Memento Park Phot-o' the Day: Béla Kun Memorial

The Béla Kun Memorial. In black & white.

And we end Memento Park Week with my absolute favorite of all the statuary in the park: the subversive Béla Kun Memorial.

It's not that the communist Béla Kun was a subversive, although he was. It is the monument that was subtly subversive toward the Communist elite. In 1919, Kun became the leader of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, the second communist dictatorship to come to power in Europe. The regime was short-lived and collapsed six months later. In the 1930s, Kun was arrested by Stalin on the serious charge of being a Trotskyite, a counter-revolutionary. He was executed in a gulag and never returned to Hungary. His image was rehabilitated in the de-Stalinization period of the 1950s.

The monument was built in 1986, in the latter days of the Communist Era. The artist was Imre Varga. I should have been more familiar with him as he was considered Hungary's greatest living artist at the time of his death in December 2019. This monument shows genuinely talent is not cookie-cutter workman-like "socialist realism."

At the center is Kun, exhorting the Hungarian people and transforming them from the decadent bourgeoisie Hapsburgs in the rear to the soldiers of international socialism in the front. The problem is that the decadent Hapsburgs in back, rather than looking forlorn and beaten, look like they're having a party. And next to Kun is a lamp post. Artistically, it's a symbol of death, specifically violent death, as in "hanging from the lamppost." Kun died violently, as he was executed by the Soviets.

This is most definitely not a celebration of Communism. It did not need to be removed from Budapest at the time of the fall of Communism. Fortunately, it has a new home. It is the centerpiece of Memento Park and, let's be real, the masterpiece of this fascinating and historic place.

The Béla Kun Memorial. In color.

Memento Park Phot-o' the Day: Lenin (the Famous "Hailing a Cab" Pose)

This is Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin, in his now-permanent Hungarian home of Memento Park outside Budapest. You may have heard of him. He's the Lenin who, when he said, "imagine no possessions," was actually in a position to make sure that the people of Russia indeed had no possessions. Unless they were part of the Communist Party ruling elite.

This pose is affectionately (or sarcastically) (same thing) known as Lenin's "hailing a cab" pose. I know. How 20th Century! Nowadays, Lenin would call for an Uber on his phone. Oh wait, he wouldn't have had a phone, having imagined the whole "no possessions" thing and bringing it forth into reality.

Visited May 2010. Over-analyzed in June 2020.

Memento Park Phot-o' the Day: Marx and Engels in Granite

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels stiff in granite at Memento Park, just outside of Budapest. "Socialist realism" at its most stiff and least real.

This makes me think of that wonderful old song by Joe Strummer and the Clash, "The Magnificent Seven," when you get to the twelfth or thirteenth verse:

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels / Came to the checkout at the Seven Eleven
Marx was skint but he had sense / Engels lent him the necessary pence

Visited May 2010.

Memento Park Phot-o' the Day: Martyr's Monument

This is the Martyr's Monument. Since this statue is in Memento Park, Budapest's home to a huge collection of discarded socialist-realism statuary, this statue would have been commissioned by the communists and it is to honor those died bringing about the communist revolution. Apparently they had stumpy legs and overly elongated torsos.

Visited May 2010.

Memento Park Phot-o' the Day: Republic of Councils Monument

It's all Memento Park, all week, this week. This means it's all kitschy-commie statuary from the park outside Budapest that has become the final resting place for the communist-era propaganda statuary that pock-marked Budapest in the Cold War era.

This is the enormous "Republic of Councils Monument" that probably would be considered the centerpiece of Memento Park. For one reason, unlike the rest of the "socialist realism" communist propaganda statuary in the park, this one has life and motion. It's not stiff and rigid. This one, jokingly, was regularly referred to as "Budapest thermal bath attendant chases after patron who dropped his towel."

I visited Memento Park outside Budapest 10 years and one month ago.

Memento Park Phot-o' the Day: Liberation Army Soldier statue

Memento Park is a collection of 42 socialist-realism statues that were pulled down throughout all of Budapest, Hungary, immediately after the fall of communism in Hungary. It is located in the hills outside of Budapest, about a 30 minute bus ride from the center of town.

These statues glorify communism and the Communism officials and apparatchik who presided over Hungary during those dark days. It was a very wise decision by the people of Budapest not to destroy these ugly statues and, instead, to put them on display. They are displayed both as mementos of a terrible time that should never be repeated and, more importantly, to be objects of mockery. Evil cannot survive as an object of mockery and derision.

This is a very large statue of a Liberation Army Soldier, one of several statues cast in loving memory (at the time) of the Soviet Red Army. (By 1956, there was not much love for the Soviet Red Army in Hungary, Budapest in particular. But that's a long story for another time.)

Visited May 2010.

Budapest, Hungary: A Trip into Commie Nostalgia

Saturday's field trip was trip to the western outskirts of Budapest, to a place now called "Memento Park." It is an outdoor sculpture garden, of sorts, of Socialist Realism statutory that was once the only acceptable public art in the former People's Republic of Hungary.

   Hungary opted to retain its communist-era statuary, while many other former eastern bloc countries destroyed theirs. Here, the communist past is given a more whimsical treatment. The above statue shows the Hungarian workers greeting (stiffly) the Soviet soldier.

This one shows the glorious Hungarian worker breaking through a wall:

  I'm not sure why that was an image that the Soviets wanted proliferating in the Berlin Wall era, but I wasn't the Chief Interior Decorator for ComIntern.

   As you can see, the statuary is not tightly packed in. I was hoping they would have more, as this sort of stuff was everywhere during the People's Republic years, but this is good. (For example, it seems that all of the Stalin statuary got destroyed at some point.)

This is one of the larger, more interesting pieces:

Again, it is the Hungarian worker and his friend, the Soviet soldier. As Rick Steves describes it, they appear to be doing calisthenics, but one of the hallmarks of Socialist Realism is the stiffness of the figures, even when they are meant to be in an action pose.

I think this woman is supposed to be holding an olive branch, symbolizing how much the Soviet communists want peace.

It looks to me like she's weilding a cross between an ostrich feather and a club.

Two Lenins. First is the simple bust:

   Second is one of the more prominent works in the park, a more active Lenin in what Rick Steves's describes as his "hailing a cab" pose:

   Next, this Hungarian communist party functionary (who, unfortunately for him, got cut off at the kneecaps in some de-communizing accident) is pointing out my favorite piece in the park:

   It is also one piece by a legitimate, respected artist. Imre Varga.

   It is supposed to show how the decadent Habsburg bourgeoise were being transformed into hard-working soldiers of communism under the watchful eye of Hungarian communist leader Bela Kun. Yet the piece is far more subversive. The Habsburgs in the back look like they're having fun, in contrast to the grim soldiers in the front. Plus, the lamppost in the center is a metaphor in Hungarian literature for the gallows. Kun was eventually executed during one of Stalin's purges.

Next up is probably the largest piece in the park, an enormous statue of the glorious communist worker charging into the future (?) waving perhaps a Terrible Towel:

   Finally this one is supposed to remind you of the glories of communism. Instead, it reminds me of Allstate insurance:

   You're in good hands with socialism?

The park is whimsical toward the communist past, but there are exhibits and a film inside that evoke a little less whimsy. One interesting black and white film strip discusses the spy network, and how agents would exchange information.

Still, I couldn't help enjoying the whimsical side of communism. Should I take my place in this workers' struggle. I see this:

   And it makes me want to take my place in the workers' glorious struggle:

   On a second thought, maybe not.