09-Mar-2023
As we walked from the station to our latest flat on Monday night, we noticed some tall objects looming over the wall to our left.
It turned out these were gravestones in the vast Fiumei Road Cemetery.
We've been to this place twice since then. We like cemeteries, and have in past years made memorable visits to the Glasgow Necropolis, Pere Lachaise in Paris, and the Cimitero Monumentale in Milan. These places are oases of history, art, atmosphere, and the peace of nature. They make excellent destinations.
Some of the highlights from our current cemetery-next-door:
The grave of Jozsef Antall, the first democratically elected prime minister of Hungary after the fall of communism in 1989. The sculptures depict shrouded horsemen pulling in different directions
Graveyard fauna
Also very close to us is Budapest's Jewish Quarter.
There's a brief introduction to the history of the Jewish community in Budapest here. Antisemitism rose exponentially in Hungary following WWI, and a succession of discriminatory laws were passed in the two decades to 1942. The situation worsened markedly in 1944, however, when Hungary (despite its status as an ally of Hitler's) was occupied by the German army. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were deported to concentration camps; thousands died of hunger and disease in the Budapest ghetto; still more perished in the "labour service units" as a result of malnutrition and brutal treatment. Estimates vary as to the total number of deaths, but a broad consensus puts the figure at more than 500,000.
Klauzal Square, once the heart of the old Jewish Quarter
Dob Street Synagogue
Kazinczy Street Synagogue
The Carl Lutz Memorial, commemorating the Swiss diplomat who is credited with saving the lives of more than 60,000 Jews
Rumbach Street Synagogue
Dohany Street Synagogue
I guess this whole trip has reminded me once again that I've led a pretty charmed life. I've lived under some pretty inept governments, but never (yet) an out-and-out tyranny that has needed to be forcefully overthrown; I've never (yet) lived in a polity that sees me as part of a maligned and persecuted minority; I've not (yet) had to endure the utter dislocation of a world war. Some or all of these catastrophes have befallen communities in the capitals we've been visiting. The scars are still visible.
I acknowledge, of course, that tyranny, persecution, and war are right now the lot of millions who haven't been as lucky as I have. All the more alarming, then, that the parts of the world that seemed to be learning to steer clear of these scourges are apparently less anxious to avoid them going forward. Too many leaders -- and too many publics -- are sleepwalking their way down routes that could deliver us straight back into the hands of these horrors. They're all just a heartbeat away.
The Jewish Quarter is also an area full of murals (not to mention ruin bars, though the latter are not really our thing...)