The museum has been both wildly popular and highly controversial. High-tech and slickly produced, the museum strikes some visitors as somewhat over-the-top, even campy, in its presentation of dark events. Some Hungarians insist that the museum takes a biased approach to remembering history, intended to defame members of the current Socialist party with communist pasts––a charge fueled by the fact that Victor Orban’s nationalist party commissioned the building’s renovation in the heat of an election year. Whatever the reason, there’s no doubt that the museum’s scrutiny of communist repression is far more detailed and intense than the focus on fascism. The museum’s curators counter that Hungary’s communist era was far longer than its fascist era.
The Hungarian Jewish community has also criticized the museum for claiming that the horrors committed during and after World War II, such as the Holocaust, were the sole responsibility of outside impositions by foreigners, rather than something many Hungarians were complicit in.
References
Fuller, Thomas. “Memory becomes battleground in Budapest's House of Terror.” International Herald Tribune, August 2, 2002.
Jordan, Michael J. “Budapest Museum Controversial.” The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, June 26, 2002.
External Link
Design of Terror Háza
The Terror Háza museum was opened on February 24, 2002, after a year-long renovation process. The reconstruction aimed to make the building stand out imposingly on the street, adding granite sidewalks and a giant black awning stenciled with the word “TERROR” and the symbols of Nazi and Communist rule.
Inside, the museum’s exhibits describe and illustrate the building’s past uses, including the basement prison cells and films detailing employed torture methods, as well as memorial walls to the building’s victims and tableaux featuring names and photos of those believed to have been involved in the Communist intelligence services (including some who are still active Socialist party officials). Hungarian architects János Sándor and Kámán Újszászy planned the building’s renovation; architect Attila F. Kovács designed the museum’s façade and interior exhibitions.
References
Terror Háza Múzeum, official website.
External Link
Fuller, Thomas. “Memory becomes battleground in Budapest's House of Terror.” International Herald Tribune, August 2, 2002.
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