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Introduction
The Siege of Budapest was one of the longest and
bloodiest battles of WWII. Between the appearance of the first
Soviet tank and the final capture of Buda Castle, 102 days were to
pass. In comparison, Berlin and Vienna fell after 2 weeks and
6 days respectively, while no other European city, with the exception of
Warsaw, was the scene of a major battle. Even those German units
that persevered the longest, like Königsberg (Kaliningrad)
and Breslau (Wroclaw), resisted the attackers for 77 and 82
days respectively. The fierceness of the battle
of Budapest can be compared only to the sieges
of Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Stalingrad (Volgograd) and Warsaw.
Budapest has been one of the most besieged
capital cities in Europe, which bares witness to its strategic
importance: there have been 15 different major battles fought
here throughout history, yet not one of them comes
close to the siege of 1944-1945 in the scope of its destruction. The stifling
of the Warsaw uprising took 63 days, the blockade
of Leningrad lasted almost 3 years but no battles were fought
on the streets. Stalingrad was a combat zone for 4 months, but most
of the civilian population was evacuated prior
to the struggle. At the same time, more than 800,000 people
were eyewitnesses to the bloody conflict
that contemporaries compared to Stalingrad in its ferocity. The casualties
of the Red Army were 80,026 dead and 240,056 wounded during the military
operations in Budapest and its vicinity, and
for each Soviet soldier killed elsewhere in Hungary, two
lost their lives in the capital city.
The material damage was also great.
The entire German-Hungarian loss of life
amounted to about 60% of Red Army losses. Between November
3, 1944 and February 16, 1945, there were about 40,000 dead
and 62,000 wounded (including victims of
the attempt to break out of the blockade). In terms of
numbers, Hungarian losses did not surpass that of the Germans
and were a far cry from the Soviet casualties. However, this
was the most inane sacrifice of all three. Regardless of his allegiance,
the Hungarian soldier was but a spectator of the
destruction of his country. Many felt that it was their duty
to fight even when the outcome was obvious, others capitulated right
away citing Horthy Miklós' order of cease-fire. To chose
meant to wager between the lesser of two
evils: persistence only prolonged the bloody war initiated
for the wrong cause, capitulation did not ensure true liberation. During
the siege, very few took the risk of
taking photographs. Almost all pictures taken by the
defenders were destroyed. Therefore this
exhibition primarily presents materials of the Soviet war correspondents
and civilians, as well as the pictures taken after the siege. For this
very reason, there is virtually no evidence of several significant
events and important people. The street battles, the atrocities
or the anti-Fascist resistance cannot be revisited either. When planning
this exhibition, we worked from materials
that were at posterity's disposal, therefore, it is primarily
buildings that feature in the photographs. Nevertheless, this does
not diminish the tragedy of the thousands who perished in
the midst of those destroyed buildings.
This exhibition commemorates these human destinies.
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