The Jewish Quarter is one of the most exciting places in Budapest. What does this place stand for and why is it a must-see?
Firstly, let's explore its past a bit. The history of the Jews in Hungary dates back to at least the Kingdom of Hungary in the medieval times. They had a rather turbulent and tragic life path until the end of the XX century. Starting from the 14th century, the Hungarian Jews suffered many persecutions under the throne of foreign kings. During the time of the Black Death (1349), they were expelled from the country. During the Habsburg rule in the 17-18th century, most Jewish residents were massacred, captured and further persecuted from the country. The year 1849 marked the emancipation of the Jews in Hungary when legal equality was granted to Jews after which they well integrated into Hungarian society by the time of the First World War. They fairly contributed to the country’s progress in science, business and the arts.
But Anti-Jewish policies grew more repressive in the interwar period. Hungary's leaders aligned themselves with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Starting in 1938, Hungary passed a series of anti-Jewish measures: employment of the Jews in government at any level was forbidden, private companies were forbidden to employ more than 12% Jews. Hundreds of thousands of Jews lost their income. Following the German occupation of Hungary in 1944, they were deported from the provinces of Hungary. Soon it culminated in the tragic events of the Holocaust resulting in the massacre of around 6 million Jews. Nazis and Hungarian fascists turned the Jewish Quarter into a ghetto, where thousands of Jews died of famine and starvation. In 1945, the Soviet army liberated the ghetto and saved its residents from deportation.
Jewish Quarter at present
After the war, the depopulated quarter was left neglected and slowly revived when it was transformed into Budapest’s party zone. It has become a bustling neighborhood, teeming with Jewish restaurants, various pubs and bars, night clubs, retail stores, and 3 synagogues. One of them is Europe’s largest synagogue in Dohány street. After 2000, ruin bars began to spring up in the demolished and abandoned buildings. The most famous ones include Szimpla Kert, Fogasház and the Mika Tivadar Mulató. There are a well-known Mazel Tov restaurant and also Massolit book café in this neighbourhood.
There are also other places in Budapest such as Holocaust Memorial Center, House of Terror Museum, Hungarian Jewish Museum and Archives, Shoes on the Danube embankment which commemorate the Jewish victims in Hungary.
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