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

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

was not researched until the

fall of Communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...

and the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

. 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 ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

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 is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much 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 south, Croatia and ...

and among the Hungarian minority of

Transcarpathia Transcarpathia (, ) is a historical region on the border between Central and Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast. From the Hungarian Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, conquest of the Carpathian Basin ...

, 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 city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. Soviet

Marshal Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used fo ...

Rodion Malinovsky's reports allegedly overestimated the number of

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

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 Budapes ...

, 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, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

. 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 Ágnes Huszár Várdy was a Professor of English and Communications at Robert Morris University. She was also Adjunct Professor of Comparative Literature at Duquesne University. She was an invited member of the International P.E.N. (1985) and a Plen ...

, ''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 was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

. Deportees were transported in

freight cars A railroad car, railcar (American English, American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and International Union of Railways, UIC), also called a tra ...

to transit camps in

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

and

Western Ukraine Western Ukraine or West Ukraine (, ) refers to the western territories of Ukraine. There is no universally accepted definition of the territory's boundaries, but the contemporary Ukrainian administrative regions ( oblasts) of Chernivtsi, I ...

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

dysentery Dysentery ( , ), 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 may include dehyd ...

, 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, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

, 158 in the

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, 131 in

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, 119 in Northern Russia, 53 in the vicinity of

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, 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 ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

and 64 in

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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 singl ...

s for "

anti-Soviet Anti-Sovietism or anti-Soviet sentiment are activities that were actually or allegedly aimed against the Soviet Union or government power within the Soviet Union. Three common uses of the term include the following: * Anti-Sovietism in inter ...

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 and lower ranking officials of public administration and all kind of non-leftist members of local governments or members of the parliament, who served during the "capitalist era" (incl. interwar period or even pre-WW1 era.) This group of prisoners was sent to Gulag camps, rather than the GUPVI camp network. During de-Stalinisation, 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.

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The government of

Ferenc Nagy Ferenc Nagy (; 8 October 1903 – 12 June 1979) was a Hungarian politician of the Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party, Smallholders Party who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1946 until his forced resignation in 1 ...

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 Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

'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.

Media representations

The story of the forced labor program was told in the 2018 drama film '' Eternal Winter'', which won an

international Emmy The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sc ...

for best actress.

POWs and civilians

Political prisoners

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Media representations

See also

References

Further reading