Hungary’s House of Horrors
Among the sad experiences recalled are: the deportation, under the Nazi regime, of thousands of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz, where most of them perished; deportation, once the Soviets took over, of thousands of Jews to the Soviet Union, and of thousands of Hungarians of German origin to Germany; the ‘internments’ that took place after
A sobering visit to a Budapest museum prompted questions for Rene Padilla about the impact of ideology on our world and its people
the Soviet occupation, by which the new Hungarian authorities could place under police surveillance and eventually arrest any citizens suspected of opposing the regime; the concentration camps where thousands of prisoners were forced into hard labour; the ruthless communist campaign against the Hungarian peasants who resisted the collectivisation of the land. One of the rooms of the museum is called ‘Anteroom of the Hungarian Political Police’. It recalls the Political Security Department (PRO), which was set up by the Soviet Union in January of 1945 for the purpose of tracking down war criminals and bringing them to trial. Later on it changed its name several times but not its methods, including torture, and it gained fame as a dreadful force because of the violence it displayed to repress the enemies of the communist establishment. It was entirely at the service of the Communist Party. For many years the director of the Political Police was Gabor Peter, whose hideous participation in state terrorism is recalled in another room. No sensitive person can visit the House of Terror Museum of Budapest and not feel overwhelmed by the degree of terror that, under the spell of a totalitarian ideology, a group of powerful people can impose on a whole nation. The recollection of the atrocities committed under the Nazi and the Communist dictatorships does not only have
During the General Conference of the International Association for Mission Studies held in Balanton, Hungary, 16–23 August 2008, a group of participants, including my wife and me, paid a visit to the House of Terror Museum of Budapest. The purpose was to reflect on what happened in that country during the Nazi dictatorship
16 yes Advent 2008
historical value. It is also a forceful way to warn Hungarians and people from elsewhere against the dangers of totalitarianism. More than that, it is a good way to use memory to bring about healing and hope, especially when one takes into account that the culprits were in the end brought to court and condemned, and that the nightmare that the
of 1944–1945 and the following four decades of
museum depicts now lies in the past.
Soviet occupation.
A cry from Argentina
The museum is located in the huge building that
Coming from Argentina, however, my wife and I
both the Nazi and the Soviet regimes used as
could not help thinking that our country of adoption,
headquarters for their terrorist police force and as a
where we have lived for over forty years, also needs
prison. It enables the visitors not only to get historical
a house of terror museum. From 1976 to 1983
information but to listen to first-hand witnesses telling
we also lived a nightmare under a dictatorship fully
their personal experiences during the long and tragic
committed to an ideology – neither Nazism nor
years under the repressive governments.
Communism, but neo-liberal Capitalism; neither
