Budapest Guide
Lipótváros and Újlipótváros
The Glass House
Opening time: Daily 1–4pm
Price: Free
Address: 29 Vadász utca
One of Budapest's least-known memorials to the Holocaust, the Glass House (Üvegház) was named both for the extensive use of glass in its Modernist design and for its erstwhile role as a glass showroom. From 1944 to 1945, it was one of many properties in Budapest that was designated as neutral territory by the Swiss consul Carl Lutz, serving as a refuge for 3000 Jews and the underground Zionist Youth organization. An exhibition (entered to the right of the courtyard) explains how Lutz, Wallenberg and other "Righteous Gentiles" managed to save thousands of Jews from the SS and Arrow Cross death squads. While their co-religionists from the provinces were transported en masse to Auschwitz, the Jews of Budapest faced random executions in the heart of the capital, within full view of Parliament and their gentile compatriots, who seemed more offended by the bloodshed than outraged by their murder.