Beneath the Buda
Castle District lies approximately 10 kilometers of inter-connected
caves, cellars and meandering tunnels. Consisting of over 100
individual caves, early residents lived and used these caves for
storage.The History of Sziklakórház – “Hospital in the Rock” - © Sziklakórház 2008 -All rights reserved.
Beneath the Buda
Castle District lies approximately 10 kilometers of inter-connected
caves, cellars and meandering tunnels. Consisting of over 100
individual caves, early residents lived and used these caves for
storage.
At the outbreak of the Second World War, the 1st District and in specific the Castle, was the Government Quarter. The caves were fortified, reinforced, inter-connected and had their access restricted, creating a series of bunkers that could withstand bombing. Then, at the behest of the then Mayor of Budapest, Dr. Károly Szendy, an emergency surgical hospital was constructed from a section of the tunnels. At first, its purpose was for civil defence and medical treatment. Work progressed from 1939 until 1944, with the hospital opening in February of that year. It was put into full service only 3 moths later as the Americans began aerial bombardment of Budapest.
At that time, the hospital consisted of 4 wards: 3 large and 1 small ward. One of the wards was dedicated solely to women, one for civilian male and another for military use. The hospital had a fully-equiped, state of the art surgical operating theatre, x-ray facilities and its own, power generators so that it could operate independently from the city power network. Its primary purpose was urgent medical attendance: treating of civilians and soldiers during air raids. As such, it had limited catering facilities. This latter omission would proved to be one of its major weaknesses; made even more dire during the Siege of Buda in 1945.
The
“Hospital in the Rock” came under the supervision of the Saint John
Hospital, and more specifically, Dr. István Kovács a former military
surgeon as well as an assistant professor and head of surgery (pictured
right). His deputy surgeon was Dr. András Seibriger. Later
many thanked their life to their professionalism and dedicatedness.
Together, they managed forty doctors in rotating shift from the Saint
Johns
Hospital and several dozen nurses from the Red Cross.
Designed to handle 300
patients, by the time of the Siege it had already reached
beyond its full capacity. Historic reports suggest that at
any one time, the
hospital handled on average 700 wounded. Over-stretching the
capacity, caused those operating the facility to expand into other
caves. Beds were pushed together
and arranged as bunks to accommodate 3 patients on each level while
stretchers were also put use; even bags of straw (serving as
mattresses) were used.
Lacking medicine and
equipment,
infection was rife. The mortality rate was higher then ever because of
epidemics and the lack of medicines and medical tools. Among
the nursing staff, one
notable figure was Miklós Horthy's widow (Ilona
Edelsheim-Gyulai, on picture below), the Red Cross head nurse of the I.
Army
Corps the daughter-in-law of Count Miklós Horthy (Hungary’s
first (and last) governor after World War I). Along side her other
aristocrats such as the Baronesses of Andrássy and Sziráky also served
as nurses.
About thirty labour-service obligated doctors could work here. The District Police Commissioner was protecting them from Hungarian Nazis who came around actively seeking to deport whomever they could, Commissioner Dr. Imre Kálmán Koppány provided these doctors Hungarian military surgeons attire saving their lives. For this act, Dr. Koppany found mention on the memorial Wall of the True that commemorates 800 people who risked themselves to save others.
Towards the end of the Seige, 20.000 of the the encircled 40.000 strong Axis troops attempted to fight their way out (known as the “Outbreak”) on the 11th of February. All those who could walk left the Hospital. However, because of the failed outbreak the hospital was filled again. The soviet troops took over the city on the 13th of February. Though rumoured, in truth the Soviet troops never tortured anyone nor used flamethrowers in the hospital. However, in one of the annexed cave wards without any supply, there was a fire-fight between wounded German soldiers and Soviet troops who responded with flames. In fact, the first Soviet troops who entered the Hospital distributed cigarettes among the patients after making sure that all of them are Hungarian.
Later,
patients were successively transported to other hospitals
until the hospital was finally closed in July, 1945. Many of the doctors
emigrated to the West while the leaders, doctors Kovács and Seibriger
were blacklisted and unable to work for 3 years after the end of the
war.
After the war, the equipment were redeployed to the countryside and to the Saint John Hospital. Emptied, it was then rented by a company producing vaccines for the former Yugoslavia. At the beginning of the 1950’s it was classified as “Top Secret” under the codename of LOSK 0101/1, and it was secret until 2002. Plans were drafted to extend and modernize the hospital further. In 1952, at the beginning of the Cold War, the facility was returned to its previous purpose, to operate as a hospital. Refurbished, with modern equipment, it was also extended with a large ward, no. V.
Following the Second World
War, Hungary was occupied by the Red Army, as their rhetoric said
- "temporarily" - that lasted almost 50 years until 1991.
Becoming a Soviet satellite state, thousands of citizens were arrested,
tortured, tried, interned (in Gulags) or even executed by the AVH - the
State Protection Autority.
The Hungarian Revolution in 1956 was a spontaneous, nationwide revolt against the Stalinist government and its Soviet-imposed policies. Lasting from October 23rd until the 10th of November, the revolt spread quickly across Hungary and the government fell. By the end of October, most of the fighting had ceased, and the country had the sense of a new dawn. But a large Soviet force marched into Budapest (ostensibly to restore order as part of the Warsaw Pact) on the 4th of November. Resistance arose, but was brought to an end quickly by the overwhelming soviet force a week later. Over 2,500 Hungarians had died. The following January, the Soviets installed a new government with the leadership of Janos Kadar.
Though not fully equipped, the “Hospital in the Rock”
was re-opened in October, 1956, treating the wounded. During this time, even 6
boys and 2 girls were born here. The chief doctor
was Dr. András Seibriger. The hospital closed its doors on the 22nd of
December that year.
The hospital expanded to its present day size between 1958 and 1962 in the time of a possible nuclear attack. At this time, the purpose of the facility changed to that of being able to withstand a nuclear or chemical attack. To meet its purpose, they added a new gate and tunnel (the Safety-Bypass) was added where people could be decontaminated; internal water reserves with the means to pump water up, with direct conduit to the Danube; air filtering systems, using military technology to remove contaminants; diesel generators made by Ganz, a well-reputed Hungarian manufacturer and air conditioning. Taken all rounds a complete up-to-date mechanical system was established to be able to serve for days under ground in a nuclear attack. Illustration: a section of the extension plan with a "Szigoruan titkos" - "Top Secret" stamp.
Part
of the plan for civil defence, Saint Johns János Hospital continued to
manage the hospital, appointing a cadre of doctors and nurses from
their staff to be on hand in the event of a chemical or nuclear attack;
able to treat the survivors after the 72 hours safety closure
period.
However, by the late 1960s, the bunker’s ability to withstand a nuclear attack using the latest available weapons (e.g. a neutron bomb) became questionable. Nonetheless, as it was a secret facility the selected few doctors and nurses continued to conduct civil defence drills until the late 80's, and the Civil Defence Authority used it as a storage depot. Luckily the nuclear threat had disappeared, however the hospital remained classified until 2002.
A
janitor couple, the Mohacsi family, lived here and maintained the top
secret facility from 1970 to 2004. The janitor was ensuring
that
the supporting systems (humidity control, heating, generators, air
circulation etc.) continued to be in working order, while the janitress
keept the rooms, bedding, etc. sterilized and ready for use. In 2004,
maintenance was taken over by temporary staff from the Saint Johns
Hospital, and between 2004 and 2006, the facility served ocassionally
as an ad-hoc theatre (the Krétakör Theatre) for modern
performances.
In 2006, as part of the city-wide Day of
Cultural Heritage, the facility was opened to the public; the response
and interest led to our present day use, however reconstruction were
started only in 2007.
In
2007, an initiative by the Institute and Museum of Military History put
the “facility to be operated as a museum”: out to tender, launching it
that year as part of the city-wide, “Nights of Museum” event (vide:
Partners).
The current, full exhibition “Hospital in the Rock –
Secret Military Hospital and Atomic Bunker” was officially opened
in March, 2008.