Hungarian Studies Review Spring-Fall, 1995 [antikvár]

Hungarian Studies Review, Vol. XXII, Nos. 1-2 (Spring-Fall, 1995) Hungary in 1945: An Introduction N.F. Dreisziger 1945 was a fateful year in the history of Hungary and in the lives of her people. It began with some of the bitterest, most destructive fighting ever to take place on Hungarian soil: a life-and-death struggle between what was left of Hitler's armies and the largest military machine of World War II, the Red Army. And the year ended with the beginning of the slow reconstruction of "liberated" Hungary in the shadow of the victorious and powerful Soviet Empire. From experiencing death and destruction in January, the country passed to a stage of its development where it could experiment with a small degree of democracy and political pluralism but only as a result of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's decision not to impose Soviet-style totalitarianism on Hungary for the time being. Despite the existence of limited freedom and the fervent hope by Hungarians that more would come, the work of rebuilding-war-torn Hungary progressed only slowly. Economic reconstruction, in particular, was impeded by the enormous damage that had been inflicted on the country during the war, especially in 1944 and 1945. The damage suffered by the capital Budapest is touched on by military historian Krisztián Ungváry in his study of the last days of the battle of Budapest. The overall damage is summed up in Professor Susan Glanz's paper: between 420-450 thousand Hungarians died [during the war] and between 850-900 thousand were taken prisoners of war. Before the war Hungary had been an agricultural and industrial nation. In 1938, the last peace year, 37% of the national income was generated by agriculture and 38% by industry. Due to the demands of war, in the period of 1943-44, the ratio changed to 43% of national income generated by industry and 28% by agriculture. But after the war the destruction of the industrial sector left the country paralyzed. The damage, caused, amount[ed] to $4.27 billion — which represented five times the national income of that year and 40% of the national wealth. The country's infrastructure was destroyed, and agricultural activity also almost came to a standstill as the armies moved through Hungary. Over 90% of all industrial plants suffered some damage and nearly all inventories disappeared. Coal mines ceased to function as nearly all were flooded because of the lack of electricity needed to pump water out. The