The forced labour of Hungarians in the Soviet Union in the aftermath of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

was not researched until the

fall of Communism The Revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, was a revolutionary wave that resulted in the end of most communist states in the world. Sometimes this revolutionary wave is also called the Fall of Nations or the Autumn of Nat ...

and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. While exact numbers are not known, it is estimated that up to 600,000 Hungarians were deported, including an estimated 200,000 civilians. An estimated 200,000 perished. Tamás Stark,
„Malenki Robot" Magyar kényszermunkások a Szovjetunióban (1944–1955)

"Malenki Robot" – Hungarian Forced Labourers in the Soviet Union (1944–1955)
/ref> Hungarian forced labour was part of a larger system of foreign forced labour in the Soviet Union. In addition, an unknown number of Hungarians were deported from

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

to the Soviet Union in the context of the Romania-Hungary Transylvanian dispute. In 1944, many Hungarians were accused by Romanians of being " partisans" and transferred to the Soviet administration. In early 1945, during the "de-Germanisation" campaign all Hungarians with German names were sent to the Soviet Union, in accordance with Soviet Order 7161.

POWs and civilians

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

and among the Hungarian minority of

Transcarpathia Transcarpathia may refer to: Place * relative term, designating any region beyond the Carpathians (lat. ''trans-'' / beyond, over), depending on a point of observation * Romanian Transcarpathia, designation for Romanian regions on the inner or ...

, Gyorgy Dupka, Alekszej Korszun (1997) "A Malenykij Robot Dokumentumokban", (documents about deportations of Hungarians from

Carpathian Ruthenia Carpathian Ruthenia ( rue, Карпатьска Русь, Karpat'ska Rus'; uk, Закарпаття, Zakarpattia; sk, Podkarpatská Rus; hu, Kárpátalja; ro, Transcarpatia; pl, Zakarpacie); cz, Podkarpatská Rus; german: Karpatenukrai ...

) such forced labour has been referred to as málenkij robot, a corrupted form of the Russian ''malenkaya rabota'' (маленькая работа), meaning "little work". The expression originated during the first wave of deportations of Hungarian civilians: after occupation of Hungarian towns, civilians were rounded up for "little work", the removal of ruins. The largest single deportation of the first wave occurred in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. Soviet Marshal Rodion Malinovsky's reports allegedly overestimated the number of prisoners of war taken after the

Battle of Budapest The Siege of Budapest or Battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement by Soviet and Romanian forces of the Hungarian capital of Budapest, near the end of World War II. Part of the broader Budapest Offensive, the siege began when Budap ...

, and to make up for the shortfall, some 100,000 civilians were detained in Budapest and its suburbs. Those deported in the first wave were mainly located in northwestern Hungary, in the path of the advancing

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

. The second, more organised wave occurred 1-2 months later, in January 1945, and involved people from across Hungary. According to Soviet State Defence Committee Order 7161, ethnic Germans were to be deported for forced labour from the occupied territories, including Hungary. Soviet authorities had deportation quotas for each region, and when the target was missed, it was completed with ethnic Hungarians."Forgotten Victims of World War II: Hungarian Women in Soviet Forced Labor Camps"
, by Ágnes Huszár Várdy, ''Hungarian Studies Review'', (2002) vol 29, issue 1-2, pp. 77-91. Hungarian prisoners of war were also deported during this period. POWs and civilians were handled by the NKVD's Main Department for Affairs of POWs and Internees (known by its Russian acronym, GUPVI), with its own system of labour camps, similar to the

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

. Deportees were transported in

freight cars A railroad car, railcar (American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is a ...

to transit camps in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

and

Western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine ( uk, Західна Україна, Zakhidna Ukraina or , ) is the territory of Ukraine linked to the former Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia, which was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austria ...

. Survivor testimony suggests a high death rate in the camps and in transit from various causes, including epidemic

dysentery Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...

, harsh weather, and malnutrition. In the Soviet Union, Hungarians were placed in approximately 2,000 camps. A large number of camps were subsequently identified: 44 camps in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

, 158 in the Baltic states, 131 in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

, 119 in Northern Russia, 53 in the vicinity of

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, 627 in

Central Russia Central Russia is, broadly, the various areas in European Russia. Historically, the area of Central Russia varied based on the purpose for which it is being used. It may, for example, refer to European Russia (except the North Caucasus and ...

, 276 in the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

and 64 in

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

Political prisoners

Another group of deportees consisted of Hungarians sentenced by Soviet

tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a single ...

s for "

anti-Soviet Anti-Sovietism, anti-Soviet sentiment, called by Soviet authorities ''antisovetchina'' (russian: антисоветчина), refers to persons and activities actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or government power within the ...

activities". These included the following categories:Tamás Stark, "Ethnic Cleansing and Collective Punishment: Soviet Policy Towards Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees in the Carpathian Basin" in: "Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe" (2003) *Former soldiers who had served in occupation forces in Soviet territory *Members of the ''

Levente Levente (between 1010 and 1015 – 1047) was a member of the House of Árpád, a great-grandson of Taksony, Grand Prince of the Hungarians. He was expelled from Hungary in 1031 or 1032, and spent many years in Bohemia, Poland and the Kievan Rus ...

'' paramilitary youth organisation who were made to serve in auxiliary forces by the end of the war *High-ranking officials and non-leftist politicians This group of prisoners was sent to Gulag camps, rather than the GUPVI camp network. During

de-Stalinisation De-Stalinization (russian: десталинизация, translit=destalinizatsiya) comprised a series of political reforms in the Soviet Union after the death of long-time leader Joseph Stalin in 1953, and the thaw brought about by ascension ...

, the sentences of the survivors were annulled and 3,500 former convicts returned home. The total number of convicts was estimated by the Szorakész organisation of Hungarian Gulag survivors to be approximately 10,000.

Return

The government of

Ferenc Nagy Ferenc Nagy (; 8 October 1903 – 12 June 1979) was a Hungarian politician of the Smallholders Party who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1946 until his forced resignation in 1947. He was also a Speaker of the National Assembly of Hung ...

started negotiations for the return of Hungarian deportees in early 1946. The first wave of widespread returns occurred June to November 1946, and was interrupted until May 1947. The last group of Hungarians to return, numbering about 3,000, was only able to do so in 1953-1955, after

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

's death. Hungarian sources estimate that 330,000-380,000 forced labourers returned in total, leaving an estimated 200,000 who perished in transit or captivity.

POWs and civilians

Political prisoners

Return

See also

References

Further reading