Budapest Guide
Terézváros and Erzsébetváros
The House of Terror
Opening time: Tues– Fri 10am–6pm, Sat & Sun 10am–7.30pm
Price: 1500Ft
Address: Andrássy útca 60
Website: www.terrorhaza.hu
You can't miss the House of Terror (Terror Háza) due to the ominous black frame that surmounts the building, once the dreaded headquarters of the secret police. Dubbed the "House of Loyalty" by the Fascist Arrow Cross during World War II, it was subsequently used for the same purpose by the Communist ÁVO. When captured by insurgents in 1956, no trace was found of the giant meat-grinder rumoured to have been used to dispose of corpses; after the re-imposition of Soviet rule, the building was thoroughly sanitized before being handed over to the Communist Youth organization.
Opened in 2002 as a cross between a museum and a memorial, the House of Terror has been criticised by some for glossing over Hungary's role in the invasion of the Soviet Union, and its emphasis on Stalinist terror compared to the Holocaust (a subject treated in far more depth at the Holocaust Memorial Centre. A video in the lobby repeatedly plays the image of a man weeping at the execution of 1956 insurgents, saying "this was their socialism". Perhaps balance is impossible in such a sensitive area, and the public treatment of the Stalinist years is at least a much-needed, if simplified, beginning.
The moment you step in through the spooky automatic door you're bombarded with funereal sounds and powerful images, starting with a Soviet tank and photos of ÁVO victims in the courtyard. An audioguide (1000Ft) can save you the trouble of reading the English-language sheets in each room, but the latter pack far more information. The displays begin on the second floor (you take the lift, then work downwards) with a couple of rooms dealing briskly with the murder of 600,000 Jews and Gypsies in the Holocaust, before moving on to the Soviet "liberation", deportations of "class enemies", rigged elections, collectivization, and other themes. The most harrowing part is the basement, with its reconstructed torture chamber and cells, where the music mercifully stops and the exhibits are allowed to speak for themselves.