Budapest, Hungary's capital, is a beautiful city, split into two sections by the wide Danube River or Duna, as it is known here. Even during the war, one can still hear good music and eat fine food. During most of the war, the Germans have been content to station a modest occupation force in Hungary, leaving the day-to-day responsibilities of government in the hands of Admiral Miklos Horthy. Horthy's job is to do what the Nazis tell him to do, but he is also a patriotic Hungarian who fiercely dislikes the German invaders.
One way he demonstrates his resistance to the Germans is by delaying the deportation of Jewish Hungarians to the death camps. While Horthy takes as long as possible to act on Nazi orders, thousands of Jews are to flee to Russia, where they will be safe during the war.
Eventually, the Germans take a more direct hand in the deportations. On March 19, 1944, they began to round up Hungarian Jews and ship them to Auschwitz. You have experienced Aktions before, and you know that it means the end of Hungarian Jewry. If you remain in Budapest, it won't be long before you are caught and sent to the gas chamber. You must get out of the city. However it has become far more difficult with the German army in direct control.
If you choose to get help from foreign diplomats, continue to page 25.
If you decide to ask the Judenrat for assistance, continue to page 26.