60 Andrássy
Walking down the tree-lined Andrássy Boulevard is quite enjoyable with its shops and stately residences. It is known as the most picturesque street in Budapest. Arriving at the infamous number 60 Andrássy is a different story. The building towers over you like a communist propaganda statue trying to scare you into submission, the word TERROR looming above your head, a reminder of what happened here.
As upsetting as it can be, we find it important, when we travel, to learn about the history of the place we are visiting. The way we see it, how can you learn about a culture if you know nothing about what they have been through as a nation?
When visiting Europe you can be certain that this includes learning about a war or two and maybe a revolution.
Budapest
In the case of Budapest, it means learning about a war, an occupation, and a revolution. Budapest has a dark past, a big percentage of the city was destroyed and rebuilt during three major events. First in WWII, secondly during the Soviet occupation and thirdly during the 1956 revolution.
If you’re interested in learning about this while in Budapest, the House of Terror is a good place to start. The museum is on three floors, going from room to room, you walk through 12 years of violence, destruction, and death from the double occupation of the Nazis and the Arrow Cross to the revolution.
Video testimonials
The detail of some of the events and first-hand video testimonials can make the visit pretty emotional. I caught myself tearing up often over the two hours we spent there. I was upset because of the suffering that happened but I was also sad for the perpetrators. That may seem odd to some but as horrific as their actions were and as much as I wanted to hate them, all I felt was sadness. The dinner table set with dishes decorated in Arrow Cross logos and the row of Nazi uniforms along one wall made me shiver and reminded me that the perpetrators were as human as their victims, in that they got dressed and needed food to survive. They were born and had a childhood and at some point, something happened that led them on a path that changed the world.
The museum winds down to the basement and some of the original rooms of execution and imprisonment (some are re-creations). The tour ends in the hallway of perpetrators, walking down the hall you can look into the empty eyes of the people who worked in the House of Terror, their images lining the walls. If you pay attention throughout your tour of the museum, you will have a hard time not picturing exactly what went on in this very place.
The museum is well curated and although most information is in Hungarian they do supply printed sheets in English in every room. An English audio guide is also available and a good idea at only 1300 HUF.
your right important to learn the culture of the country when traveling I think this one would be too much for me though
It was a lot to take in that’s for sure.
As an amateur historian of sorts, one has to be cognizant of the fact that the curator was a political appointee of the Orban right wing (fascist) party who had deliberately and falsely exaggerated the Jew’s role in the communist oppression while minimizing the Nazi-Hungarian role in oppressing the same Jews who had no choice in the role they were pushed into…that is the few Jews left alive after the war.
One might also consider that joining with the communists who were alone to protect the Jews and the partisans fighting the Nazis (the relatives of whom curate this museum today), payback had something to do with it. The few Jews who played a part at this address also had mates: former Nazis who had removed the swastikas from their lapels and replaced them with red stars. Convenient – as it was convenient to not mention this fact.
To some extent, we need to recognize that the museum, and a terrific one it is, is a political statement by the descendants of the right wing party that is now running the Hungarian state.
We also need to recognize that right wing in the United States is not the same as right wing in Europe, especially not the same as that name may mean in Hungary. American right wingers would be appalled at the beliefs of Hungarian right wingers who have a hoodlum mentality and whose friends and associates are common thugs.
Very interesting, thank you for your comment.
When we visited Budapest, I couldn’t help but feel some of the sadness in the streets in a place that has been so ravaged by war.
We felt the same way. You can still see the ghosts of war on the older generations faces.
Sad, & terrifying. I had nightmares after visiting.
I believe it but it’s also a monument to the resilience of the human spirit.