Terror Háza

After our pitstop, we took a ride on Metro line 1, the oldest of Budapest’s metros and the second oldest in Europe (after London’s Metropolitan line).

Our next stop was Terror Háza (the House of Terror) at 60 Andrássy út, the site of the headquarters of the Nazi-allied Arrow Cross Party and the Soviet-backed secret police.

This was a sobering museum about the horrors of the successive totalitarian regimes, first during the fascist German occupation and then the communist Soviet occupation. The thugs of the Arrow Cross party (allied to the German Nazi party, and only in power for the last 6 months of the war) and then the various iterations of the AVO and AVH secret police, many of whom were exactly the same individuals, dealt out terror and horrific punishments, including executions. "Don't just guard them; hate them too" was the motto of the AVO.

It was then time for something much more uplifting and pleasant… first a tram with a smile on its face!Read more