The Holocaust Memorial Center is the only public collection in the country that deals exclusively with the history of the Holocaust. Housed in a striking modern building that opened in 2002, the thematic permanent exhibition traces the rise of anti-Semitism in Hungary and follows the path to the genocide of the country’s Jewish and Roma communities.
Death March
Enter the museum via the Tower of Lost Communities, more than 1400 Jewish villages that ceased to exist after the war. The exhibits in eight rooms consist of a series of maps, photographs, diaries and graphic videos. The personal effects contained in glass columns are moving. The music starts off rather festive, but the exhibits are accompanied by the sounds of a pounding heartbeat and marching as the doomed are deprived of their freedom and dignity and deported to death camps in Germany and Poland.
Synagogue Reborn
A sublimely restored synagogue in the central courtyard, designed by Leopold Baumhorn and completed in 1924, hosts temporary exhibitions on the mezzanine level.
Wall of Remembrance
An 8m-high glass wall in the inner courtyard bears the names of 180,000 Hungarian victims of the Holocaust and is constantly updated. Name tags simply reading "anonymous" remind visitors of the many victims whose identities are not known.
