The Last Days of Budapest: Spies, Nazis, Rescuers and Resistance, 1940–1945

Budapest, autumn 1943. Four years into the war, Hungary is allied with Nazi Germany and the Hungarian capital is the Casablanca of central Europe. The city swirls with intrigue and betrayal, home to spies and agents of every kind. But Budapest remains at peace, an oasis in the midst of war where Allied POWs, and Polish and Jewish refugees find sanctuary. The riverside cafes are crowded and the city’s famed cultural life still thrives. All that comes to an end in March 1944 when the Nazis invade. By the summer, Allied bombers are pounding its grand boulevards and historic squares. Budapest’s surviving Jewish population has been forcibly relocated to cramped, overcrowded Yellow Star houses. By late December, the city is surrounded and under siege from the Red Army. Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians die in the savage siege as Budapest collapses into anarchy. Hungarian death squads roam the streets as the city’s Jews are forced into ghettos. Russian artillery pounds the city into smoking rubble as starving residents hack chunks of meat from dead, frozen horses. Using newly uncovered diaries, documents, archival material and interviews with the last survivors, Adam LeBor brilliantly recreates life and death in the wartime city, the catastrophic fate of half of its Jewish population and the destruction of the siege. Told through the lives of a cast of vivid, gripping characters, including glamorous aristocrats, spies, smugglers and SS Officers, a rebellious teenage Jewish schoolboy, Hungary's most popular actress and her spy chief lover, a Jewish businesswoman who negotiated with Adolf Eichmann, a Christian doctor hiding her Jewish neighbours and a teenage Hungarian soldier, the story of how Budapest slowly dies as the war destroys the city is utterly compelling.

About the Author :
Adam LeBor is a veteran former foreign correspondent who lived in Budapest for many years, reporting on Hungary and Central Europe for newspapers including The Times, the Independent and the Economist. He is the author of seven novels and nine non-fiction books including Hitler’s Secret Bankers, which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize. He is an editorial trainer for several publications and organisations and writes for the Financial Times, The Times and the Critic. He divides his time between London and Budapest. www.adamlebor.com @adamlebor

Review :
This book cannot be read dispassionately. The portraits are vivid and alive. I fell in love with some characters and despised others ... A city is the sum of its people and LeBor juggles numerous stories with astounding agility, constructing an engrossing narrative without ever losing his way ... The book mirrors life - adversity mingling with joy. It deserves to be read twice, first to appreciate Budapest's complicated story and then to immerse oneself in the prose. Excellent…a revolving cast of Zionist secret agents, Polish refugees and American diplomats populate Mr LeBor’s account….[His] history is valuable not only for its thoroughness, but also its timeliness. Brilliant ... LeBor creates a compelling story of one of the least remembered episodes of recent European history. LeBor skilfully depicts the war years in Budapest. Powerful An immaculately researched book, written in a fluent and engaging style and an important addition to the library of Second World War histories. Captivating Combines a detailed historical narrative with accounts of the lived experiences of a vast range of the city's inhabitants ... a thoroughly engrossing read. An important reminder of Europe's history ... A tale of exceptional people who will haunt and inspire your thoughts. The Last Days of Budapest is a masterpiece. Immaculately researched, it is packed with large-than-life characters and revelations about the unknown espionage history of the Second World War. Adam LeBor’s vivid, taut prose brings the story of the ‘Casablanca of central Europe’ alive in glorious technicolour. From the naïve optimism of the late 1930s to the depths of depravity and bloodshed during the siege in winter 1944, LeBor takes the reader on an emotional rollercoaster. This is history as it should be written: utterly engrossing. This is an extraordinary book – an enthralling narrative that is full of extraordinary characters, both heroes and villains, and packed with the insights and subtle judgements that only someone with the author’s knowledge of, and love for, the city can provide. What happened in wartime Budapest is virtually unknown outside Hungary. Now thanks to Adam LeBor we have the story laid out in grim and absorbing detail, told with all the power and passion that a writer of his class can muster. From the first to the final page, The Last Days of Budapest is difficult to put down. Using sources which offer chilling first-hand accounts and personal insight, Adam LeBor expertly narrates one of the darkest periods in Hungary’s history. This is an important and overdue book, and a must-read in the field of Second World War history. The Last Days of Budapest is not only an enthralling tale of wartime espionage and spycraft. It is a beautifully rendered portrait of heroism, tragedy, betrayal, and violence in the final hours of a grand city caught between Hitler and Stalin. This superb account is not to be missed – and will haunt you. The Last Days of Budapest is both beautifully written and revelatory, with the kind of quirky detail that confirms Adam LeBor’s love and fascination for his subject country. Pre-war Budapest comes alive as a nest of mischief and self-delusion, home for a beguiling cast of spies, adventurers, aristocratic lovelies, journalists, smugglers, thieves and fellow travellers... LeBor offers an unblinking account of the last spasms of a ruined city. Deeply shocking. And long overdue. Terrific account of Budapest in the middle of the twentieth century, culminating in the collapse of all civilised values as the Nazis retreat in 1944 and the Russian army advances. Part-thriller, part-astonishing personal history, this is a must read for anyone wanting to know more about Hungary’s grim role in the Holocaust. The stories Adam LeBor tells will remain with you. A staggering achievement. The Last Days of Budapest is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of European espionage, offering readers a riveting journey through Budapest’s turbulent past. This meticulously researched book delves into a complex web of astonishing intelligence operations, revealing how Budapest served as a crossroads for spies from East and West. A fascinating story of aristocratic spies, diplomats and clandestine operations – and one of the finest histories of Budapest in the twentieth century. Lebor recreates the city's largely ignored tragedy through framatic and colourful personal accounts.