Budapest - Through The Eyes of Communism

The amazing thing about Hungary, and most of eastern europe, is that you can walk around and see living remnants of history. Sometimes these "remnants" just can't be moved and other times, they are purposely not moved. The picture below was in a column on an apartment buidling that was actually right on the border of the Jewish area of Budapest.
About 20 minutes outside of Budapest, there is a "park" called Statue Park or Memento Park. Its a piece of land surrounded by trees and houses where a collection of statues that had been scattered around communist eastern europe. Sometime in the 90's, the Hungarians gathered the remnants of these statues from Hungary as well as outside the country. Some of these statues are particular to Hungary but a lot of them are just "general" statues. We had a booklet that we had bought at the entrance that explained each statue and where it was before it came to Statue Park.
http://www.szoborpark.hu/index.php?Content=Szoborpark&Lang=en


The Soviet Heroic Memorial

My friend Jodi, who is American but grew up in Budapest in the 80s, said that she remembers this statue in the park where she used to play. Apparently the ball being held in the hands had been replaced from what she remembers. Its called the Workers' Movement Memorial.

Good ol' Lenin

This is the Soviet-Hungarian Friendship Memorial. The faces are very interesting, the Hungarian worker is grasping the Soviet solider's hand with both hands and the look on his face is completely adoration and gratitude. On the other hand, the Soviet solider had one hand extended and his face is just steely - no expression. Looks like a great friendship! :)

Liberation Monument (as in liberation from the Nazis).

They have several "new" statues that are on the edges of the park that haven't been installed yet.

What would communism be without a car for everyone -- the same car. At least it came in different colors... The adorable little Trabant.

These legs belonged to the statue of Stalin which stood in the middle of what is now, Heroes Square (see pictures from a few days ago - they're from the day we were at Castle Hill). During the 12 Day Revolution, on one of the first days, the statue was pulled down during the revolt. I think they say it took them about a half an hour to pull it down and they used blow torches and all, but they were triumphant! Now all that remains is the feet.... Here's a link for some info http://www.szoborpark.hu/index.php?Content=SztalinDisztribun&Lang=en