29-05-2025
The second world war changed Budapest for ever
At one time it almost rivalled Berlin, Paris and Vienna in intellectual heft. Effortlessly, it seemed, Budapest nurtured heavyweights. The city was home to world-renowned musicians (Bela Bartok, Franz Liszt), writers (Arthur Koestler, Karl Polanyi), film-makers (Michael Curtiz, of 'Casablanca' fame, and Alexander Korda) and physicists (John von Neumann, Leo Szilard). Before the second world war Hungary was also a hub of Jewish culture. Budapest was home to one of the biggest Jewish communities in Europe, with about 200,000 people—roughly a quarter of the city's population. The beautiful central synagogue on Dohany Street was, and remains, the largest on the continent.
