Hungary has opened a museum in downtown Budapest to remember victims of Nazi and Communist rule.

Called the "House of Terror," the museum is (at 60 Andrassy Avenue) in a residential area of the Hungarian capital. It once was headquarters of the pro-Nazi Arrow-Cross Party, responsible for the murder of thousands of people, including almost 100,000 Budapest Jews.

Later, the building housed a Communist secret-police agency, known by the initials AVH, that was infamous for torturing and killing thousands of people who refused to cooperate with authorities.

Visitors to the museum are taken on a tour of Hungary's recent history, starting with the Nazi period in 1944 and ending with the fall of communism 45 years later (in 1989). The museum shows dank basement cells, interrogation rooms and instruments of torture. It also houses documents, newspaper clippings, documentaries and interviews with survivors.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says it is fitting that both the Nazi and the Communist dictatorships are behind the same walls. "They have different roots," says Mr. Orban, "but can obviously live well together."

Some information for this report provided by AP and AFP.

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