House of Terror and Marx Park: Understanding the Depths of Hungarian Thought

Entrance to the House of Terror

The House of Terror:
Nazi and Soviet headquarters

Victims of Occupations

Memorializing the double occupation

60 Andrassy Utca: horrible things happened here.
"The building on Andrassy Boulevard 60 is itself the statue of terror, a monument to the victims" (pamphlet)

"The Iron Curtain": I think that going to the House of Terror may have been
my best chance at understanding what life was like behind it.

House of Terror
(repeated pictures because we weren't
allowed to take pictures inside the museum)

         The more field studies trips that I go on with JSBP, the more I can understand the Hungarian mindset.  There is a Hungarian philosopher named Agnes Heller who said that the Hungarian’s “biggest concern is to survive in the midst of the enemies surrounding him.”  After today’s trip to the House of Terror, this state of mind—of fear, struggle, and oppression­­—is clearer to me than ever before.  The House of Terror effectively presents the story of the double occupation that was excruciatingly real for the citizens of Hungary.  The building itself was the Arrow Cross Headquarters for the Nazis during WWII, and upon the Soviet takeover in 1945 it became the headquarters of the Department for Political Police (PRO), State Security Office (AVO), and the State Security Authority (AVH) with almost no transition.

            To learn about Nazi or Soviet occupation in America is one thing, but to be inside the headquarters and the prison cells and gallows of these evil and brutal regimes is something else entirely.  There is nothing that can I can even compare to it, and the feeling itself is extremely overwhelming.  Walking in the eerie building and understanding what had been there, and trying to imagine the horrors that innocent people went through, and the strength that daily life required is incredible; furthermore it is absolutely nauseating to walk through the offices of the men who had sat behind their desks cowardly ordering executions or implementing other forms of torture upon weak people.

My favorite statue at Marx Park:
in the sides of the concrete it looked
like people had been pressed into it...
I'm fascinated by the symbolism of it all.

            There was so much to learn at the House of Terror, but I think that most of what I took away from the experience was the dreariness of the time.  It’s insane to think about how recently these occupations occurred, and that many Hungarians hold personal memories of these events.  I think about what my grandparents experienced, and sure, it was a lot, but in comparison, as Americans we have so little to complain about.  We at least have the strength to fight back.  Hungarians have been beaten up again and again by huge empires, their history is bleak and dreary and they constantly had to fight for their sovereignty.  One of our professors here, Laszlo Varadi, is certainly someone who has experienced a lot of this, said something in class yesterday about knowing people who have lived through eight entirely different political regimes.  Political instability has clearly shaped the people who live here, and it’s becoming clearer and clearer to me that history is everything in Hungary.

Red Star of Communism,
with some statues in the back

            To hammer this point home, we also took a trip to Marx Park in the Buda Hills today.  The first thing I noticed about this place was how dreary it was—which I feel is an accurate way to remember communism.  Before walking in, we saw the statue boots of Stalin, the only remnants of a huge statue of him that had once stood in Hero’s Square.  This statue was torn down (think Saddam Hussein style), in an act of defiance that I think really freed the Hungarian people psychologically.  The statues that were in the park were definitely representative of the stark and powerful Soviet presence in Hungary.  The statues themselves were huge!  They weren’t beautiful, they were symbols of a regime that did everything they could to remind Hungarians that Soviets were in control.  We discussed that it’s strange to keep these statues around when they only represent bad memories, but it’s important to keep these parts of history.  It’s important to remember what has happened, and to do everything in your power to ensure that nothing destroys your nation like that again. 

Hanging out with
the communists

Another man-statue crippling
under the power of
the Soviet regime.

            And with that, a beautiful day was turned into a day of introspective thoughts for me.  I wonder about the brutality of man (executions of innocent people, internment camps, forced labor camps), I wonder about the strength of a nation to rebuild over and over again, and I wonder about the collective unconscious of the Hungarian people that will not allow them to forget.  I wonder how they have moved on, and about the all the factors (psychological/social/political/economical/etc.) that stand behind this; and I can begin to understand their point of view.

Live and Learn, 

  Mary

Another JSBP classic 

P.S. Couldn't help to but to think about this song today...