Budapest Tuesday 4th June. Synagogue and Parliament






 The day we met other kiwis. Doing the same tour in reverse, we happened to meet with them in the garden of the Parliament. 

The Parliament was amazing and spectacular and incredible and overwhelming and and and ...ostentatious and there was no information anywhere of how much this edifice cost the people of Hungary. It might as well be a castle. And there's no drop-bears. How odd to have missed this important detail. Sometimes I thank God that we live in New Zealand with the somewhat embarrassing Beehive. 

Bruce took these photos. The tour cost NZ$108 for the 3 of us. 











In the morning we went to the Grand Synagogue. This cost NZ$148. It's been an expensive day. 

The synagogue tour was better as it spoke to the heart. It spoke of a people, so willing to be counted as citizens, that they gave up their customs and built a synagogue, employing a Christian architect from Vienna. A synagogue that looks like a Catholic church, with symbols and imagery that would not look out of place in a papal setting. And that despite all of this 375,000 Jewish people lost their lives. The government of Hungary was the first European nation to enact antisemitic laws, well before Nazi Germany ever did. And as the Jewish people were more and more sidelined, it became more and more acceptable to treat them with contempt. It was easy for the populace to embrace Nazi Germany when they came in; they welcomed them with flowers and applause. There had been over two decades of preparation. Our guide said that in his opinion the Holocaust started in 1920.

90% of the Jews living in the countryside were slaughtered, some at the bank of the Danube. It was easier not to bury the bodies. 

























We came home, well, back to our room and had a nap. 

In the evening we were delighted to be given a show of Ukranian dancers accompanied by a 4 piece band - fantastic ukelele, amazing violinist plus a celloist and Viola. 

 



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