Yesterday was a day for very deep reflection. After a moderately interesting breakfast, I set off for the Holocaust Rememberance Centre whish is just round the corner from my hotel.
The museum loosely follows the lives of six families and their fate which makes the story very personal. To begin with, Hungary, for very pragmatic economic reasons integrated Jews into the country and for their part, the Jews asked for no power. This was a very happy arrangement until after the WWl. The Austro-Hungarian Empire was on its knees. The rise of the far right across Europe lit a flame in Hungary and measures were passed in government to restrict Jewish life. The biggest pretext was that they were Bolsheviks and needed to be kept in check.
To begin with, university places were limited. Later, jobs were made available only to Magyars and then property was confiscated. At that time, I think 20% of the country were Jewish. It wasn't until 1944 when Germany took control that the exportations efficiently cleared the country of its Jewish diaspora. Obviously the survival rate was low and on their return after the war, their property had been redistributed or repossessed. This was not the fate of the Jews alone, the gypsy population also disappeared.
The sad story of Hungary didn't stop there. I then hopped on a couple of buses / trams to the Museum of Terror. This building situated in the nicest of neighbourhoods was the nerve centre of both the Arrow Cross (Right Wing Party) and the Russian occupation. My big takeway from this museum was that the cost of 12 days of freedom in 1956 was the rounding up and imprisonmant of 15000 people. 30% of families were scarred by state security activity in Soviet times. Snitching on your neighbour was normal. Once considered guilty, it was the job of the accused to prove their innocence. A tough call.
I loved the rhetoric - heroic soviet neighbour, Stalin - a man of vision and peace.. all very laughable. The last Russian involvement was in 1989 - not so long ago.
What struck me the most from my visit to these two museums was that these things could so easily happen again today. We have a large disaffected underclass, rife zenophobia and populism ruling. How easy it is to forget.
One thing I can't forget is you, my lovely dog. The temperature was 7c yesterday and a joy to be out in. You would have loved it and you could have ridden the trams.
Love
XXX
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