The last days of Budapest The destruction of Europe's most cosmopolitan capital in World War II

Like many European capitals during WWII, Budapest was largely destroyed. How such a handsome, culturally vibrant city on the Danube River experienced such catastrophe is historian LeBor's question and the answers begin with Hungary's situation after WWI. Defeated as part of the Hapsburg empire, the country received a punitive settlement in the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, losing over half its territory to surrounding countries. The effort to reverse this animated Hungarian politics in the ensuing decades; that, plus vengeance against supporters of a communist government that briefly prevailed in 1919. Central to this was Miklos Horthy, former commander of the Austrian-Hungarian navy, who overthrew the communists and ruled Hungary until 1944. Under his aegis as "Regent" (for a Hapsburg dynasty that never returned), successive prime ministers nurtured Hungary's territorial claims in diplomatic dalliance with the power that could deliver them: Nazi Germany. Amid this perilous international architecture, LeBor injects a kaleidoscope of characters swept up in Hungary's descent into WWII, some promoting alliance with the Nazis, others resisting it. Aristocrats, ambassadors, intelligence agents, movie actors, Zionists, child soldiers, these and more populate LeBor's narrative, made possible because of many survivors' memoirs. LeBor makes the most of them, delivering a searing account of a late-stage atrocity of the Holocaust, the deportation, after Germany's March 1944 invasion, to Auschwitz of much of Hungary's Jewish population. Closing with the depravities of the Arrow Cross, Hungarian fascists who murdered Jews the Germans missed, LeBor powerfully documents the agonies of a world-famous city.

The fall of a "seductive city." Journalist and novelist LeBor, author ofHitler's Secret Bankers: The Myth of Swiss Neutrality During the Holocaust, writes that losing World War I was no less disastrous for Hungary than for Germany. Formerly a full partner in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it emerged missing 70% of its former territory. LeBor describes Budapest as almost Parisian in its love of art, food, pleasure, and politics with an enormous cast of characters. He emphasizes that the Hungarian government's obsession between the wars was to regain lost territories. Since that was also Hitler's obsession, Nazism exerted a growing and malign influence. The nation remained neutral when Germany invaded Poland in 1939, but, under increasing pressure, joined Germany's June 1941 invasion of Russia. During this period, the government remained in place. Unlike in Poland, there was no military occupation with the accompanying massive atrocities but plenty of scattered atrocities and antisemitic laws. Barely keeping Germany at arm's length, Hungary maintained a fairly free press, political parties, trade unions, and cultural life until March 1944 when, with the Red Army drawing near, Germany took control and almost immediately began rounding up Jews. Following Hungary's clumsy effort to switch sides in October, Germany gave power to its right-wing pro-Nazi party, which quickly began a reign of terror. One historian writes, "Nowhere else in Nazi-occupied Europe were Jews killed in public in such large numbers over such a long period of time." With access to new documents and diaries, LeBor vividly recounts details of gruesome atrocities. He describes heroic figures who saved thousands of Jews but failed to save hundreds of thousands. Uncovering grim but important history in Hungary's capital. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.