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Collection of articles and links

Many have said much about Budapest, some have even written down and published their thoughts. Though articles, books in English are not as numerous as the Hungarian ones, we are trying to offer a list as long as possible. If you'd like to share your ideas, hints on our page with others, please contact us.

1. Bulldozing history. Interest group fights the demolition of Budapest's historic architecture (read full article...)
2004 oct./Diplomacy and Trade - Hungary's International Monthly

The destruction of yet another landmark art nouveau building recently passed with little notice in a historic district of Budapest. The building, which stood tall on Holló utca, was once nestled on a bustling road known as "Goldsmiths street," in the old Jewish district of downtown Pest. Before it was reduced to rubble, the building was still in good condition, despite its decaying facade. The beautiful carpentry, arch-shaped windows and gilded door handles bore witness to the artistic splendour of the dawning 20th century. The staircase and balconies of the house were built by noted silversmith Lipot Fleischmann in 1913 and were ornamented with delicate wrought iron works. In the courtyard, adjacent to the house, the remains of a small art nouveau factory could still be seen. Fleischmann, in his day, could access it directly from his apartment.
...
"The old Budapest is dying," fears György Szegő, editor-in-chief of New Architecture Today. Erzsébetváros is "unique" in Anna Perczel's opinion. "It is particularly rich in 19th and 20th century architecture and is a rare mix of eclectic, classicist and art nouveau styles," says the architect, who rang the alarm bell with authorities as early as 1996. Her comprehensive study found no less than 97 buildings of historical value in the area. The Office of Historical Monuments then started the process of labelling the buildings "protected," yet with insufficient staff and not enough power, the office was unable to complete its task. "Only a few houses are protected. The entire zone is threatened, including the Mikveh, the only Jewish ritual bath left in Pest, on Kazinczy street," Perczel says.

2. Save the Jewish Quarter in Budapest! (read article...pdf.)
2005 Oct./The Clean Air Action Group

3. Childhood in Times of War - by Andrew Salamon. (read full story)

Chapter IV. The "Final Solution" (1944)
C. Street Smarts/(2) The Budapest Ghetto
I knew this part of the city well. The ghetto was the old Jewish quarter, and included the Great Synagogue of the city. Now, after only a few short months, the ghetto had deteriorated so drastically that I felt like I was seeing the area for the first time. The full horror of the living conditions hit me hard.
What I saw was beyond my worst expectations. I had heard about the Polish ghettos, but this was Budapest, not some primitive city!

4. Budapest Ghetto Gets Facelift (read article...)
2006 Oct. 27/The Jewish Daily / FORWARD.com

For many decades, through the Holocaust and communist rule, the streets of the ghetto were largely flushed of any Jewish presence.
...
During the past few years, the abandoned buildings of the seventh district have been revitalized by a number of new bars created by young Jewish men returning to the former stomping grounds of their ancestors - a historically Jewish area turned by the Nazis into a Jewish ghetto. Most of these bars carry no outward sign of being Jewish but have become known for their young Jewish clientele - a sampling from Budapest's 100,000-person Jewish community.

5. The Siege of Budapest: the Nadir in Hungarian History. (read article...)
2003 Jan. 05/UCLA International Institute

The Soviet army had Budapest surrounded on Christmas Eve 1944. Up to that point the city had survived the war largely intact. There had been some bombing by American forces in the summer of 1944, but it had been directed at industrial areas and the railroads. During the siege, there was shelling, but no heavy artillery. There was no food, electricity, gas or water, but because Budapest was still quite old fashioned in many respects, the people managed with wells, wood, coal and private baking for the duration of the siege. The conditions in the ghetto were much worse, with no food being delivered at all after December 24, 1944. Pest, on one side of the Danube, was liberated by Soviet troops first, on January 14, 1945, while Buda held out for another month against the Soviet advance. The taking of the Royal Castle and the caves beneath it was a massacre, with only some 700 escaping the fighting.

1.
A: Holocaust glossary from the A Teachers Guide to the Holocaust
B: Holocaust glossary from the Jewish Virtual Library

2.
Holocaust Victims from the A Teachers Guide to the Holocaust

- Jews
- Roma (Gypsies)
- Poles and other Slavs
- Political Dissidents and Dissenting Clergy
- Persons with Physical or Mental Disabilities
- Jehovah's Witnesses
- Homosexuals
- Other Victims

3.
A: Perpetrators from the A Teachers Guide to the Holocaust
B: Perpetrators from the Jewish Virtual Library

- Legal policies
- Propaganda
- Violence-terror and death

4.
Rescuers from the A Teachers Guide to the Holocaust

- Raoul Wallenberg

- Carl Lutz

- Hannah Szenes

- Giorgio Perlasca

5.
Holocaust Memorials from the A Teachers Guide to the Holocaust

- archival ghetto and camp photographs
- other archival photographs
- contemporary camp photographs
- camp memorials
- art and architecture
- Holocaust memorials
- miscellaneous galleries

6.
Basic bibliography of the Holocaust from the Yad Vashem

Listing of over 200 books in English that are generally regarded by scholars and teachers as important in the study of the Holocaust.

7.
Holocaust chronology from the Yad Vashem

A timeline of the events of the Holocaust with over 300 events from World War I until the end of World War II.

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