The monument in memory of István Bibó is located at Kossuth Lajos Square, at the banks of the Danube. It was dedicated on May 20, 2005. The unimposing bust of Bibós with a writing hand recalls his appeal to the community of westerns states, which he had composed in the Parliament Building on November 4, 1956, as Soviet troops were occupying the city. István Bibó was born in Budapest on August 7, 1911. After attending the Piarist College in Szeged, he began law studies at the local university there in 1929, later continuing the same in both Vienna and Genua until 1935. Following graduation, Bibó worked as an attorney for the Hungarian Court of Justice. In 1938, he moved on to the Ministry of Justice. In 1940, he acquired the right to teach at institutions of higher learning (Habilitation). Politically, Bibó had strong sympathies for the Social Democratic movement during the interim between the wars, and took a critical stance in respect to the Horthy regime in Hungary. In 1944, after German troops had occupied the country, Bibó attempted to prevent the deportation of Hungarian Jews by supporting the letters of protection issued by the Ministry of Justice. For a brief period, he was arrested by the fascist Arrow Cross regime. After the liberation of Budapest, Bibó took on a position at the Ministry of the Interior for the Provisional Government in February 1945, remaining there until 1946. Until 1950, he maintained his professorship at the University of Szeged, and after 1946 he was also a member of the Academy of Sciences. At the same time, Bibó was a co-founder of the left-wing National Farmers' Party, for which he was active until the levelling of the party landscape in 1949. His writings, in which he fought for a „Third Way“ for the central European states beyond the Soviet Communist schema yet clearly distinct from western-style democratic models, were widely influential during the post-war period. Bibó was relieved of all duties in 1950, and was then employed as a librarian at the University of Budapest. With the onset of political reforms at the beginning of 1956, he joined forces with the Petófi Circle, and thus, assumed a position of intellectual authority during the controversies of that period. On November 3, 1956 Bibó was appointed Minister in the new government by Imre Nagy. As the Soviet troops were invading Budapest the following day, Bibó was the only minister who had remained in the Parliament Building. From there, he sent out appeals to the United Nations, hoping to gain support for Hungary. These appeals later reached western governments and aroused great attention. After the Revolution had been defeated, Bibó remained at first undisturbed and was able to negotiate with the Kádár regime concerning the inclusion of non-Communists in the new government. In the meantime, he also continued his critical writings on the current status of the Hungarian state. After an essay from Bibó managed to reach the west in the early part of 1957, Bibó was arrested by the Hungarian Secret Service on May 23rd. On August 2, 1958, he was sentenced to life-long imprisonment by the Superior Court. Even during his incarceration, Bibó continued his protest by participating in a hunger strike organised by revolutionary leaders held at the Vác prison. Western nations pressured the Hungarian government to free Bibó on repeated occasions. In March 1963, he was indeed set free in the wake of the general amnesty. Bibó accepted a position at the Central Bureau of Statistics as a librarian, where he worked until his retirement in 1971. in 1976, Bibó was once again successful in thwarting the authorities in order to publish a book in the west, prior to his death after a prolonged illness on May 10, 1979.