The statue of Liberty – or by its widely known name the „White Man” –, stood on the Main Square of Keszthely, was the first statue in Hungary and in the world which was erected to the memory of the martyrs of Hungarian Revolution of 1956.
István Marinkay has constructed the plaster statue which was stood on a 5 m high pedestal. The statue was intended to be a temporary product as an archetype of a later marble or bronze figure.
The memorial was unveiled on November 1, 1956, and remained on its site for more than 2 months after the defeat of revolution.
The broadcast of English radio also mentioned and appreciated on the statue in January 1957, but right after this event military troops removed it from the Main Square.
Most of the elements of the memorial were preserved for the posterity, at first in the Festetics Palace, later in Balaton Museum.
