The History of the Hospital in the Rock © Hospital in the Rock 2008 – All rights reserved.

• 1939-1945 The World War II Air Raid Hospital
• 1946-1952 Pharmaceutical Works
• 1956-1957 Revolutionary Hospital
• 1958-1962 Expansion works during the Cold War
• 1962-2007 Hospital, Nuclear Bunker and Civil Defence Depot
• The Hospital in the Rock Today

1939-1945 The World War II Air Raid Hospital

 

Beneath the Buda Castle District lie approximately 10 kilometres of interconnected caves, cellars and meandering tunnels, which the inhabitants have continuously used, expanded and rebuilt.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, when the 1st District and specifically the Castle was the Government Quarter, the routes were fortified, the number of entrances restricted, and the often separate passages interconnected. All this was carried out so that the 10-15m deep cave system could serve as an air-raid shelter in the event of bombing. Then, the Mayor of Budapest, Dr. Károly Szendy, ordered the construction of an emergency surgical hospital beneath the Castle for the purposes of air-raid defence and medical treatment.

 

 

For cost reasons, the institution was developed from the existing cave system – caves became rooms and passages became corridors. Work progressed intensively from 1939 until 1944 and in February 1944 the Emergency Surgical Hospital of Budapest was opened. It became used intensively after the American air raids in the May of ’44. At that time, the hospital consisted of three large and one small wards. One of the wards was dedicated solely to women; one was for civilian males and an other for military use. The hospital had a fully-equipped, state-of-the-art surgical operating theatre, X-ray facilities and its own electricity generators so that it could operate independently from the city electricity network. Its mission became general emergency provision, and so it received both civilian and military personnel who had been injured in air raids. As such, it had limited catering facilities. This latter omission would prove 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. Dr. István Kovács, a former military surgeon as well as an assistant professor, was appointed as head of surgery (pictured right). Dr. András Seibriger became his deputy surgeon. Later, many would owe their life to the two doctors’ professionalism and dedication. Together, they managed forty doctors in rotating shifts from the Saint John Hospital and several dozen volunteer nurses from the Red Cross.

Designed to accommodate 300 patients, by the time of the Siege it had already surpassed its capacity. According to the testimony of eye witnesses, the hospital handled 650-700 wounded at a time. Due to the over-stretching the facility was expanded into other caves. Beds were pushed together and arranged as bunks to accommodate three patients on each level, while stretchers and even bags of straw (serving as mattresses) were used. The mortality rate was extremely high because of epidemics and the lack of medicines and medical instruments.

Among the nursing staff, notable figures were: István Horthy's widow Ilona Edelsheim-Gyulai (pictured below) and the Red Cross head nurse of the First Army Corps and the daughter-in-law of Count Miklós Horthy, Hungary’s first (and last) governor after World War I. Alongside her, other aristocrats such as the Countesses Andrássy and Sziráky also served as nurses.

 

Close to thirty doctors of the forced labour service worked in the hospital. The district Police Commissioner prevented members of the Arrow Cross (the Hungarian national socialist party) from deporting them and re-dressed them in Hungarian Army medical officer uniforms so that they could work safely. For this act, the Police Commissioner, Dr. Imre Kálmány Koppány, was entered on the Wall of the True holocaust memorial that commemorates 800 people who risked themselves to save others. The doctors saved the lives of many thousands of Hungarian civilians and soldiers.

Towards the end of the Siege, on the 11th of February 20,000 soldiers of the encircled 40,000-strong Axis army attempted to fight their way out (known as the “Breakout”). All those who could walk left the Hospital. However, because of the failure of the breakout the hospital was filled again. Soviet troops took over the city on the 13th of February. Despite the rumours, in truth the Soviet troops never tortured anyone nor used flamethrowers in the hospital. However, in one of the annexed cave wards lacking 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 were Hungarian.

The encirclement and the siege of the Budapest "fort" lasted from December 1944 to February 1945. Red arrows indicate the Red Army, blue shows the failed 20,000 both Hungarian and german troops- the strong German breakout attempt from the Castle of Buda, where the Hospital in the Rock is located. Only 800 of them succeeded in reaching the German lines.

Later, patients were successively transported to other hospitals until the Hospital in the Rock was finally closed in July 1945. Many of the doctors emigrated to the West while the leader doctors Kovács and Seibriger, were blacklisted and unable to work for three years after the end of the war.

 

1946-1952 Pharmaceutical Works

 

After the war, the majority of the equipment was redeployed to the countryside and to the Saint John Hospital. Some of the wards were then rented by a private company which produced typhus vaccine for export to Yugoslavia until 1949. At the beginning of the 1950’s the facility was classified as “Top Secret” under the codename of LOSK 0101/1, and it remained secret until 2002. 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.

 

 

1956-1957 Revolutionary Hospital

Following the Second World War, Hungary was occupied "temporarily" (according to their rhetoric) by the Red Army for almost 50 years until 1991. Having become a Soviet satellite state, thousands of citizens were arrested, tortured, tried, interned (in Gulags) or even executed by the AVH - the State Protection Authority.
The Hungarian Revolution in 1956 was a spontaneous, nationwide revolt against the Stalinist government and its Soviet-imposed policies. Lasting from the 23rd of October 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 under the leadership of János Kádár.
Though not fully equipped, the Hospital in the Rock was reopened in October 1956, treating wounded civilians and soldiers. Dr. András Seibriger, who also worked there during World War II, was one of the doctors. During this tempestuous period, six boys and two girls were born in the still bomb-proof facility. After the suppression of the revolution, the hospital remained functioning for a short time. At the end of the year, those convalescing there were carried away and – with the exception of some bold escapees - were sentenced to imprisonment. After seven years, in 1963, they were freed in an amnesty.

1958-1962 Cold War Extensions

The hospital was expanded to its present-day size between 1958 and 1962 in order to be able to withstand a nuclear or chemical attack. At that time, the quarantine culvert and air and water-handling system were built. A direct conduit to the Danube, internal water reserves and a pump system, air filtering systems using military technology to remove contaminants, and power supply systems were built. The heart of the latter are the two still-functioning Ganz diesel engines and their generators. In this way the whole hospital could have been kept running in the event of an external power failure.

The workers condemned in 1956 and who could not find employment elsewhere were employed here since it was extremely difficult to work in the depths of the hill. The building engineer from the city administration was István Bakonyi. A single caretaker named "Uncle" Szabó looked after the hospital.

1962-2007 Hospital, Nuclear Bunker and Civil Defence Depot

The Saint John Hospital continued to manage the then state-of-the-art hospital. According to the plans a cadre of appointed doctors and nurses would come to the facility to survive a chemical or nuclear attack. They would treat the injured after opening of the hospital following the 72-hour full closure and three-week partial closure periods. It is characteristic of the standard of the hospital that they provided it with an air-conditioning system, while still today not every hospital in Hungary can boast one.

However, by the late 1960s the facility had become obsolete due to the development of military technology such as the neutron bomb. It remained under the authority of the Saint John Hospital and the Civil Defence Authority used it too as a storage depot.

 

The doctors and nurses under the command of the facility continued to conduct annual civil defence drills in the hospital until the mid-80s, rehearsing their roles in the event of a conflict. A caretaker couple, the Mohácsis, lived in the service flat in the entrance hall from 1970 until 2004 and maintained the hospital under a strict obligation to secrecy. Mr. Mohácsi let in fresh air every day and maintained the electrical and mechanical systems, while Mrs. Mohácsi cleaned, sterilized and made the beds every two weeks. In 2004, periodic maintenance was taken over by staff from the Saint John Hospital. Between 2004 and 2006, the Krétakör Theatre used the facility for occasional performances. In 2006, as part of the city-wide Day of Cultural Heritage, the facility was opened to the public. The response and interest has led to its present day use; however reconstruction were started only in 2007.

The Hospital in the Rock Today

In 2007, the facility came under renovation through an initiative by the Institute and Museum of Military History (see Partners). It was already partly open to the public during the 2007 city-wide "Night of Museums" event. After further works, it has been continually open to the public since March 2008 as the “Hospital in the Rock – Secret Emergency Hospital and Nuclear Bunker”. In 2010, the institution received the "Museum and museum collection" title from the Ministry of Education and Culture and operates as a national museum collection.