18 Jan The Liberation of the Budapest Ghetto
The Liberation of the Budapest Ghetto
The Budapest Ghetto was a Nazi ghetto where tens of thousands of Jews were enclosed near the end of World War II by a decree of the Hungarian Government during
18 Jan The Liberation of the Budapest Ghetto
The Liberation of the Budapest Ghetto
The Budapest Ghetto was a Nazi ghetto where tens of thousands of Jews were enclosed near the end of World War II by a decree of the Hungarian Government during the final stages of World War II (it existed from November 29, 1944, until January 17, 1945).
18 January 1945 marks the liberation of this ghetto. Some 70,000 Jews survived the ghetto’s terrible conditions and lived to see its walls torn down by the Soviet Red army, which pushed the Nazi forces out of Hungary.
Around 550,000 of Hungary’s 800,000 Jews were killed during the Holocaust. Most of those who survived were in Budapest, including those in the ghetto.
During the time of the ghetto the Jewish population of Budapest was reduced from 200,000 to 70,000.
Outside the ghetto, thousands of people survived in hiding in buildings marked with a Star of David -also called as “starry” or “Jewish houses”-which were protected places. The diplomatic protection was granted by the representatives of some neutral countries. The most well-known names of those saviours are Raoul Wallenberg who issued Protective Passports (Schutzpass) on behalf of the Swedish Legation, Carl Lutz who did the same via the Swiss Government and Giorgio Perlasca, who posed as the Spanish consul-general to Hungary in the winter of 1944 and in this way saved more than 5000 people.
During my Jewish Tour you can learn about this part of our history as well while visiting the places still keep the memories for the next generations.
“You shall tell your son…” (Exodus)