Romok között. Hétköznapi bűnelkövetés mint túlélési stratégia Budapesten a második világháború idején
Among the Ruins: Everyday Crime as a Survival Strategy in Budapest during World War II

Summary/Abstract: This paper offers a social-historical interpretation of ‘everyday crime’ in Budapest during World War II and its immediate aftermath, focusing on black-market practices and the diverse forms of theft committed during and after the siege of the city. It argues that the wartime crisis, the collapse of public administration and policing, and the pressures of urban siege created structural conditions in which certain legally prohibited acts emerged as legitimate – and often indispensable – strategies of survival. Methodologically, the analysis draws on the framework of Alltagsgeschichte, enabling a micro-historical insight of informal transactions, adaptive practices, and official responses. Drawing upon a comprehensive array of sources, including police reports, judicial records, and contemporary press accounts, the paper highlights how pervasive shortages and the breakdown of public security not only expanded illicit exchange but also normalised various forms of theft as routine elements of everyday life. Particular attention is paid to police methods employed against the black market – most notably raids, and spot checks – which reveal both the limits of state capacity and the blurred boundary between legality and survival.The findings demonstrate how the permanence of the black market, the erosion of policing capacities, and the instability of property relations reflect a dynamic interplay of continuity and disruption across the wartime and early postwar periods. The paper also traces the shifting political and moral framing of such acts: while black-market dealers and thieves were depicted as threats to public supply during the war, by 1945 they increasingly appeared in public discourse as ‘enemies of the people and democracy’. Overall, the argument is made that the social collapse of Budapest in 1944–45 transformed everyday criminality from a deviant exception into a structural mode of subsistence – one that, in many respects, persisted well beyond the immediate postwar transition.

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