struggle.
During the revolution, Pongratz was commander of one of the key resistance groups fighting the Soviet army.
Based around the Corvin Passage in downtown Budapest, some 2,000 revolutionaries, including four of Pongratz's brothers, were able to hold off the advancing Soviet troops for several days, destroying some 25 enemy tanks.
After the revolution, which lasted less than a month, Pongratz lived mostly in Spain before settling in the United States in the 1970s. He returned to Hungary in 1991, after the fall of the communist regime.
He died in the southern Hungarian town of Kiskunmajsa where he lived.
Cause of death:Heart attack
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