Gábor Sztehlo was a Lutheran Pastor in Budapest who had saved hundreds of Jewish people from Nazi and Hungarian Fascist persecution during World War II.
[1][2][3] Following extensive damage and destruction of the properties used for sheltering the people under his protection during the siege of Budapest, he set up another home for children in March 1945 using an abandoned villa on Budaskeszi Út, which was situated in the less bombed district of Buda.
[4][5] In November 1945, the number of children having reached more than 200 (some of them as young as four years old), Pastor Sztehlo called a general assembly in the reception room of the main villa.
The main problems faced by Gaudiopolis were the lack of funds and food for the children, leading them to unanimously add an amendment to the constitution allowing theft in situations of need.
With Pastor Sztehlo's intervention, they received some money from the provisional Hungarian government and in 1946 they were granted aid from the Red Cross.
[4] Conscious of the perils of boredom, and in order to distract the children from their memories of pain and suffering, regular activities were organised – dancing, movies and lectures by prominent members of adult society, such as writers, theatre directors and doctors.