Hungarian insurgent Erika Kornélia Szeles, age 15, stands at the ready during the 1956 uprising against the Soviet-backed one-party socialist state of the Hungarian People’s Republic.

Armed citizens and demonstrators would prove no match for the Red Army. The revolution lasted barely three weeks, and Erika was slain mere days after this picture was taken.

Hungary would remain under communist control until 1989, during which 200,000 Hungarians sought asylum elsewhere to escape the oppressive regime.