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Labour service in Hungary during World War II

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214: 119: 225:) contributes to the still very scarce historical evidence that during World War II homosexuals were also targets of state control in Hungary. The correspondence contemplates whether or not to use homosexuals as forced labour within the wartime Labour Service System and has attached a list of altogether 993 alleged homosexuals. The phrase ‘officially registered homosexuals’ is used in the correspondence, supporting the supposition that the list was based on police registry. 170:. These units were an outgrowth of World War I units, when Jews served in the Hungarian armed forces along with Christians, as in Germany and other European countries. The commanders of these labour battalions often treated the Jewish units with extreme cruelty, abuse, and brutality. Men who worked in mine quarries were frequently pushed to their deaths off the man-made cliffs and embankments. These units were stationed all over Hungary, including 130,000 men at the 22: 389:], Trafford Publishing, 2010. Written and illustrated by Eber before his death in 1995, the memoir was published by his estate; it tells of his experience in a Hungarian labour brigade and later escape to the West. Eber was conscripted into a "white-armband" brigade, consisting of "Christian-Jews," that is, men raised in a Christian tradition, but considered Jewish by the 247:, Austria, having previously been detailed to a stone quarry for most of the war. At Siegendorf, as the war came to an end, the guns of the advancing Soviet forces could be heard by the Nyilas (Hungarian Arrow Cross troops who guarded the Jewish slaves). They decided to march most of the men out of the camp. 205:
of prominent servicemen. Some units were entirely wiped out; in others, as few as 5% survived the war. However, these were exceptions. Generally speaking, member of the labour service units had more chance to survive the war than those of fighting units. Until 15 October 1944 the losses in the labour
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Suspecting an attempt to murder the prisoners before the Soviets could liberate them, Farkas and a few other men scattered underneath the barracks as they heard their friends being marched away. A short time later, they heard volleys of gunshots not too far away. Several hours later, in the night,
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after they were prohibited from serving in the regular armed forces by passage of the Hungarian anti-Jewish laws. In Hungary, Jews comprised over eight percent of the population, and the government imposed an alternative to military service. Labour service was
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and had to be hospitalized for several weeks until they recovered, then took one-way train trips home. Miklos went home most of the way as a stowaway on top of a train car to the small city of
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service units were: 41 340 person (27,5-34,4%). But 40%-of this loss had happened in one month: January 1943, in the Voronezh–Kharkov strategic offensive. The retreating
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they emerged from hiding and moved eastward towards the Hungarian-Austrian border where they met Soviet forces. Most of the young Jewish men had
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A correspondence between the State Security Center and the Minister of Defense from 1942 (recovered in the Hungarian War Archive -
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The badly fed and poorly clothed units were initially assigned to perform heavy construction work within Hungary. With Germany's
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Andrew Fodor (Thomas C. Fodor, ed.), "The Survivor's Song: Unarmed Soldiers - Budapest to Stalingrad and back (Volume 1)",
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was destroyed; only 20% arrived back to Hungary, with the labour force units in much the same condition.
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died during labour service. Ordinary people, such as Miklos Farkas, born in Turcz in 1909, in the
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for additional forced labour work. They were subjected to atrocities, such as marching into
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Ungváry Krisztián: A munkaszolgálat embertelen, de túlzó mozgó vesztőhelynek nevezni
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to clear the area so that the regular troops could advance, and death by
382:(Columbia Univ. Press, 1981, rev. ed. Eastern European Monographs, 1994) 244: 198: 166:-allied Hungarian regime primarily from Hungarian Jewish men during 21: 202: 256: 252: 387:
Pinball Games: Arts of Survival in the Nazi and Communist Eras
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Military units and formations of Hungary in World War II
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Gender in Twentieth-Century Eastern Europe and the USSR
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Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil
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Establishing Labour service in Hungary (in Hungarian)
323:, London: Macmillan Education UK, pp. 157–170, 193:, Hungary officials sent most of these units into 46:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. 380:The Politics of Genocide: The Holocaust in Hungary 280: 217:Distributing lunch for Hungarian forced labourers 426: 55:"Labour service in Hungary during World War II" 373:The Hungarian Labor Service System: 1939-1945 141:) was required of "political unreliable" and 259:, now called Halmeu, in northern Romania. 106:Learn how and when to remove this message 287:(2006 ed.). Penguin Books. p.  269: 212: 117: 427: 311: 275: 305: 44:adding citations to reliable sources 15: 375:(Eastern European Monographs, 1977) 13: 362: 14: 461: 408: 440:Unfree labor during World War II 20: 31:needs additional citations for 1: 262: 329:10.1057/978-1-137-52804-9_10 122:Hungarian labour service in 7: 10: 466: 145:men in Hungary during the 445:The Holocaust in Hungary 312:Takács, Judit (2017), 238:Northern Transylvanian 223:Hadtörténelmi Levéltár 218: 138: 127: 216: 208:Hungarian Second Army 121: 450:Hungarian war crimes 378:Randolph L. Braham, 40:improve this article 162:conscripted by the 369:Randolph L. Braham 219: 128: 338:978-1-137-52803-2 298:978-0-14-303988-4 241:county of Szatmár 180:Arrow Cross Party 160:labour battalions 116: 115: 108: 90: 457: 385:George F. Eber, 356: 355: 354: 353: 347: 341:, archived from 318: 309: 303: 302: 286: 273: 228:The famous poet 143:Hungarian-Jewish 111: 104: 100: 97: 91: 89: 48: 24: 16: 465: 464: 460: 459: 458: 456: 455: 454: 425: 424: 411: 365: 363:Further reading 360: 359: 351: 349: 345: 339: 316: 310: 306: 299: 274: 270: 265: 158:, performed by 112: 101: 95: 92: 49: 47: 37: 25: 12: 11: 5: 463: 453: 452: 447: 442: 437: 423: 422: 417: 410: 409:External links 407: 406: 405: 402:978-1475199574 394: 391:Nuremberg Laws 383: 376: 364: 361: 358: 357: 337: 304: 297: 277:Arendt, Hannah 267: 266: 264: 261: 230:Miklós Radnóti 139:munkaszolgálat 131:Labour service 114: 113: 28: 26: 19: 9: 6: 4: 3: 2: 462: 451: 448: 446: 443: 441: 438: 436: 433: 432: 430: 421: 418: 416: 413: 412: 403: 399: 395: 392: 388: 384: 381: 377: 374: 370: 367: 366: 348:on 2021-06-20 344: 340: 334: 330: 326: 322: 315: 308: 300: 294: 290: 285: 284: 278: 272: 268: 260: 258: 254: 248: 246: 242: 239: 235: 231: 226: 224: 215: 211: 209: 204: 200: 196: 192: 188: 183: 181: 177: 173: 172:Eastern Front 169: 165: 161: 157: 156:forced labour 152: 148: 144: 140: 136: 132: 125: 120: 110: 107: 99: 88: 85: 81: 78: 74: 71: 67: 64: 60: 57: –  56: 52: 51:Find sources: 45: 41: 35: 34: 29:This article 27: 23: 18: 17: 386: 379: 372: 350:, retrieved 343:the original 320: 307: 282: 271: 249: 227: 222: 220: 191:Soviet Union 184: 174:in occupied 168:World War II 151:World War II 130: 129: 124:Transylvania 102: 96:January 2011 93: 83: 76: 69: 62: 50: 38:Please help 33:verification 30: 234:Antal Szerb 232:and writer 199:mine fields 429:Categories 352:2021-05-14 263:References 245:Siegendorf 66:newspapers 147:Holocaust 135:Hungarian 126:, Romania 279:(1963). 187:invasion 203:torture 195:Ukraine 176:Ukraine 80:scholar 400:  335:  295:  257:Halmin 253:typhus 164:German 82:  75:  68:  61:  53:  346:(PDF) 317:(PDF) 87:JSTOR 73:books 398:ISBN 333:ISBN 293:ISBN 289:1195 149:and 59:news 325:doi 189:on 42:by 431:: 371:, 331:, 319:, 291:. 182:. 137:: 404:. 393:. 327:: 301:. 133:( 109:) 103:( 98:) 94:( 84:· 77:· 70:· 63:· 36:.

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Transylvania
Hungarian
Hungarian-Jewish
Holocaust
World War II
forced labour
labour battalions
German
World War II
Eastern Front
Ukraine
Arrow Cross Party
invasion
Soviet Union
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mine fields
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Hungarian Second Army

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