Traveler’s Tales: Budapest’s House of Terror

 House of Terror–a deceptively mild looking office building on a beautiful boulevard. These are not my photos, but you can view some here:http://tinyurl.com/3oqr26q

The black awning that hangs over the building has the letters cut out: TERROR. It looks odd, but it’s an odd place. Until I put up my camera to take a photo and through the lens finder, the sun shown through the letters throwing a shadow onto the top half of the building which spelled out TERROR in black. I was so startled, I nearly dropped the camera. Looked at it with my eyes: nothing. Camera up again: Terror. Very creepy and an excellent beginning for what came next.

You start at the top of the building and walk through the multi-media exhibits telling the story of night time raids (you can even push a bell that rattles your nerves to awaken innocent victims). Videos showed us those old photos of the ugly men on the Kremlin wall watching scores of soldiers marching through the plaza, with their tanks and missiles aimed at–well, me as a child. I’d misplaced that all in my mind, buried with the drills of hiding under the desk in case of a nuclear attack. It all came back.

In one long room, the carpeting was a giant map of middle and eastern Europe–all the way through Asia to Vladivostock, detailing the location of the labor camps. Along the walls in Hungarian elderly people told their stories with English subtitles. The one man explained, “They told us we were working for the good of the state in these camps. But we were starving slaves. How can you build a good society on the back of slaves?”

One room had a lighted cross embedded in the floor, reminding us that true religion went underground for a very long time. One room was devoted to Cardinal Mindszenty who spent 15 years living in the US Embassy. I’d forgotten about him, too.

We then spent 3 minutes descending to the basement in an elevator which featured a video of a man describing the torture and hangings that went on in the house.

When the door opened into a clammy basement with a disturbing scent I couldn’t recognize, I didn’t think I could go through with the rest of the tour. But there was only one way out, and I hurried past the tiny cells, didn’t examine the photos and tried not to shake when I saw the gallows where so many were hung. 3000 people were tortured down there.

When I finally got out, I sat in the cafe and wept. This was the worst place I’ve ever been to, short of Dachau.

Man’s inhumanity to man, displayed with dignity and horror.

I’m glad I did it. I hope to never have to visit such a place again.