The Last Days of Budapest

The Destruction of Europe's Most Cosmopolitan Capital in World War II

De: Adam LeBor

Narrado por: David Thorpe

"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…. This is history as it should be written: utterly engrossing." -Malcolm Brabant, author of the New York Times bestseller The Daughter of Auschwitz

Budapest, autumn 1943.

After four years of war, Hungary was firmly allied with Nazi Germany. Budapest swirled with intrigue and betrayal, home to spies and agents of every kind. But the city remained an oasis in the midst of conflict where Allied POWs and Polish and Jewish refugees found sanctuary.

All that came to an end in March 1944 when the Nazis invaded. By the summer Allied bombers were pounding Budapest’s grand boulevards and historic squares. By late December the city was surrounded and under siege from the advancing Red Army. Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians died in the savage fighting as Budapest collapsed into anarchy. Hungarian death squads roamed the streets as the city’s Jews were forced into ghettos or were shot into the Danube. Russian artillery hammered the city into smoking rubble as starving residents struggled to survive the winter.

Using newly uncovered diaries, documents, archival material and interviews with the last survivors, Adam LeBor has brilliantly recreated life and death in wartime Budapest.

©2025 Adam LeBor (P)2025 PublicAffairs

Reseñas de la Crítica

"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."

—Malcolm Brabant, author of the New York Times bestseller The Daughter of Auschwitz

“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.”
—Graham Hurley, author of Dead Ground

“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 stuck between Hitler and Stalin. This superb account is not to be missed - and will haunt you.”
—David McCloskey, former CIA analyst and author of The Seventh Floor

The horrible pronunciation of all words Hungarian

The consistent fake pronunciation attempts of Hungarian phrases and names. It completely destroyed the valuable research and contents of an otherwise remarkably written book. Investing in a Hungarian speaking person before releasing this volume would have been a smart idea. Also: the ending gave me the feeling that someone just wanted the writing process to be over very fast. Poor decision!