Today has been a poignant and thought provoking day, so much so I have just been out to retrace some of our experiences tonight to contemplate what we have learned and to try to get my head around what it all means.

Before I get into that we have had another big day of walking. We have been down to the parliament building, which is a very impressive and beautiful building and explored the magnificent square behind it, wandered up to Szabadsagter, or the Library Square, then over to St Stephens Basilica where we found more Christmas markets, in fact we have discovered Christmas markets all across the city, then we went across to the Dohany Street Synagogue and wandered through the Jewish Quarter and found some of the Ruin Bars before heading across to the other side of the city to have a late lunch at the Vasarcsarnok Market Hall or the Great Market Hall. Our lunch was traditional Hungarian fare where we shared beef stew with bread dumplings, stuffed cabbage and a potato bake with Hungarian sausage. It was all very nice and very filling. Our feet needed a rest this afternoon so we enjoyed a sightseeing river cruise that was free with our Budapest Card.

We enjoyed the cruise as it started in daylight and ended in the dark so we got to see the sunset over the city. We also enjoyed watching a Chinese tour group who were also on the cruise and one particular lady who must have taken several hundred selfies, I’m not kidding, it was one nearly every 20 seconds, but she was enjoying herself and that is the main thing.

Tonight we didn’t need tea but we did wander into the Christmas Markets again to enjoy some mulled wine, roasted chestnuts (something Amy always wanted to try) and a Flodni or Jewish layer cake containing poppy seed, ground walnut, apple and plum jam.

So back to the poignant aspect of today which started with visiting the ‘Shoes on the Danube Bank’ and culminating with the stories we heard from our guide at the Domany Street Synagogue. The Shoes on the Danube is a very moving memorial consisting of 60 pairs of shoes cast out of iron. It is a memorial to the 3,500 people who were shot into the Danube during the time of the Arrow Cross Terror. Most of these murders occurred around December 1944 and January 1945. We left the memorial quite stunned at the wanton violence and evil that befell these innocent people and I still can’t quite get my head around it especially when we have absolute morons back home walking into supermarkets in nazi uniforms and others both in our parliament and in our media whipping up nationalistic hyperbole based on white supremacy and xenophobic bullshit. How any sane person can align themselves with these repugnant and evil values is beyond me. While these thoughts were going through my head we came across a makeshift protest monument set up in front of a monument that was erected in 2014 which it is argued is trying to rewrite history and by erecting the monument the government is making a concession to the far right in Hungary who advocate nationalism, racism and xenophobia. It defies belief and highlighted to me that there is still much to be done to rid this world of these evils.

The Arrow Cross Party was a far right Hungarian party led by Ferenc Szalasi which formed government and was in power from October 1944 to March 1945. During this short time they were responsible for the murder of 10-15,000 civilians (many of whom were Jewish) and the deportation of 80,000 people to their death. Many of the members of the party were subsequently tried as war criminals. What is staggering, as highlighted by our guide at the synagogue, is the pace that things went so terribly wrong for the Jewish population of Hungary. In a manner of months they went from thinking all would be OK as the Hungarian Government had engaged in an armistice with the Soviets which would have ended their involvement in the war only to have the Nazis invade in March 1944 which then led to the rise of the Arrow Cross Party to power which then led to such violence and devastation to this community. It also led to the siege of Budapest which devastated the city. However it should be noted that Anti-Jewish policies grew more repressive in the interwar years and in 1938 further anti-Jewish measures were passed emulating the Nazi Nurnberg Laws so it was not just the Arrow Cross Party advocating discrimination however they took it to even greater extremes.

The Domany Street Synagogue is the largest Synagogue in Europe and the second largest in the world. It’s a magnificent building that was designed by a Christian and looks very much like a church inside but also has intricate decoration that is based very much on a Moorish Revival style, as our guide said that was normal for the time the Synagogue was built. The Synagogue was constructed between 1854 and 1859 and it is a symbol of integration, remembrance and openness to dialogue and our guide certainly espoused these values. The Synagogue features on the European Unions list of European Heritage sites because of the significant role it has played in the history and culture of Europe.

Alpngside the Synagogue is a mass grave where 2,000 Jewish people had to be buried during WWII, it is not customary to have a cemetery next to a synagogue but circumstances at the time provided no other choice. Behind the Synagogue is the Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust Memorial Park which includes a sculpture by Imre Vagna depicting a weeping willow with leaves bearing the names and tattoo numbers of the dead and who disappeared as well as a memorial to Wallenberg and other ‘righteous among the nations’ where the names of the people who came to the help of the Jews are listed. As was eloquently said by our guide, unfortunately in society we have the aggressors, the victims and the people trying to get in the way of the two and the memorials are for the victims of the atrocities and the heroic people who tried to save them.

Our guide also highlighted that despite the events of WWII occurring 75 years ago it has only been since 1989 with the end of the Communist Regime that healing for the Jewish community could begin with the story telling and memorials that have been developed.

The story of Raoul Wallenberg is an inspiring one and reminds you that there is greatness within humanity especially when faced with such evil. Wallenberg is responsible for saving 7 to 9,000 Jews from the holocaust and his inspiring actions and story reminds us of the continued need to fight racism in all its forms. While serving as Sweden’s special envoy in Budapest between July and December 1944, Wallenberg issued protection passports and sheltered Jews in buildings designated as Swedish Territory. Unfortunately Wallenberg died in a soviet prison in 1947.

Wallenberg has been awarded honorary citizenship in the USA, Canada, Hungary and Israel and I am very proud to say Australia as well.

So I have been staggered at the atrocities that have occurred in this beautiful city but also inspired by the likes of Wallenberg who tried hard to help the Hungarian Jews during WWII as well as the message of integration, remembrance  and openness at the synagogue. I have always maintained that good will win over evil in the end (although we may lose the odd battle along the way) and we as humanity will find our path to all of us living with kindness and compassion for each other. However in all realism this path will be fraught with many challenges to overcome the evil that still exists in our world.