From the eastern front of World War II, twelve trains operated by the Red Cross brought home hundreds and thousands of wounded Hungarian soldiers, while at constant exposure to attack. The photos of József Reményi, a first lieutenant from Szabolcs County serving at the commissary, provide a rare insight into the little-known world of hospital trains, into the relationship between occupiers and the civilian population, and into the fate of Jews conscripted to forced labor. The war from the perspective of a good-hearted, average man.
Browsing Category Weekly Fortepan articles
Same but Different – Before and After Photos
How much can happen between taking two photographs even when the photographer quickly presses the shutter release button again? We are looking into this question through an expanded selection of before and after photo pairs from Fortepan originally featured at the Hungarian National Gallery’s 2019 exhibition titled Every Past is My Past.
Vending Machines and Self-Service Restaurants in Socialist Hungary
“On November 7, a bar called Mézes Mackó is opening on Rákóczi Street, with the first Jukebox in Budapest, which provides entertainment for only one forint,” this is how a newspaper on October 22, 1956 reported about future automation. The newspaper also reported that the first fully automated self-service snack bar would be set up on the corner of Lenin Boulevard, with vending machines selling all sorts of products, including Vienna sausages, beer, sandwiches, and cakes. “Whether more ‘robotized units’ will open at other spots in the city depends on the success of the first vending-machine bar.”
Insensible Touches – Eszter Babarczy on Photos from the Fortepan Archive
Contemporary philosophy has discovered the human body in the past two decades. This statement leads directly to the question how the human body could be discovered. Wasn’t it there all along, with its heaviness and lightness, with its hunger and pain, for centuries? It was there with us, indeed, but we denied it…
Redressed: Brief History of Hungarian Window Display Dressing
The window display is an exhibition: An interesting, sometimes bizarre, sometimes harmonious arrangement of all sorts of objects, that draws our attention: as the Hungarian saying goes, “All for the eyes, but nothing for the hands.” Shop windows sometimes lure us with an air of abundance, sometimes, they are ashamed testimonies of scarcity. We either take pleasure in looking at them or are appalled at their sight. There are just so many different ways to dress a window.