1848-49 monument on the Gömörpéter Wall

In countless villages, there is a monument erected in honor of the Hungarian War of Independence of 1848-49 in the form of a headstone, statue or memorial tablet. On Gömörpéterfala, even if the monument itself is not special, the memory itself is valuable, because in this small village it was possible to find out who the men were who stood up to fight for the beloved homeland! ; Four names preserve their memory of this historical event on Gömörpéterfala: Ignácz Pápista, András Pelle, László Sallay, László Tóth. ; An anecdote about the events after the surrender has remained in the memory of Péterfala, which Pelle Lehel told as follows: ; ; “They also took part in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848-49 from us. We know about four hussars, but before I knew about these names, my grandmother addressed me with such a memory, a tale, which I have not forgotten. She said that her great-grandfather was a hussar, and his great-grandfather was called Ignác Pápista. This was my maternal grandmother’s great-grandfather. She told an interesting story about this. We know that after they laid down their arms at Világos, those who took part were persecuted, and the knights went into hiding. This great-grandfather of my grandmother also went into hiding. In the winter of 1949, this hussar only came home once a week, for food. In 1950, before winter, the possibility of amnesty was already in the air, the gendarmes no longer persecuted them so much, because if they had been caught, they would have been executed at that moment. In 1950, 1951, he had already gone home to sleep. And in 1952 they received amnesty, and then he could come home. There was such a case in 1952. There was no one to harvest, in the summer. They called a reaper who was mowing, and they had to pick up the sheaves, and they tried to harvest as much as possible. This was close to the Fenek forest, so they saw it from the forest. They didn’t finish shewing, and it was a full moon. The next day they went out to finish the harvest, and it was already tied in a knot…” ; ; On October 9, 2011, the village of Gömörpéterfala erected a monument in memory of these heroes, honoring and perpetuating the names of these four brave men for the village and all visitors to it! “They were all warriors, heroes, whom we have a duty to remember. And we will remember them as often as we pass by this small monument, which could not have been placed in a better place than here at the foot of the church hill, because as often as we bow our heads before the cross of the church, we bow our heads before these warriors who lived long ago,” said Mayor Gyula Köböl. The wooden cannon was made in Transylvania, the work of László Both, a woodcarver from Gelence, and behind it stands the Column of Brotherhood – in the middle with the Hungarian coat of arms, on both sides with the coats of arms of the villages of Péterfala and Detk, which was made by József Kassai, a headstone carver from Detk. At the base of the platform, a marble tablet preserves the names of the public warriors, which was made and donated by Ottó Pelle. “This monument contains everything that we are. It contains the rock hardness of the palócoks and barkóks, the oak solidity of the Székely people, the cannon in memory of our battles, and the chains that bind the cannon’s wheels. Chains with which the Hungarians were chained again and again after their glorious battles, despite all their failures. But there is also the coat of arms with the Holy Crown, which symbolizes the Motherland, Pest and Buda,” said the mayor, and then thanked all the people of good will for their work, as well as the sister settlement, the village of Detk. In his speech, the mayor of Detk, Sándor Pelle, who also comes from Péterfala, expressed his joy that the idea had become a reality, and that the people of Péterfala would be able to commemorate our national holidays in a worthy place. “Being a brother is a very simple thing, there are good brothers and there are bad brothers. We definitely want to be among the good brothers. I have given testimony to this and will continue to do so in the future. Many people here go to church on their way to meet God, and sometimes it doesn’t hurt if they also meet history. This monument is meant to mark history. Often we cannot fully process the problems of everyday life, and we walk by our history as if it were the most natural thing. Please stop for a moment on your way to God, and come from God, remember the glorious revolution and its fight for freedom.” ; The monument was consecrated by Catholic priest Richárd Vojta, then the villages, the Hungarian Miraculous Deer Association in Budapest, and the Bástya Association in Rimaszombat placed the wreaths of remembrance. The touching ceremony ended with the singing of the national anthem. ; ; (source: Pelle Lehel, Felvidék.ma, Gyula Köböl)