THE “HOUSE OF TERROR” – Reflections….

The "House of Terror" - Budapest, 1062 Andrassy ut 60

So today I finally got to visit the ‘House of Terror’ one of those places you certainly ought to visit if you ever pass by Budapest, Hungary! It is described as a museum that commemorates the victims of terror as well as a reminder of the dreadful acts of terror carried out by ‘victimizers’.

The building, and the museum inside are a vivid, impressive recreation of different periods of Hungarian history that the country has tried to move on from albeit painfully. The Different sections of the Museum that begins with a hallway full of victims, then instruments of torture, actual cells, gallows and a morgue, witness accounts displayed on screens and pictures that tell a thousand words all bear testimony to the atrocities witnessed and meted. The building housed the Hungarian Nazis in the early 1940’s and later a residence of the AVO and subsequently the AVH who are known to have participated in the worst forms of crimes against humanity.

As you leave the museum, one is left with a strange bout of sadness and the realization of what man, drunk with power is capable of doing – indeed “man has dominated man to his own injury”. I pity not only the victims and their families but also the staff that have to wake up every day and go works at this depressing reminder of a past that continues to haunt.

On a lighter note, the lighting, the colour themes, the somber music, the paintings, the building materials are a beautiful work of art and brilliant effort at maintaining, protecting and preserving history for future generations.

The untold suffering is a celebration of the resilience of the Hungarian people who despite the odds (for lack of a better word) struggle each day to work at ensuring that the same never happens again.

A visit to the ‘House of Terror’ set me thinking; Kenya has faced some equally atrocious periods in its existence both as a nation and as a people. The atrocities witnessed and experienced – aptly described as the “British Gulags” – during the Mau Mau Rebellion against Colonial Rule are equally saddening, What makes it even more saddening is the fact that not only has the same not been properly documented and preserved, but the many lies that have been propagated to successive generations about the struggle for independence, the utter disregard of the real heroes of the struggle, bears testimony of a nation that has its priorities wanting in many ways. The lack of support, especially by government, of the plight of the survivors of the Mau Mau, is heartbreaking.

The politics as is currently practiced, the continuous war mongering as carried out by tribal chieftains masquerading as national leaders is a clear testimony of a generation  completely ignorant and oblivious to the potential of bad politics and negative ethnicity to drive a country to such levels. Indeed, many have pointed to the 2007/2008 post election violence that saw over 1,200 killed and hundreds of thousands displaced, as just a tip of the iceberg.

It is imperative for a nation to properly preserve history to warn future generations of the dangers of toying around with destructive politics. None of us has the moxie to experience such atrocities ever again – not even the war mongering tribal chiefs do!


William Faulkner famously once said “The past is not dead. It is not even past.” In most cases it actually continues to be a source of conflict, reinterpretation and misappropriation. The fact that ‘the future of the past remains uncertain’ reminds us that there is a continuous need to produce historical accounts and to engage in an ongoing reflection and critical appropriation of the past, not only to make justice to the events and people who lived them, but also to make sure it will not be used for less legitimate purposes that could eventually end up in its tragic repetition.

Carry that into the new year my dear friends, please ......... will you?!?!