The Tree of Life
An inverted metal willow whose leaves are names — the form weeps by design.
Judgefloro — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Judgefloro — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Judgefloro — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Judgefloro — CC BY-SA 4.0
A memorial garden behind Budapest's Great Synagogue, dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust in Hungary and to those who tried to save them, its best-known feature the Tree of Life memorial. The monument is an inverted metal weeping willow, each of its steel leaves inscribed with the name of a victim. The form is deliberate: the tree appears to weep, its leaves hanging down, and reading the names one by one is what makes the scale comprehensible. Hungary lost around half a million Jews, most of them in under a year between 1944 and 1945. The park carries the name of Raoul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who issued Swedish protective passports to tens of thousands of Budapest Jews and established protected houses. He was arrested by the Soviets in 1945 as they entered the city and disappeared into prison; his fate was never clarified. Other plaques in the garden honour diplomats from various countries who did the same. Practical points: the garden is part of the Great Synagogue complex, and entry is normally within the complex ticket rather than separate. The subject is hard and unsuitable for young children.
An inverted metal willow whose leaves are names — the form weeps by design.
A Swedish diplomat saved tens of thousands, then vanished in a Soviet prison.
Most of Hungary's half a million victims died between 1944 and 1945.
Behind the Great Synagogue on Dohány Street, Budapest
He was arrested by the Soviet army in January 1945 as it entered Budapest and taken to Moscow. The Soviets later stated he died in the Lubyanka prison in 1947, but the account was not accepted and conflicting testimony of later sightings emerged. The case stayed open for decades and became a point of tension between Sweden and Russia, and was never resolved.
The Great Synagogue itself, the largest in Europe, the Hungarian Jewish Museum, a cemetery in the courtyard, and this memorial garden. The ticket normally covers them together. Allow ninety minutes to two hours for the whole complex, and note the closing days.
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