What Soviets Did to Hungarian Soldiers After Budapest

Описание: When Budapest fell in February 1945, the fighting did not truly end for the tens of thousands of Hungarian soldiers trapped inside the ruined city. As Soviet forces overran the last Axis positions, captivity often proved as terrifying as the siege itself.

This video examines what Soviet troops did to Hungarian soldiers after the fall of Budapest—and why their fate was so grim. Many Hungarian units were treated not as regular prisoners of war, but as collaborators of Nazi Germany. Large numbers were disarmed, marched east in brutal winter conditions, and sent to Soviet labor camps known as the Gulag. Hunger, disease, exhaustion, and exposure killed thousands before they ever reached their destination.

Others were separated for interrogation, accused of war crimes, or executed on the spot during chaotic reprisals. Civilians were frequently swept up alongside soldiers, blurring the line between combatant and non-combatant. For those who survived captivity, years of forced labor awaited, and many would not return home until the early 1950s—if at all.

This episode explores the aftermath of the Siege of Budapest, the Soviet view of Hungary as a defeated enemy state, and the hidden human cost that followed the Red Army’s victory—revealing how liberation and punishment often came hand in hand on the Eastern Front.