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International Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day

The first Romas were sent to Auschwitz in 1941. In February 1943, a Gypsies’ camp was set up in the Birkenau camp which imprisoned Roma people from 14 countries.

April 8th was the day when the first international Roma congress, with 23 delegates from 10 countries, was organized to commemorate the Gypsy victims of the Holocaust in Oprington, next to London in 1971. On the initiative of the representatives of India April 8th was chosen to be the Day of the Roma Nation, to remember all the Gypsies who have left the homeland and have been wandering since for over 1000 years. The Gypsy flag and the hymn were chosen and the language became officially recognized. Since then April 8th is the day of different anti – racism, discrimination and war campaigns.

In 1990, on the 4th world congress in Serock, next to Warsaw April 8th, the day of the first congress was recognized as a Roma holiday.
Many Gypsies in numerous countries celebrate the wandering on festivals, throwing flowers and candles into the river where they live and follow their way until they can.

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Photo exhibition in the Budapest History Museum 12 April – 13 May 2012

The exhibited photos were actually taken by Carl Lutz in Budapest between 1942–1945.
His office in Budapest was on the Szabadság (Liberty) square in the building of the American embassy near the Parliament house in Pest and he lived in the house of the British embassy on Werbőczi (today Mihály Táncsics) street in the castle of Buda.
He was a passionate amateur photographer, through his photos we can see Budapest in 1944 as a city far away from the war front and then Budapest during the siege, finally the results of the catastrophic destruction of the war.
The last photo of the exhibition was taken in 1949 when Carl Lutz returned to Budapest after his 1945 expulsion from Hungary, to marry Magda Csányi.

One of the photos:

Budapest castle district after the siege in 1945.

The poster of the exhibition:

More information here: Budapest History Museum

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Go GREEN

Tonight Budapest organizes the Earth Hour from 8.30p.m.-9.30p.m. switching the decorative illumination of the city off. Find out more about the world-wide movement at: www.earthhour.org.

Programs:
– STARS tour: meeting at 5:30p.m. in front of Fenyőgyöngye (Budapest, II. district Szépvölgyi út 155.). You can get there with bus 65 from Kolosy tér, the last stop of the bus. Route: Fenyőgyöngye – Hármashatárhegy – Árpád lookout tower – Fenyőgyöngye, 7 kilometers and the view from the tower is splendid.

Photo and more info: hirek.csillagaszat.hu

– Budapest Chain bridge, Pest end, WWF’s program : from 9p.m. Juli Fábián and Zoohacker concert
More: wwf.hu

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David Arquette in Budapest

American actor David Arquette and his friend Mike McGuiness are in Budapest now to shoot an adventure trip for Travel Channel. The Mile High show will be on every week. The first destination of their venture is Budapest.


Find out more here.

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Another commercial shot in Budapest

In a previous post we’ve shown you some commercials presenting our beautiful capital while advertising various products. Here is another one. A Chinese girl dreams about the perfect city to be in. And that is Budapest. This video is without voice. Here you can watch the original in Chinese.

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65 year-old Liberty statue of Budapest

You can see her from almost anywhere in Pest. Originally, she was the Soviet Liberation Monument and was guarded by a Soviet soldier from a lower pedestal. He, with a machine gun and a hammer-sickle flag is now in the Statue Park, together with Lenin and others. She could stay, since the 90’s we call her the Statue of Liberty. Watch how she was test-assembled.

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Spring is almost here!!

The Budapest Spring Festival this year takes place between 16th – 26th March.
Guests: Mihail Pletnyov, Charles Dutoit, Wiener Sängerknaben, Maxim Vengerov, John Malkovich
Different locations in Budapest: Opera House, RAM Colosseum, Italian Institute, Comedy Theater, Urania Movie Theater, Hungarian Radio, Palace of Arts, etc.

Find out more on: www.btf.hu

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Mátyás Rákosi was born 120 years ago

Rakosi was one of the communist leaders of Hungary in the ’40s and ’50s, the worst example of personal cult in Hungary was presented by him.

Sixty years ago, on March 9, 1952, a grandiose exhibition was opened in the former Budapest Palace of Justice – today the building of the Museum of Ethnography – on the occasion of the 60th birthday of Matyas Rakosi. On display were gifts made for Rakosi to celebrate the event, including a large number of handicrafts by Hungary’s folk artisans.
The museum opened today an exhibition on the sixtieth anniversary of the 1952 exhibition in the hope of prompting further research on the subject, using material from the collections of the Museum of Ethnography and Hungarian National Museum to explore this unusual “star exhibition” from the building’s past.

Crowds visiting the exhibition organized in 1952 to celebrate Rakosi’s 60th birthday:

Everybody had to celebrate. “Presents” were arriving from the whole country to the “wise leader” Women embroidered for him: to Comrade Rakosi on his 60th birthday:

Photos from neprajz.hu

Watch the TV reports about the event in 1952:

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Night of the Baths

Budapest is well-known for its fantastic spas. Turkish or Art Nouveau, everybody can find their preferred atmosphere in a perfect setting.
This program is really worth your attention, this is the 5th Night of the Baths:
Bath Night Saturday 10 March
From 10pm till 3am on Sunday, with popular DJs.
Gellért Baths from 10pm to 3am: Infragandi, Superman, Simon Iddol (electronic).
Rudas Baths from 10pm to 3am: NVC (electronic).
Király Baths from 10pm to 3am: District7 Lumenart (electronic).
Lukács Baths from 10pm to 3am: Girls & Mathematics (electronic).
Széchenyi Baths from 10pm to 3am: Karmatronic, Whiteboy (electronic).

Here is the FB ad: http://hu-hu.facebook.com/furdokejszakaja