The Pearl of the Danube and the House of Terror

For this blog post I would like to talk about Budapest and the House of Terror. Budapest is a beautiful city. Most of the buildings date to the late 19th-early 20th centuries. Despite the destruction during WWII and the 1956 Revolution, the city has worked hard to restore its buildings and culture. On our first day in Budapest, we went to Obuda, which is old Buda. Budapest was originally three different cities: Obuda, Buda and Pest. They were unified in 1873 to become Budapest. Obuda is the historical part of the city. It is where the old fortress stands on top of the highest hill in Budapest. Outside the walls stands a statue of St. Hedvigis and her husband Wladislaus. She was a Lithuanian princess and there were miracles attributed to her during her lifetime. As such, she is revered along with her husband in Eastern Europe. The Hungarian national archives are also in this area. It is a beautiful old building with patterns on its roof. Further down the cobbled street is the beautiful Matthias Church. The Buda castle district has numerous monuments and houses from the 17th and 18th centuries. The castle itself dates back to the 1200s. One of the best parts about the Buda Castle district is that you can get the best view of Budapest! We were very lucky with the weather. The weather was sunny, clear and warm the whole time we were there! That evening we went to visit my Bozoky cousins. We opened the evening with a toast of Palinka. Now, let me tell you about Palinka....I would like to quote what the tourist pamphlet says about it, "You can find the national spirit of Hungary in almost every household, restaurant, bar or souvenir shop in a wide variety, mainly of fruit flavours. Watch out! You can get easily smashed by it's high alcohol content." This definition is followed by a smiley face. I can tell you, it is served in a small shot glass for a reason!

 

   Matthias Church, note the patterns on the roof.

    View from the Buda Castle District

St. Hedvigis and her husband Wladislaus. 

On Saturday, we walked down Andrassy street, stopping in at a little cafe for a breakfast of chocolate and sausage-cheese croissants with coffee. Side note, I never drink coffee, but since coming to Europe I have been drinking coffee everyday! Then we took in the glamorous sight of the Hungarian State Opera House. When we visited in 1998, we went to the opera and saw Banka Ban, a Hungarian opera. The opera house is a neo-Renaissance building, opened in 1884. My Bozoky cousin's wife sings in the opera and showed us her wide variety of costumes from operas by Puccini to Verdi and Mozart. 

     The Hungarian State Opera House

Not far from the opera house is a memorial to some of Hungary's darkest times, the House of Terror (Terror Haza). In 1944, this building at 60 Andrassy street was known as the "House of Loyalty" and was the headquarters of the Hungarian Nazis. Between 1945 and 1956, it served as the communist secret police headquarters. The AVO and AVH secret police were the tools by which the communist government instilled fear and terror among the Hungarian people. In this building, now known as the House of Terror, thousands of people were interrogated, imprisoned, tortured, and killed. I cannot begin to relay the horror the Hungarian people experienced between 1945 up until the end of communism. This museum put things in perspective as my great grandmother lived through these regimes, first the Horthy regime which was questionable, then the Nazi regime and finally the communist regime, one after another. The fear she must have experienced, the things she witnessed with her eyes would have been truly terrible. In looking at pictures of her, I see a face that is haunted by hardship and the images of a past she would probably have liked to forget. The Terror Haza had videos of victims who had been imprisoned and tortured. One man was forced to kneel at a dinner of officials and his head was used as an ashtray. Another man was forced to use his own hand as a shovel to clean the embers out of a stove and put new wood in. The fire was still hot and burning. A woman talked about how soviet soldiers had stormed into her home and noticed her. She broke off suddenly, crying. She said she couldn't finish. She was raped. A priest was arrested for being a priest, although the reason was given that he had wasted rye on his pigs. Some people were arrested on false charges, appearance or just to arrest. The idea that was instilled was that anyone could be arrested. Intimidation and fear ruled. In the cellar of the Terror Haza are prison cells, interrogation rooms and execution rooms. There were four types of prison cells: 1) the detention cell was for solitary punishment, 24x20 in floor space and 6 ft high. There were two light bulbs at eye level that constantly shone in the prisoner's eyes. 2) the wet cell, the prisoner was forced to sit in water. 3) the fox hole, a dark, low- ceiling concrete cell in which the prisoner could not straighten up. 4) the condemned cell, where condemned prisoners were kept, their appeals for clemency rejected. Air ventilation could be controlled, cutting off air flow for punishment. Then there was the treatment room which was where the prisoners were tortured. Various tools such as pliers, electrocution, and burning cigarettes were used to break bodies and spirits. Prisoners could not change their underwear, take a bath or have towels, soap, toilet paper, toothpaste etc. Sometimes they were forced to stand facing the wall with their noses rammed against it and arms stretched out for 10-12 hours at a time. The execution room had the gallows. Apparently there were no actual executions at this building, those were done in the Vac penitentiary and Kozma street prison. At 60 Andrassy street, only fatal bashing and "suicides" took place. In other words, officially there were no executions, but in reality, there were. Along the outside of the building are pictures and names, victims of the regimes. Considering one in three families had a victim, I have no doubt that my great grandmother knew people who became victims. She is lucky she lived since she was a staunch Catholic and had close family in the United States and Canada. The secret police would have known who she was and would have opened letters to her and from her. Considering my mother was interrogated in 1967 when she visited Hungary, and those she visited in Hungary were likewise interrogated about her after she left, I have little doubt that my great grandmother was interrogated since the regime during her time was even worse than the one when my mother visited. To live, one learned to be silent. 

    The House of Terror aka Terror Haza

             The Fox Hole cell

                     Torture tools

                       Gallows

Later Saturday afternoon, I met with my Kreuts cousins for coffee and learned some new things about the Kreuts family, which included the realization that perhaps my great grandfather's family did not have a set spelling for their name, as well as that there may have been another brother. After coffee, we slowly wandered back, enjoying the pleasant evening and stopping in at a little restaurant for dinner. I had a delicious stew of tomatoes, peppers, cabbage and sausage. Yes, I am very much enjoying the food! 

On Sunday, we visited the various addresses I had for my grandmother, great grandparents and great great grandparents. Then we took a ferry cruise up the Danube, enjoying the warm sunshine and spectacular views of the palaces, churches and parliament building, not to mention the Erszebet hid (Elizabeth Bridge), for which I have a special fondness and insisted we walk to so I could get a picture by it. Later that evening we ate at a restaurant named for Emperor Franz Jozef, or in Hungarian, Ferencz Joszef. Since it was our last night I had my favorite Hungarian dish, beef goulash with dumplings, all washed down with a Dreher beer! We decided to splurge and have a delicious dessert of chocolate stuffed cottage cheese dumplings covered in chopped almonds and served with a vanilla sauce. Perfection! 

Palaces along the Danube on the Buda side. 

                 On the Danube

       Hungarian Parliament Building

Me in front of the Erszebet hid (Elizabeth Bridge)

Last dinner in Budapest: beef goulash cooked in red wine and mushrooms with cottage cheese-dill dumplings and Dreher beer.

And dessert: chocolate stuffed cottage cheese dumplings covered in chopped almonds and vanilla sauce.

Now that the Hungary part of the trip is over, I feel I have a better understanding of my ancestors, especially my great grandmother and what she experienced. There is something deeply emotional about walking in the places your ancestors walked and grasping an understanding of what they lived through. It is difficult to put into words, and perhaps the best I can do is say that Hungary holds a special place in my heart. 

Cheers!

Elizabeth