Címke: forced labour

Introduction^[1]

In this study, I will present and analyse the data of more than 4,000 Hungarian Jewish forced labourers and their time as Soviet prisoners of war (POWs) from the available Hungarian and Soviet sources. Due to the research methodology used in the study, the paper examines the so far most comprehensive database about the Hungarian Jewish forced labourers in Soviet captivity. To better comprehend and reconstruct the circumstances of their capture and their conditions within the POW camps the study peripherally examines the letters, memoires and interviews of the survivors therefore providing a wider picture. In the context of this study, the term “Jew” refers to the people of Hungary categorized as such by the law in the given period. The term “Hungarian Jewish forced labourer” refers to Jewish forced labourers from Hungary, who were not necessarily of Hungarian ethnicity.

The aim of this study is to provide an insight about the Hungarian Jewish forced labourers who became Soviet prisoners of war. Due to the special research methodology presented in this paper, the results offer valuable contribution to the study of both Hungarian POWs and Hungarian forced labourers. Using a wide variety of resources, the study is hopefully able to give answers to some recurring questions regarding the Jewish POWs. The paper aims to highlight certain statistics and connections that might bring us closer to understand whether the Soviet Army had any “Jew saving” intentions or whether the situation of the Jews meant special treatment in any way, as often asked by Szabolcs Szita.^[2]

The relevance of this project is the fact that none of the previous papers have utilized the accessible sources, examined the personnel of the Jewish labour battalions in captivity, location and date of their capture, the survival statistics, date of their arrival home, instead focused mostly on the circumstances of their capture and military history aspects of the question. The novelty of this present study is its usage of a wide range of not yet analysed sources, most importantly the personal files of Soviet prisoners (учётная карточка) and the files of those who died in captivity (учётное дело).

Neo-antisemitism in Hungary in the first half of the 20th century led to a series of restrictive laws regarding the rights of Jewish citizens. The first law regulating compulsory auxiliary military labour in Hungary was the Act of Defence implemented in 1939 and it declared that anyone between the ages of 14 and 70 regardless of gender must work according to their mental and physical capabilities.^[3] This in itself did not contain any discriminative action. The final form of Jewish forced labour service was given by the executive order of article 1942:XIV. In accordance with this law, Jews were not allowed to participate in levente^[4] training, pursue armed service roles, had to complete forced labour service training, were deprived of their previous military ranks and could only serve in labour battalions.^[5] In the same year, they also added the mandatory wear of distinguishing yellow band for the Jewish labour battalions.

Following these measures, large number of military age Jewish forced labourers were sent to the Eastern front. According to the calculations of Péter Szabó, just at the Don 37,275 Jews served in labour battalions.^[6] According to previous research about 90% of losses among Jewish forced labourers happened during the retreat on the Eastern front.^[7] The mass capture of them also happened in that period. Up until autumn 1943, about 15,000 Jewish forced labourers have fallen into Soviet captivity.^[8] The Hungarian Ministry of Defence approximates the number of Jews who became Soviet prisoners of war to be 20,000, the Hungarian Red Cross Researching and Corresponding Office to 20-25,000, while another source to 25,000 people.^[9] Hungarian researchers estimate the number of Hungarian military personnel in Soviet captivity to be around 6-700,000 people.^[10] The individuals were sent into GUPVI camps, which were the prison camps under the jurisdiction of the Main Department for the Affairs of POWs and Internees (Главное управление по делам военнопленных и интернированных, ГУПВИ).^[11]

Research methodology and sources

The present study is mainly based on the registries containing 6,385 names of Jewish civilian and forced labourer POWs in János Botos’s volume.^[12] One of these is a list of 1999 people who have fallen into Soviet captivity as Hungarian Jewish forced labourers. This list includes the name of the prisoner, date and place of birth, mother’s name, the date and place of capture. These names were taken from the list given to and published by the Yad Vashem institute by the Hungarian Ministry of Defence containing the casualty cards of 34,365 Jewish forced labourers from the Eastern front.^[13] Botos selected the casualty cards of forced labourers categorized as POWs.^[14] The other list is a mixture of 4,386 Jews whose status is not stated, so they could be either forced labourers or civilian victims. This registry contains the name of the prisoner, the place of captivity, the date of birth, town of residence, occupation, mother’s name, date of arrival, and age. This registry is mostly consistent with the list within the administrative papers of the Hungarian Embassy of Moscow.^[15] The data registered in this list is mostly insufficient, in some cases lacking even the first names. The date of birth is rarely given or often registered incorrectly. The mother’s name is also scarcely included and the occupation is only relevant when compared with POW search forms.

To verify, sort and complement the database several other archival sources were used during the research. To compile the final database analysed in the study seven archives’ collections and databases were used including the Hungarian Military History Archive (HL), the Hungarian National Archive (MNL), the Yad Vashem, the Hungarian Holocaust Memorial Center (HDKE), the National Committee for Attending Deportees (DEGOB), the Hungarian Jewish Archive (MILEV), the Archive and Museum of the Autonomous Orthodox Israelite Congregation of Hungary (MAOIH).

The Hungarian Military History Archive’s “Military Heroes” (Katona Hőseink – KAHŐ) contains the casualty cards of Hungarian military personnel during World War II. The cards have the name, date of birth, mother’s maiden name, identification number, rank, main unit, the type of service unit, location and date of loss.^[16]

The Hungarian National Archive operates the online database of four Soviet prisoner registries^[17]. The POWs and internees transported through Záhony and Biharkeresztes were handed over to the Hungarian authorities in Debrecen. Here the Ministry of Public Health operated the POW Transfer Committee of Debrecen (Debreceni Hadifogoly Átvevő Bizottság – DHÁB1) from 1 July 1946 and registered the name, mother’s name, date of birth, and place of residence for all the prisoners arriving home.^[18] The Hungarian Communist Party (which became Hungarian Workers’ Party in June 1948) ran the POW Department of the Hungarian Workers’ Party (MDP Hadifogoly Iroda – MDP HI) from 1945. This collection consists of two types of documents: the search forms filled by the relatives or associates of a prisoner, the certifications and other documentation attached to these forms, and the petitions submitted to the POW Department or the Association of Ex-POWs. The search forms contain the name, date and place of birth, mother’s name, place of residence, occupation, nationality, party association, date and location of drafting, the date and location of capture, and the current location.^[19]

One of the databases is a registry given by the Russian National Military Archive to the Hungarian National Archive in 2019 consists of almost 682 thousand digital copies and translations of Hungarian prisoners’ personal files (учётная карточка). The files in the database called Hungarian Prisoners of Soviet Camps (Szovjet Táborok Magyar Foglyai – GUK) provides personal, military and prisoner data, however most of them are not detailed enough to help positively identify the POWs. Another difficulty in case of Jewish forced labourers is that all of them are marked as private (honvéd). Only one of the prisoners, György Káldor dr. (GUK number: 342687) has labour battalion (munkászászlóalj) registered as rank.^[20]

The Voyennyye Memorial Society (Военные мемориалы) provided the other Soviet database, Soldiers in GULAG^[21] (Katonák a Gulágon – GURH) in the 1990s and 2000s containing 66,277 files of soldiers and civilians who died in Soviet captivity (учётное дело).^[22]

In addition to the digitalized databases several other available POW sources were incorporated. This includes the lists in the Hungarian National Archive’s foreign affairs collection prepared by the Israelite Congregation of Pest and the National Antifascist Association of Forced Labourers.^[23] The Humanitarian collection of the Hungarian Military Archive contains the personal data forms of returned Jewish forced labourers and the drafts collected of those who died in captivity.^[24] These lists, apart from the official reports and correspondence, were compiled from the information provided by those who have returned. At the POW Transfer Committee of Debrecen the associates of the Hungarian Red Cross have collected messages and information about the people who died or were still in Soviet captivity. The National Antifascist Association of Forced Labourers sent out questionnaires to the returned prisoners inquiring about those still in the camps.^[25] The study also utilized contemporary press, which published lists of Jewish POWs in captivity and of those who have arrived home or died, such as the Hírek az elhurcoltakról (News About the Deported), Igaz Szó (True Word), Új Élet (New Life), Világosság (Clarity), Remény (Hope), and the Magyar Hadifogoly Híradó (Hungarian Prisoner-of-War Bulletin).

The usage of the online databases and archive documents poses a lot of difficulties. Most of the sources are incomplete or have incorrect data in them. This could be due to the errors during registration at both the Hungarian and Soviet authorities, errors in translation, the misspelling, mishearing or misremembering of certain information by soldiers and officials alike, the loss of documents during time, or the mistakes made during digitalization. These mistakes mean issues with personal data, the names of settlements and camps. Due to the errors and gaps sometimes it is very difficult or even impossible to positively identify certain individuals. A great example of this is János Quittner, whose surname in different sources is either Gutnerr (KAHŐ), Vitner (DHÁB1), or Kvitler (HL). During this research, a new, comprehensive database was created using all the available and above-mentioned sources in order to collect all available data of 4053 Hungarian Jewish forced labourers who became Soviet POWs. Due to the wide variety of sources, the data in the registries can be validated, supplemented and/or corrected. The validated data was then compiled into a database of 15 columns, containing the gender, name, source, registry numbers, name of father and mother, date and location of birth, place of residence, the location and date of capture, the status at the time of capture, the prisoner status, the places of captivity, survival, departure, arrival, and other additional information. This database was then examined and analysed quantitatively and qualitatively.

From the labour battalion to the POW camp according to the Hungarian and Soviet sources

The study examines the database composed using the several Hungarian and international sources mentioned above. The research collected, examined, cross-referenced and validated the data of almost 7,000 Jews who became Soviet prisoners. Due to the limits and defects of the sources available, and the fact that many civilians were taken into captivity, not all of them could be positively identified as Jewish forced labourers. The current databank contains the personal data and information about the Soviet captivity of 4,053 identified Jewish forced labourers from Hungary. This is the most comprehensive record containing the data from all available and so far processed Hungarian and Soviet sources.

The deficiencies of the sources make the identifying of prisoners difficult. The mother’s maiden name – which is only used in Hungarian sources – is not available in 12.5% of people in the database, and even in those cases the names are often misspelled several times. The father’s name, used by the Soviet sources is unknown in 87%. The date of birth, which can be found in most lists and databanks, is missing in 5.8%. The birthplace can not be found in 14% of the cases, partially due to the fact that some lists and the database of the POW Transfer Committee of Debrecen only provide the place of residence or the place the prisoners went from Debrecen to.

Almost 95% of the Jewish forced labours in Soviet captivity are between the ages 20–40, which is generally military age. However, some extreme cases can be found as well. The oldest person in the database was born in 1886, the date of his capture is unknown, but we can assume that he was between the ages 57-59. The youngest among the Jewish POWs was born in 1928, the date of capture is also unknown, we can only assume that he was around 15-17 at the time of becoming a Soviet POW.

They only handed in a few query sheets at the POW Department of the Hungarian Working People’s Party (MDPHI). This could be due to the fact that most of these forms were filled out by family members and friends who, especially in rural Hungary, possibly perished in the Holocaust. This theory is further supported by the fact that a great percentage, 70.2% of the available query sheets are related to people born or residing in Budapest, where the Jewish population had better chances of survival. The effectiveness of these queries is questionable as all Foreign Ministry sources point to the deficiencies of communication and information supply between the Hungarian and Soviet parties. It is none the less important to note that 77.7% of the people found in these forms did eventually come home. Regarding the scarcity of the queries, it can also be mentioned that many relatives went directly to the church representatives, the Ministry of Defence or the Foreign Ministry in search of their loved ones.

The majority of forced labourers are found in at least one Hungarian database or registry. The most commonly occurring database is the Hungarian Military History Archive’s “Military Heroes” (KAHŐ) as up until November 1944 all casualties were supposedly registered, including death, injury, disappearance, and captivity. The military personnel could only be marked as dead or captured if at least two of his comrades attested their fate. 57.5% of the identified forced labourers can be found in this database. The other very common Hungarian database is the POW Transfer Committee of Debrecen, which contains information regarding 21.5% of identified prisoners. The database contains the data of most prisoners who came home between 1945 and 1949. However, very few data can be found from the year 1949 and due to the changes in Hungarian politics after this date, the case of POWs became less significant, and there is almost no data about those who arrived between 1949 and 1953. Very few of the forced labourers can be found in the Soviet sources. It is also due to the fact that these records are not always filled out correctly, leaving much information, the names written incorrectly, using the wrong rank and title, featuring the father’s name, instead of the mother’s and often being off by one year at the date of birth. Only 8.4% of the identified Hungarian Jewish forced labourers can be found in the Soviet databases.

The research project was primarily based on the registries published by János Botos. In addition to these lists the study used the registries available at the Hungarian Military Archive, the National Archive of Hungary and the Yad Vashem Institute. The database was composed by comparing the data in these sources with the online available Soviet POW databases, therefore containing way more information than the previous sources. The Foreign Ministry’s list of the Hungarian Jewish forced labourers in Soviet POW camps shows a lot of resemblance to the ones published by Botos. In this registry, however, an additional 76 persons could be identified. 60 out of them can be found in at least one other source, but only 3 in Soviet databases.

Several different name registries are available in the Humanitarian documents of the Hungarian Military Archives regarding the Hungarian Jewish POWs. From the people included within the database 924 are mentioned in these lists. Among these people 502 can be found in other sources. Online available POW databases contain data about 458 of them, 126 in Soviet sources.

During the mobilization of the Hungarian Second Army 130 Jewish labour battalion was despatched in the front. The forced labourers made up 91% of all the military losses in 1943 with 23,308 people. Died 2,158, wounded 716, disappeared 18,843, captured 1,591.^[26] According to the casualty records of the Military Heroes of the Second World War database, in the month of January 1943. 1579 forced labourers became POWs and 18,322 disappeared. It is once again important to note that at least two people had to attest that a person died or was captured, without that they were categorized as “disappeared”. Taking into account the contemporary military experience, about half of the people registered as “disappeared” fell into captivity. In this case during the Soviet offensive at the Don River, in the month of January 1943 approximately 10,740 Jewish forced labourers became Soviet prisoners of war.

According to the database created during the research, 50.4% of identified Jewish forced labourers could have fallen into Soviet captivity at the Don River. The casualty registries are often inaccurate and only have the month in which the loss occurred registered, not the exact date. Oftentimes, especially in the first few months of 1943, they provide a spectrum of two to four months in which the casualty happened, and in some instances, they only register the year. In 48.8% we have no record for place of capture, and within that 78.6% does not have an exact date of capture. In our database only 14% of Jewish forced labourers have accurate date of capture. According to the memoires, many of these people gave themselves up voluntarily or even escaped from their battalion to the Soviet forces.

The survival chances of them were still not great though. 90% of POWs who were captured at the Don died within the first year.^[27] This rate was probably even higher in case of the Jewish forced labourers, who fought without proper clothing, equipment, and were severely malnourished, many times even abused or exhausted on purpose. After the capture, the POWs were usually locked into small rooms of old buildings or barns nearby. They kept them in these places sometimes for days with very little or no food and water. After being collected, the prisoners had to march to the train stations or in some cases to the camps.^[28] During this period the prisoners received almost no food. Due to these conditions (on top of their already weakened body) the majority of prisoners died before they reached the POW camps and therefore no record was made of them. One of the Jewish POWs, Mose Grossberg also noted that 90% of new transports died within the first weeks due to hunger, typhus and other illnesses, and therefore were not registered at all.^[29] According to our database, among the Jewish forced labourers who became Soviet POWs at the time of the Soviet offensive at the Don, 8.27% died, and 8.4% returned. For the majority of them, 77.5%, we do not have a confirmed fate; we can only assume that most of them died during the transport or at a POW camp before registration.

Previous studies made almost no mention of the Jewish forced labourers and their fate after the tragedy at the Don. We know very little of what happened to the forced labourers during the withdrawal and in later occurring battles. The casualty registries are only available until October 1944, therefore we have little information about those who were captured in the last months of the war. From February to December 1943, they registered 203 Jewish forced labourers as POWs and 3,195 as disappeared, accordingly we can calculate that about 1,800 forced labourers were potentially captured by the Soviet Army. In 1944, until October, 203 became prisoners and 1,231 disappeared, thus making the probable number of POWs 819 people. Since we have no casualty registries filled out from 1945 we can’t make assumptions on about the number of POWs, but based on the available sources, including the online databases, the validated database, memoires, and query forms, we can prove that many Jewish forced labourers were taken in 1945 as well. According to the validated database 29 people were verifiably captured in 1945, 651 in 1944, and 228 in 1943, following the withdrawal from the river Don. 24.7% of the identified Jewish forced labourers got captured after January 1943. About 23.3% we do not have reliable information for the date of capture. Taking into account the absence of casualty registries in the last few months, the deficiencies of the Soviet and Hungarian registrations, notably the lack of dates of capture in many cases, we must assume that this percentage was generally higher. The data provided by the validated database shows that among the Jewish forced labourers who were captured after February 1943, 46.8% returned, 10.5% died, and 42.7%’s fate is unknown.

From the 4,053 confirmed Jewish forced labourer POWs 928 verifiably died. However, only a small percentage of them, 23.9%, can be found in the Soldiers in GULAG database which contains the personal files of those who died in Soviet POW camps. This is mostly because many POWs died before registry, and according to the memoires in some camps, the prisoners were never registered at all.^[30] In many cases, the death is confirmed based on the name lists brought home by the returning prisoners, however, the detail of these varies greatly from one to another. The lists often only contain name, place of residency, the place and date of death.

Based on the lists published in the Új Élet (New Life) weekly newspaper, less than 2,000 Jewish people returned from Soviet captivity.^[31] According to the Hungarian reports, until August 1948 approximately 10,692 forced labourers returned from the Soviet POW camps, which contradicts the fact that only 3,998 forced labourers were registered by the Soviets.^[32] From the validated Jewish forced labourers 1,216 people, 30% of them returned. Almost 51% of them returned in 1947, and 40.56% in 1948, while only close to 9% returned in 1946. According to the database of the POW Transfer Committee of Debrecen, 4,607 forced labourers returned, most of whom are presumably Jewish. Based on the information provided here, 512 returned in 1946, 2,019 in 1947, 2,073 in 1948, and only 4 in 1949. As previously stated, the Transfer Committee only has records of those who returned after 1 July 1946 and has insignificant information about those who returned in 1949, as presented. Not to mention, that POWs kept returning up until 1953. As a result, it is impossible to provide proper calculations about the yearly distribution of returns. We can only assume that most of them returned after 1945 and can draw the assumption that the number of returnees was highest in 1947–1948 in accordance with the general Hungarian POW statistics.^[33]

Conclusions

This study examines Hungarian Jewish forced labourers who became Soviet prisoners of war (POWs) during and after the Second World War. It is primarily based on János Botos’s Magyar zsidók szovjet lágerekben, 1939–1956 and draws on registries from the Hungarian National Archives and the Hungarian Military History Archives. By cross-referencing these records with online archival databases, the research created the most comprehensive and validated database to date of Hungarian Jewish forced labourer POWs in Soviet camps.

A major achievement of the project was the identification and verification of more than 4,000 individuals. The resulting database consolidates all available information about these POWs and serves both as a valuable research tool and as a resource for descendants seeking information about relatives. It also supports local and religious community historical research.

The study combines quantitative and qualitative analysis of the database with the examination of narrative sources from eight national and international archives, including registries, correspondence, interviews, and memoirs. Its objectives were to deepen understanding of Hungarian Jewish forced labourers in Soviet captivity, contribute to research on Hungarian POWs and forced labourers, while providing sufficient answers to the questions posed by Szabolcs Szita.

Statistical analysis reveals important findings about the demographics and experiences of these prisoners. Most were between 20 and 40 years old, although some were as young as 15–17 or as old as 57–59. The research challenges earlier estimates that around 90% of Jewish forced labourer POWs were captured during the Soviet offensive at the Don River in early 1943. The database indicates that only 50.4% can be directly linked to captivity at the Don, while 24.7% were captured after January 1943. Accounting for gaps in the records, the study estimates that approximately 60% were captured at the Don.

Survival and return patterns closely resemble those of other Hungarian POWs. Around 90% of those captured in early 1943 died within the first year of captivity. Most survivors were generally released home in 1947–1948. Evidence from both statistical and narrative sources indicates that Jewish forced labourers did not receive special treatment from Soviet authorities. They were housed, fed, and employed under the same conditions as other prisoners, sometimes even under German supervision. While some individuals benefited from specialized skills that secured better work assignments, such opportunities were not unique to Jewish prisoners.

The findings suggest that Soviet authorities treated Jewish forced labourers primarily as ordinary POWs rather than as victims of Nazi persecution. Their high mortality rates, lengthy imprisonment, delayed return, and the capture of Jews even from German concentration camps all support this conclusion. The study also highlights the limitations of earlier research, which was constrained by incomplete source. Although significant progress has been made, further archival work remains necessary to fully understand this “double tragedy” experienced by Hungarian Jews under both fascist and Soviet systems.

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Bognár Zalán: Az elmaradt szovjet–magyar hadifogoly-egyezmény, Hadtörténelmi Közlemények, 113. évf. (2000), 4. sz., 861–886.

Bognár Zalán: 1 milliónál több vagy kevesebb? A második világháború időszakában szovjet (hadi)fogságba vetett magyar állampolgárok – katonák és civilek – létszáma, összetétele és embervesztesége a magyar és a szovjet források tükrében, in Bognár Zalán és Muskovics Andrea Anna (szerk.): GUPVI, GULÁG – Magyarok a szovjet lágerbirodalomban 1944/45–2019/20, Miskolc, Gulág- és Gupvikutatók Nemzetközi Társasága, 2021, 30–63.

Botos János: Magyar zsidók szovjet lágerekben: 1939–1956, Budapest, Jakab és Komor tér 6. Egyesület, 2018.

Komoróczy Géza: A Zsidók története Magyarországon II., Pozsony, Kalligram, 2012.

Komoróczy Géza: Öt év munkaszolgálat és hadifogság, in Komoróczy Géza: Jogot, mert emberek vagyunk: zsidótörténeti tanulmányok, Budapest, Kalligram, 2023.

Komoróczy Géza: Szilágyi János György életútinterjúja elé, in Komoróczy Géza (szerk.): Örvények fölé épülő harmónia I., Budapest, Gondolat, 2018.

Szabó Péter: Magyarok a Don-kanyarban: A magyar királyi 2. honvéd hadsereg története (1942–1943), Budapest, Kossuth, 2019.

Szita Szabolcs, Magyar zsidó túlélők szovjet fogságban in Krausz Tamás, Barta Tamás (szerk): Az antiszemitizmus történeti formái a cári birodalomban és a Szovjetunió területein, Budapest, Russica Pannonica, 2014, 179–196.

Szita Szabolcs: Magyar zsidók a szovjet fronton, Remény, 18. évf. (2015), 4. sz. https://remeny.sofar.hu/remeny/2015-4-szam/szita-szabolcs-magyar-zsidok-a-szovjet-fronton/

Szita Szabolcs: A munkaszolgálat Magyarországon 1939–1945, Hadtörténelmi Közlemények, 117. évf. (2004), 3. sz., 817–857.

Stark Tamás: Magyar zsidók szovjet hadifogságban, História, XVI. évf. (1994), 2. sz., 11–12.

Varga Éva Mária: Magyarok szovjet hadifogságban (1941–1956) az oroszországi levéltári források tükrében, Budapest, Russica Pannonicana, 2009.

 

A kutatás a Kulturális és Innovációs Minisztérium, Nemzeti Kutatási Fejlesztési és Innovációs Alapból nyújtott támogatásával, az Egyetemi Kutatói Ösztöndíj Program keretében valósult meg

References

1. The research was carried out with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Innovation, National Research, Development and Innovation Fund, within the framework of the University Research Scholarship Program (EKÖP) – A kutatás a Kulturális és Innovációs Minisztérium, Nemzeti Kutatási Fejlesztési és Innovációs Alapból nyújtott támogatásával, az Egyetemi Kutatói Ösztöndíj Program keretében valósult meg. ↑
2. Szita Szabolcs: Magyar zsidó túlélők szovjet fogságban, in Krausz Tamás, Barta Tamás (szerk.): Az antiszemitizmus történeti formái a cári birodalomban és a Szovjetunió területein, Budapest, Russica Pannonica, 2014, 179–196.; Szita Szabolcs: Magyar zsidók a szovjet fronton, Remény, 18. évf. (2015), 4. sz. https://remeny.sofar.hu/remeny/2015-4-szam/szita-szabolcs-magyar-zsidok-a-szovjet-fronton/ ↑
3. A rendelet „A m. kir. minisztériumnak 5070/1939. M. E. számú rendelete a közérdekű munkaszolgálat tárgyában” címmel a Budapesti Közlöny 1939. május 17-i (111.) számában jelent meg. ↑
4. Levente Associations was a paramilitary youth organization established in 1921 in order to circumvent the ban on military preparations imposed by the Treaty of Trianon. The Act of Defence declared that all boys between the ages 12–21 were required to join. ↑
5. XIV. törvénycikk a honvédelemről szóló 1939: II. törvénycikk, valamint az 1914—1918. évi világháború tűzharcosai érdemeinek elismeréséről szóló 1938: IV. törvénycikk módosításáról és kiegészítéséről, in Az 1942. évi törvények gyűjteménye, Budapest, Magyar Királyi Belügyminisztérium, 1943, 73–74. ↑
6. Szabó Péter: Magyarok a Don-kanyarban: A magyar királyi 2. honvéd hadsereg története (1942–1943), Kossuth, 2019, 354. ↑
7. HL VKF 437/1944. eln. ↑
8. Stark Tamás: Magyar zsidók szovjet hadifogságban, História, XVI. évf. (1994), 2. sz., 11. ↑
9. HL HM 7187-1947.eln.; XIX-J-1-j, IV-438.1. MVKTI 1516/Ku.i.-1947.; HL HM Bée.cs.i. A/I/95.; A fenti levéltári adatok alapján összegzi: Bognár Zalán: Az elmaradt szovjet-magyar hadifogoly-egyezmény, Hadtörténelmi Közlemények, 113. évf . (2000), 4. sz., 867. ↑
10. Bognár Zalán, 1 milliónál több vagy kevesebb?: A második világháború időszakában szovjet (hadi)fogságba vetett magyar állampolgárok – katonák és civilek – létszáma, összetétele és embervesztesége a magyar és a szovjet források tükrében, in Gupvi, Gulag – Magyarok a szovjet lágerbirodalomban 1944/45–2019/20, Miskolc, Gulág- és Gupvikutatók Nemzetközi Társasága, 2021, 32. ↑
11. GUPVI: On 19 September 1939, by order of the head of the NKVD (the Soviet People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs), the Administration for Affairs of Prisoners of War (Upravlenie po delam voennoplennykh, Управление по делам военнопленных, UPV) was established. It was later expanded into the Administration for Affairs of Prisoners of War and Internees (Upravlenie po delam voennoplennykh i internirovannykh, Управление по делам военнопленных и интернированных, UPVI).From January 1945, when the number of military personnel and civilians held in camps under its authority exceeded one million, it was elevated to the same status as the GULAG (Glavnoe upravlenie lagereĭ, Главное управление лагерей). It thus became the Main Administration for Affairs of Prisoners of War and Internees (Glavnoe upravlenie po delam voennoplennykh i internirovannykh, Главное управление по делам военнопленных и интернированных, GUPVI) ↑
12. Botos János: Magyar zsidók szovjet lágerekben: 1939–1956, Jakab és Komor tér 6. Egyesület, Budapest, 2018. ↑
13. Dr. Gavriel Bar Shaked (szerk.): Nevek – שמות – Names: Munkaszázadok veszteségei a keleti magyar hadműveleti területeken. Names of Jewish victims of Hungarian labour bataillons 2, Bnei-Brak, Fridman, 1992. ↑
14. The casualty card had four categories: lost, injured, died, and captured. A soldier could only be marked as captured if at least two of his comrades saw and confirmed it. In most cases even POWs were registered as lost, meaning their fate was unknown. ↑
15. MNL OL HU-MNL-OL-XIX-J-42-b-Moszkva-IV-343/1946-2 ↑
16. https://iivh-katonahoseink.militaria.hu/cms/iivh-altalanos-informaciok ↑
17. The paper uses the abbreviations standardized by the International Association of GULAG/GUPVI Researchers. ↑
18. https://adatbazisokonline.mnl.gov.hu/adatbazis/a-szovjetuniobol-hazatert-hadifoglyok-nevjegyzeke-1946-1949/​informacio ↑
19. https://adatbazisokonline.mnl.gov.hu/adatbazis/mdp-hadifogoly-iroda/informacio ↑
20. https://adatbazisokonline.mnl.gov.hu/adatbazis/szovjet-taborok-magyar-foglyai/informacio ↑
21. The title is very misleading as not only soldiers, but several civilian victims are included in the database and most of them died in GUPVI, not GULAG camps. ↑
22. https://adatbazisokonline.mnl.gov.hu/adatbazis/katonak-a-gulagon/informacio ↑
23. MNL XIX-J-42-b-Moszkva-IV-343/1946-2 ↑
24. HL-VI. 37. „H” 3/1-5. ↑
25. HDKE 2013_198_47 – Jenei Sándor hagyatéka ↑
26. Szita Szabolcs: A munkaszolgálat Magyarországon 1939–1945, Hadtörténelmi Közlemények, 117. évf. (2004), 3. sz., 834. ↑
27. Varga Éva Mária: Magyarok szovjet hadifogságban (1941–1956) az oroszországi levéltáriforrások tükrében, Budapest, Russica Pannonicana, 2009, 142. ↑
28. György János Szilágyi had to march 870 kms within 3-4 weeks from the POW collection camp of Kolomyya to the POW camp of Zaporizhzhia – Komoróczy Géza: Öt év munkaszolgálat és hadifogság, in Komoróczy Géza: Jogot, mert emberek vagyunk: zsidótörténeti tanulmányok, Budapest, Kalligram, 2023, 239; Szilágyi János György: Örvények fölé épülő harmónia I–II.: Interjúk, dokumentumok, levelek, Budapest, Gondolat, 2018, 98. ↑
29. „A néhány hét alatt, amit itt töltöttünk a foglyok 90%-a meghalt az uj transzportokat is figyelembe véve. Az oroszok csak két hét elteltével vettek bennünket nyilvántartásba, akik addig lehaltak, azok nem is jöttek számba mint foglyok, nem is tudtak róluk. A hihetetlenül nagy méretü halálozás az éhség, kiütéses tifusz és más betegségek következtében állot be.” – Yad Vashem 3557453 – Testimony of Mose Grossberg, 6. ↑
30. Idem. ↑
31. Új Élet, based on lists published between 22 August 1946 and 7 July 1949. ↑
32. MNL OL HU -XIX-J-1-j, 25. doboz, idézi: Botos János: Magyar zsidók szovjet lágerekben: 1939–1956. Jakab és Komor tér 6. Egyesület, Budapest, 2018, 24. ↑
33. Based on the database of the POW Transfer Committee of Debrecen, 9,536 POWs returned in 1946, 59,522 in 1947, 83,037 in 1948, and only 101 in 1949. ↑