🇭🇺Budapest: come for the markets - dive into controversy

Going to Hungary I didn’t know a ton of Hungarian specific history. Leaving, I now know that I don’t know anything about their very turbulent and complicated place in European history! 🤣 I was often digging up interesting, although cursory, contextual information and making notes about what else to research. 

We took a narrated river cruise down the Danube on our first night. This is the Hungarian Parliment building. Stunning. 

I tried to watch videos before coming. The kind I would show in class with silly animations, John Green, and a focused audience with little to no background context. I was still pretty lost until they got to the 1900s. The entire “move to Europe” experience has me feeling like a student and understanding how history can be so overwhelming and inaccessible. I’m also reminded of my Historiogrpahy class with Dr Heaton. One that felt pretty useless in the moment but I’m often thinking about. There are little “facts” in history but rather perpsective, context, and the impacts of cause and effect. Hungary’s complicated relationship with both World Wars and their place behind the Iron Curtian of the Cold War seem to be told from many perspectives even in their public spaces. 

A war memorial commemorating the Soviet lives lost in Hungary in WWII. An interesting perspective. Many forget that the USSR was on the Allied side of the Second World War. But even more interesting is that Hungary was an Axis power so for there to be a tribute to the Soviet dead is another angle of their complex relationship with their role in the war. 

Budapest is pronounced “Buddha-pesch” with the  end sounding like your hushing kids rather than a hard T. The Danube (apparently the B isn’t silent like I’ve always thought) divides Budapest and before the late 1800s each side of the river was their own city: Buda and Pest so they got super creative when the cities united. 

This is the first bridge to unite the two sides and is emblazoned with the Austrian coat of arms. All bridges across the Danube were either destroyed by Allied bombing or by retreating German forces. 

Hungary, united with Austria in the Hungarian-Austrian Empire, was a huge European power leading up to the First World War. On the “losing” side of that conflict, the terms of the Treaty of Versailles called for the break up of the empire and Hungary was born. As they struggled for power and identity in the interwar years, they allied with the Axis powers at the start of the Second World War.  It is this decision that is represented in a wild array of interpretations on monuments and in museums. 

A local brewery had a graffiti wall that reminded me of the one in our classroom! 

We went to the US Embassy for Brian to collect some military coins for the Embassy marines. 

From what I can infer, the current Hungarian government portrays themselves as victims of the Third Reich. Thus not having responsibility for the 565,000 Hungarian Jews that were murdered, unknown number of Hungarian Roma people murdered, and the displacement and deportation of many others. 

Whether you adhere to the idea that Hungary as a nation was a victim of facsism or if you believe they bear responsibility by willingly allying with the fascists, the facts of the Danube River executions still exist. Citizens were lined up on the banks of the river, ordered to step out of their shoes, place all valuables in their shoes, and then awaite executions. Their bodies falling into the river and their shoes and personal items reclaimed for the Reich. This memorial is striking in every way. 

Opposition to that perspective is the fact that Hungary was a willing ally of the Axis. Post World War I they found allegiance with Germany to be good for their economy and the promise of lands lost, to be returned, to be lucrative. The German forces were both invited and celebrated. As were their policies including antisemitic laws and The Final Solution. 

Forced Nazi occupation or willing participant? It depended which monument we were looking at. I am fascinated by the historiography of it all. 

In the Cold War, Hungary was behind the Iron Curtain and occupied by the Soviets. But similar questions remain: forced occupation or willing participants? As with all things history and politics it probably depends if we are referring to the governments or the people. The Soviet prsesence was brutal on the average person and extreme limits on personal liberties were in place including the freedom of expression and speech.

 

The House of Terror is a museum dedicated to the two “occupational” forces that were in Hungary continuously from 1944-1989: the Germans and the Soviets. While propaganda esque in some places, their focus on first personal accounts, interviews, and personal experiences was very impactful. Oddly, no pictures allowed inside. 

My political brain is also in intellectual tumult. Viktor Orbán is the current leader of Hungary and has been for decades. He continues to place limits on opposition speech and expression, limits the expression of non traditional lifestyles, and finds ways to curtail court justice and restrict democratic institutions. Hungary was recently demoted from being listed as a “free country” to “partly free” due to his policies. 

This monument was erected in the middle of the night and ordered by President Orbán. It’s original inscription “commentates the German occupation.” After an uproar because his right wing politics were now literally celebrating fascism, the inscription was changed to “commentating the Hungarian victims of World War II.” The monument is extremely controversial and there are regular protests in front of it. The statue shows a representation of Hungary basically giving the country to a huge imperial fascist Eagle.

How does a nation that experienced two brutal occupations (invited or not) have a relationship with Russia!? Especially given their Soviet history. Or how does Hungary justify their extreme support of Israel and the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank given their own occupational history? 

Almost immediately a permanent counter monument was installed in front of it. There are pictures of Hungarian Jews, their personal items, and written accounts of their experiences. Translations in several languages explain that a local non profit makes it their mission to expose the lies of the original monument. Hungary wasn’t a victim of fascist Germany but a willing and eager participant. They also warn of red flag signs of the country’s similar current tends. Orbán’s administration is cracking down on this type of opposition expression.

I have so many questions. 

Turns out we were in Budapest for much less intellectually challenging reasons though! I didn’t expect to go down rabbit holes of political and historical investigation while also taking in the sites, sounds, and smells of Budapest’s Christmas markets! 

Number one take away of my first Christmas market experience: I wish I could bottle the smell and take a hit of the sugar-y, cinnamon-y, spicy, pine goodness anytime I wanted! There was even a stall selling potpourri ornaments and wreaths that I had to stop at, stick my nose into a wreath, and inhale, every single time we passed it.

 

Fancy liquor laced hot chocolate 

Traditional Hungarian food tasting board. Smelled excellent. Tasted incredible. Warmed the body!

You can’t smell palinka but it also helps warm you up!

There are only two Christmas markets in Budapest but they’re walkable from each other which we appreciated! Although there are some repeated stalls - as we were warned - part of the fun was susing out the unique finds. The local goods. The small businesses. And we found plenty! Budapest helped us develop a game plan for the larger markets to come in Vienna, Bratislava, and Prague this trip and Gdańsk, Warsaw, Krakow, and Wrocław at Christmas. 

Some 🇭🇺 thoughts and observations:

• their national currency is the Forint but they colloquially call it the Huf. Must find out why
• about 350 Huf to a USD so items costing thousands of Huf is normal
• most things are in Hungarian and in English sign wise - nearly everyone is bilingual. Except the Americans:(
• much like Romania, lemonade is very popular. A kiwi passionfruit lemonade at a Syrian restaurant was my fav
• Far less fashion pressure than Italy 🙌

Ultimately, a few days in Hungary was really good stimulation for my history craving and politics loving brain. We balanced capitalism driven market shopping with humanities curiosity really well. 

As is the normal in Europe (with the exception of Italy 😂), an easy train and we are on our way to Vienna Austria 🇦🇹!