The Fall of Budapest
February 13, 1945
“The Budapest victory, single greatest disaster of German arms since Stalingrad two years ago, was announced by Premier Stalin.”
– Quoted in The Times-Picayune on February 14, 1945
Our survivor Isaac Niederman, with the help of the Swedish “diplomat” Raoul Wallenberg, survived the last harrowing months of the fighting in one of his “safe houses,” protected by the Swedish flag. Meanwhile, the Hungarian Nazis (Arrow Cross) roamed the city slaughtering Jews.
In a front page article on February 14, 1945, The Times-Picayune reported on the German capitulation in Budapest:
The Times-Picayune, February 14, 1945 – ALLIES REND WALL BUDAPEST CLEARED, Reds List 110,000 Captured, 49,000 Slain in Siege, (AP) p. 1 (front page)
The Times-Picayune, February 14, 1945 – BUDAPEST TAKEN, p. 3
The Times-Picayune, February 14, 1945 – Editorial, Capture of Budapest, p. 8
Vienna would fall to the Russians in April 1945.
