Walk Behind The Iron Curtain

A visit to Budapest would be incomplete without experiencing the affect of the Soviet/Communist domination of Hungary.  The Soviets drove the Nazis from Budapest at the end of WWII, and in the beginning were welcomed by the Hungarians as benevolent liberators.  But within a few months the Hungarians  began to see that the Soviets were not so nice.

Our local guide, Andrea, spoke elequently about life under Soviet rule as she was a young girl during that time.  Life was hard and shortages were common both for food and for the necessities of life.  Children were brainwashed from the earliest age and used to spy unwittingly on their parents and family.  How could a 5 or 6 year old understand the consequences of an honest answer to simple questions from teachers?  For example, adults would listen to Radio Free Europe in the evenings if they longed for real news beyond the propaganda they were fed by the Communists.  Doing so was a crime and neighbors could not be trusted, so they would huddle around the radio and listen to the broadcast at a very low volume, whispering about what they heard.  Teachers would ask the children if their parents ever listened to the radio with the volume low, whispering a lot.  The children would not usually understand the implications of an honest answer and could be the cause of a parent being hauled away to prison.

Andrea began this walking tour under the archways of a government building beside Parliament where she described the days in 1956 when students marched in the streets demanding changes and freedom from their Communist oppressors, what is now called the student uprising of 1956. Those days were marked with violence starting with soldiers standing on the roofs of nearby buildings firing into the crowds gathered in the square surrounding Parliament.  People started running for cover and the large porticos and archways were good protection.  Bullet holes in the stone from that day are marked now to commemorate those events.  For more on the 1956 uprising, see Student Uprising of 1956.

We then walked to a monument for Imre Nagy who was a moderate politician who returned to Budapest when the uprising started in 1956 and ultimately led the resistance to the Communists.  He is shown standing on a bridge, symbolizing his work to create a better life for Hungary.  He was ultimately captured by the Communists, tried and executed in 1958.

We walked on to Liberty Square with a monument commemorating the Soviets who freed Hungary from the Nazis.  This is the only monument left in Budapest about the Soviets and remains because they rescued Budapest in WWII.  In this square is a life-sized statue of Ronald Reagan in a walking stride. Reagan is facing the monument, the American Embassy is in the background, and behind Reagan is Parliament.  Reagan is positioned here to symbolize his role in defeating Communism, which contributed to moving Hungary from a Communist-dominated country to a free country with a Parliamentary government.

From Liberty Square we then walked a few blocks to a coffee shop setup in a beautiful former ballroom.  Look for this in the photo album.

Our last stop on this walking tour was a museum called the House of Terrors.  This building was used first by the Nazi Gestapo to torture and eliminate enemies, then later was used for the same purpose by the Communists.  The rooms of this museum illustrate life in those Communist times and the hardships endured by the people.  In the basement are the cells and chambers used to house prisoners and rooms used for torture.  Andrea talked us through each of the rooms explaining life in those times and was really excellent in her knowledge of the history and her real experiences as a young girls there.

In front of the building is a section of the Berlin Wall, and a wall of chains symbolizing the oppression felt by the people of Hungary.  While a sad and sometimes morbid subject, this was really a very interesting and educational event and one we were very glad we attended.  It is a good reminder of the importance of political freedom and how important is to people who do not have it.