"Hammer and Sickle" Tour

Yesterday, I traveled back to Budapest to finally visit another “to do” on my list. Memento Park. I took a “hammer and sickle” tour which was a history of Communism in Hungary, and a trip to Memento Park. The park holds many Communist statues from the city of Budapest. Once Communism was defeated in Hungary (my students here call it the “system change”) they removed the statues and instead of destroying many of them, they gathered them in a park outside of town to commemorate Hungary’s defeat of Communism. It’s a bit tedious to get to, so I figured I’d get more out of the full tour. There were a total of 5 of us on the tour, including our uber Hungarian guide Csabi (pronounced cha-bee). He not only got us to the park, but gave us anecdotal stories about his growing up in Communist Hungary (he’s 45 years old now) and how life has changed since then. I am continually fascinated by the stories of communism that I hear from students or other Hungarians that I’ve met. Granted they are few and far between, but I was just having a conversation with one of my students about how his grandfather misses communism and isn’t proud of being a Hungarian. At any rate, the park was interesting with the 43 different statues there commemorating many different aspects of communism from the leaders to the workers to the sportmen.

Me in a Trabant - each family had to wait 5-8 years to receive a car. They had to pre-pay half the cost and then continue monthly payments until they had paid off the car. Only then would they be able to get the car, provided it was their turn

the park

our tour guide Csabi (pronounced cha-bee)

the boots of Stalin - the original statue was torn down and all that remained were his boots.

Lenin

Soviet soldier

A Hungarian (left) and a Soviet (right). When looking face on, the Hungarian is shorter, and more shabbily dressed. Also, the Hungarian uses two hands to shake the Soviets' one hand. It's called "Brotherhood" - even though the Hungarians were always the lower of the two groups

Looking back at the entrance to the park

Red star of flowers in the middle of the park

souvenirs

the communist equivalent of Monopoly - the object of the game was to purchase and furnish an apartment...

the 3 Terrors - Stalin, Lenin and Mao

McLenin's- the taste of communism