Rising from the debris: this is how Budapest was revived after WWII
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Pestbuda.hu reports that Budapest suffered a lot in the Second World War and today, only a small memorial plaque on the wall of the City Hall reminds people of what really happened after that. It was set up exactly seven decades ago, and it is the memorial of human effort and dedication. In fact, this plaque commemorates the revival of Budapest, more precisely the reconstruction starting after the end of WWII and the collaboration of many dedicated Hungarians. Join us and see some incredible photos that preserve the memory of this time.
Have you seen pictures of Budapest taken after the end of World War II? If you have not, you might be interested in to see how Budapest looked like after the destruction. Generally speaking, Budapest was devastated. Photos reflect the terrible states, the collapsed buildings including our famous bridges that fell into the Duna.
Statistics also show further dramatic results. By flipping through the report written in December 1946, the data found are very shocking.
“1st district. Out of the 782 homes, only 4-5 rested untouched. 16.8% of the buildings were totally destroyed, 62.4 % were severely damaged and 20.3% of them were only slightly damaged.”
However, not only homes were affected by the World War. In the same district, the war killed half of the people living there at that time.
“According to the 1941 census, 23,180 inhabitants lived in the district while the one counting Hungarians in March 1945 only found 12,865. Therefore, the population decline was around 44.5%.”
Even if statistical data are not so harsh in other districts, they were also very much affected by the war. Budapest was undoubtedly the victim of the destruction. After the end of the siege, first of all, the corpses and animals were collected from the streets. As time passed by, life restarted in Budapest. People tried to reconstruct public utilities, replace the exploded bridges with temporary crossings and organise the transportation and the public services.
