52 Days in Hell

On Christmas Eve 1944, the Soviet Red Army encircled German-occupied Budapest, and the 52-day siege of the Hungarian capital began. In Buda Castle, tens of thousands sought refuge, including German and Hungarian soldiers, the wounded, and civilians. During these hellish weeks — completely unimaginable today — they all experienced a common terror of death, but also an instinctive desire for survival in the underground spaces of the Royal Palace and the globally unique cave and cellar system of the historic residential quarter. They suffered immensely from the cold, the lack of water and food, darkness, overcrowding, and disease, while trying to save their lives, possessions, and the treasures of the Royal Palace. During our tour, we will recount the horrors of the siege of Buda based on diaries and memoirs as we take a walk through an underground labyrinth, visiting an original Second World War bomb shelter. By the end of the tour, you will understand why the siege of Budapest is often compared to that of Stalingrad, one of the bloodiest and most destructive encirclement battles in world history.