section5

After the guns went quiet, the civilians slowly crept back to their deserted flats from the shelters or the Ghetto. Usually they were faced with numerous dead Soviet, German or Hungarian bodies, lying scattered in the streets and in the houses. Amidst the collapsed walls, collapsed ceilings, broken windows, silent and frozen bodies were lying in the January-February cold. Mostly, their boots were missing, caked blood was on their tattered uniforms. Later, many pieces of furniture covered in blood, had to be carefully scraped off and cleaned. Even today, many old pieces of furniture bear the marks of bullets and shrapnel. The first mission was the burial of the mountains of human and animal carcasses. The Red Army ordered out every person, even children, for the completion of this task. It is thanks to the Soviet troops that the city avoided the catastrophe of starvation: soup-kitchens were established on large squares where everyone was provided with a warm bite to eat and a piece of brown bread. The importance of this cannot be underestimatedin spite of brutality and many tragedies, these gestures significantly improved the way the new conquerors were regarded. The rise of the new commerce was interesting. Besides foreign currency and vouchers, almost anything (such as lard, plum-jam etc.) could be purchased. Another post-war characteristic was the appearance of the backpack: it was worn by those traveling to the countryside in search of food, by those who had things to sell, or just about anyone hoping to fill it with something. For the Russian soldiers, three items were priceless: the watch, the lighter and the fountain-pen. The first tram went into operation on February 8, running between Újpest and Forgács street. Other lines were put into operation by April-May, and by November, all trams were operating. The Soviet commander of Budapest recognized the importance of mass transportation and the fixing-up of at least one bus. Radio and the telephone and postal-services were in place by May 1, 1945. The last and most difficult to re-start was the sewage system. Only in April was it possible to begin removing the mountains of garbage from the city squares, a task which lasted for months. The Soviet army only organized the immediate removal of the dead bodies, in order to prevent an outbreak of epidemics, and this was also done by the civilian population. The first cinema production came to Budapest on February 6: the audience watched a Soviet feature film titled The battle of Orel. May 1 was also marked by the erection of several monuments by the Soviet authorities to celebrate their own achievements. Three monuments were unveiled: on Szabadság square, in front of Gellért Hotel and on the Danube promenade. Since clean water was in scarce supply, people used public wells and springs to wash and clean their belongings. The most popular places were the baths in Városliget (city park) - clothes were hung out to dry on the statues in Heroes Square. Many private gardens were plowed to ensure a supply of scarce food necessities: during the summer of 1945, the XIV. District had 35,000 greengrocers registered. The loss of population in various districts of the city was not even. The population in some districts was decimated, for example, the number of inhabitants in the the hardest-hit I. district fell from 23,000 to 13,000, while in the II. District the reduction was by 33%. The Allied bombardments prior to the siege hit the XIII. and IX. districts the hardest, 38-39% of the buildings were effected. By April of 1945, the population had fallen from the original 1,200,000 to 830,000, and women outnumbered men by 166,000.