The Swiss Air flight to Budapest via Zurich was pleasant but fell short on comfort. While we found the service exceptional, our ‘lay flat seats’ were painful – by strict Swiss interpretation, the six-part seat did line up… with dips between each segment. It missed the point of providing comfort without creating a backache. The only remedy was to console myself with several helpings of Swiss chocolate truffles – they had an enormous cache.
After landing in Budapest at sunset, it was a beautiful 40-minute ride from the airport to our hotel. The Danube river divides the city of about 1.7 million residents into two parts: the Buda or hilly side, and the Pest, the flat side. Pest is where all the hotels, business, and about 70% of the population are located. Buda is the primary residential or ‘high-rent district.’ It is also the location of the main castle and several monuments overlooking the city, providing beautiful views. “Budapest” the city was formed in 1873 when the two cities, Buda and Pest agreed to combine. The first bridge to connect Buda and Pest was completed in 1849 and was a suspension bridge that used connected links, like a bicycle-chain, rather than cable. It was considered one of the wonders of the world. There had been a pontoon bridge since the Middle Ages which was only usable from spring to fall. During winter, once the river froze, there was no way to get across – don’t get stuck on the wrong side.
Today it is the largest city and capital of Hungary with approximately 1.7 million people. The original Chain Bridge, as well as several others that were built over the years, were destroyed by the Nazis to impede the advancing Stalin Communist Army.
As a quick overview, today’s Hungary is about the size of Indiana with a population of just over ten million people. The country began to form around the 9th century with the combination of seven tribes. The borders continued to change over the centuries, as they gained and lost territories. The region was in constant turmoil, invariably always aligned with the wrong side in any war or battle. They aligned with Germany during WWI, provided more than four million Hungarian soldiers to the German side. Following their defeat, as punishment, the Treaty of Trianon took away over 70 percent of Hungary’s territory, 60 percent of its population, its only port in Flume, and several areas rich in natural resources. As we all know, that treaty set the stage for WWII. As in the first world war, Hungary aligned itself with Hitler and Germany. Hitler promised to help restore Hungary to its pre-WWI configuration by recovering much, if not all, the territory lost in the Treaty of Trianon. Hungary declared war on Russia and committed four million soldiers to the front. After waging battle for more than two years, the Hungarian front began to falter as Stalin’s army found success against both the German and Hungarian armies. They pursued the Hungarian army back to Hungary. At about the same time, the Nazis, who had not occupied Hungary, learned that Hungary was not a reliable ally and, in fact, had made overtures to defect to the Allied forces. So in 1944 they occupied the country.
Since Hungary was attempting to sever their relationship with Germany and align with the Allies, which included Russia, many Hungarian divisions returning from the Russian front entered ‘changing rooms’ – that is, they changed out of their Hungarian uniforms and put on the Stalin/Communist army uniforms. So the battle against the communist army magically transformed into a battle to liberated the Hungary from the Nazis. Ultimately, they succeeded. The price? The Russian army remained to occupy Hungary.
It’s important to note that the anti-Semitism activity in Hungary, starting after the end of the first world war can be attributed to the Arrow Cross party, basically an equivalent to the Nazi party in Germany. The atrocities against the Hungary Jews were carried out mostly by other Hungarians, albeit with help from Germany. In 1944, Hungary sent more than 400,000 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz and to death.
Years of oppression and executions followed the communist take-over– again almost all of it carried out by Hungarian communists against other Hungarians. An attempted revolution in 1957 was put down with the help of the Soviet Army. The Hungarian communists doubled down on oppressions and executions of the dissidents. It wasn’t until about ten years later, around 1967 that things began to ease up. Finally, in 1990, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the departure of the last Soviet troops, the Hungarian Communist party relinquished control.
After meeting up with our travel companions, Mel and Barbara Taylor, we are ready to start the fast pace discovery of Budapest in the morning– hopefully after a good Melatonin-augmented night’s sleep.
The Blue Danube Travel Team: Andre, Roselie, Barbara, Mel
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