This captivating collection of color photographs provides a window into the daily life of Budapest between 1939 and 1944.
Despite the turmoil of World War II, Budapest remained surprisingly tranquil during this era.
These rare images from Fortepan offer a glimpse into the city’s past, showcasing its residents going about their daily lives amidst the chaos of war.
In the years leading up to 1939, Budapest was a vibrant cultural paradise.
Its majestic architecture, a legacy of its past as the second capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, set the stage for a bustling café scene where lively discussions and intellectual debates flourished.
This cosmopolitan atmosphere particularly attracted Budapest’s large Jewish population, estimated at around 200,000.
The city became a center of Hungarian Jewish life, offering a sense of security for refugees fleeing Nazi persecution in neighboring countries.
Hungary initially hesitated to fully embrace Nazi ideology but eventually enacted discriminatory legislation against its Jewish population.
Despite these restrictions, Budapest remained a relatively safe haven compared to other parts of Europe.
However, this changed dramatically in 1940 when Hungary aligned itself with Nazi Germany.
The German occupation of Hungary in March 1944 marked a tragic turning point for Budapest. The sense of safety for Jews quickly evaporated.
Under Nazi control, a Jewish council was established, and restrictions on movement and daily life became harsher.
Apartments were seized, and hundreds of Jews were rounded up and sent to internment camps.
During this dark period, hundreds of thousands of Jews from Hungary, including a significant number from Budapest, were deported to concentration camps, most notably Auschwitz.
Upon retreating, the Germans also blew up all the Danube bridges as a way of hampering the progress of the Communist Red Army of the Soviets.
A two-month-long siege of Budapest reduced the entire city, but mostly the Castle District to rubble, as it was assigned to the mostly Hungarian army with German leadership to defend and to “hold back”.
Most roofs in Budapest were blown in by Soviet bombs, walls blown in by Soviet tanks.
The occupants sought shelter in cellars and ate dead horsemeat found in the streets just to survive
These color photographs were captured using Agfacolor, a revolutionary color film developed by Agfa of Germany.
Agfacolor debuted in 1932, building upon Agfa’s earlier color plate technology, similar to the French Autochrome process.
In 1936, Agfa introduced Agfacolor Neu (New Agfacolor), a groundbreaking film that laid the foundation for modern color photography.
The new Agfacolor was originally a reversal film used for making “slides”, home movies, and short documentaries.
By 1939 it had also been adapted into a negative film and a print film for use by the German motion picture industry.
After World War II, Agfacolor expanded to include various types of color negative film for still photography, with the reversal film rebranded as Agfachrome.
(Photo credit: Fortepan.hu / Wikimedia Commons).