Long-time talk show host Barry Farber was honored by the Hungarian government last weekend on the 60th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution against Soviet oppression, a revolution that took place in October 1956.
According to a news release, the talk show host and National Radio Hall of Fame member was invited to Budapest to be honored for his role in helping Hungarians, who were revolting against Soviet oppression, escape to Austria.
In an e-mail message to Farber, Ferenc Kumin, the Hungarian Consul-General in New York, recognized Farber for “helping fleeing Hungarians across the border.”
“We would like to acknowledge you for your bravery on this 60th anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution,” Kumin said in the e-mail.
Farber released a statement after accepting the invitation.
“We owe the Hungarians big-time,” said Farber in accepting the honor. “That heroic Freedom Fight marked Communism’s high-water mark. Things went steadily downhill from there.”
Farber was one of two correspondents for the Greensboro Daily News during the 1956 revolt. He had met a friend in Norway who was working with other Norwegians in helping Hungarians flee.
It was that encounter that prompted Farber to volunteer with the Freedom Navy, said CRN Digital Talk Radio, where Farber still hosts a show after 56 years on air. As 40 or some refugees would gather on the Hungarian side of the border, Farber was loading the Freedom Navy raft with about five refugees at a time, taking them over to the Austrian side of the border.
Farber is partly responsible for helping somewhere around 200 refugees escape Hungary on Christmas night in 1956, CRN said.
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