The Tragedy of the Hungarians of Transcarpathia

Over a year ago, last May, was organized, collaterally to the territorial council, the Working Commission that was entrusted with the rehabilitation of the people who fell victim to the Stalinist reprisals of the 30s' 40s' and 50s. or rather, this Commission should prepare and organize such a rehabilitation. In practice this means that they look into the circumstances surrounding the infringement of human rights, examine the archival documents and, if so indicated, they recommend rehabilitation to the public prosecutor's office and the judiciary. Among the Hungarian population, the Commission's work aroused much interest - to no effect so far, unfortunately. The newspaper, "Zakarpatszka Pravda" started last year to print the list of the names of the rehabilitated, but it contained only a few Hungarian names. That is to say, the Commission gave priority to the examination of those trial records that dealt with the arrest and conviction of people who illegally fled to the Soviet Union in the 30s. When the question came up of rehabilitating the Hungarian deportees of autumn 1944, some Commission members shook their heads incredulously: they were suprised by what happened here half a century ago, after the front moved through.

Therefore, the Commission formed a sub-group that was meant to appraise those events. Time passed, but the victims' rehabilitation made no progress at all. The group did not produce valuable work; its task was effectively taken over by the Hungarian Cultural Association of Transcarpathia.

We agreed to begin with the collection of the deportees' and victim' names, then make up the lists to be authenticated by the Office of National Security, the KGB - explains Dupka Gyorgy, who initiated the whole movement and is member of the Hungarian group. The next step would have been for the judiciary to declare the victims' innocence and to publish these findings in the newspapers. Later the situation changed: the authorities claimed that since, at that time, there were no convictions, the judiciary cannot get involved now. The KMKSZ was simply to collect the names and publish the lists in the papers.

What kind of help did you receive for this work from the official administrative organizations?

The KGB gave us their support, but not every local administration. Still, we managed to organize the Memorial Conference in Beregszasz to honor the deportees, and the monuments are ready and in place on many sites. At the same time, we are still waiting to clarify the over-all historical background of this question. At first, the KGB denied having any documents relating to these events, but then it turned out that there are written traces of the deportations. Some relevant documents came to light in a secret Moscow archive but it is difficult to get one's hands on them. Fortunately, we managed to find some incontrovertible proof in the depths of the district archives so we do not have to rely on oral tradition or human memory only.

What kind of material are you talking about?

After the 1944 deportation, the villages were left without manpower to produce the goods required by the authorities. This gave rise to the mid-1945 circular letter in which the local councils were requested to furnish exact lists of all the able-bodied men who were absent from their villages. We just came across the lists for 30 villages of the Beregszasz district containing the names of 13,600 men. Of these, we can prove that 4,150 were taken to Szolyva.

To what extent do these figures conform to the records prepared by the KMKSZ?

The variations are minimal which only goes to show that our activists were doing a wonderful job. The main trouble is that the preparation of the lists drags out so. From the district of Ungvar, we received so far lists from only 15 villages; from the Beregszasz district 17 villages sent in their lists; from that of Nagyszolos, 18. If this continues, we will hardly be able to publish our Book of Recollection in the autumn.

During the latest session of the Territorial Council, the working group of the Commission for Rehabilitation was reorganized. As its new president, they elected Molnar Bertalan, the first vice-president of the council. Therefore, I ask HIM:

When will the deportees' rehabilitation finally come to an end?

We do not know yet when rehabilitation will occur and what form it will take. In the autumn of 1944, there were no judicial decrees, no one was convicted; therefore, there can be no legal rehabilitation's. One way of serving justice would be to erect monuments and plaques to honor the deportees and to publish a book, as the KMKSZ has already decided to do. Also, steps are being taken to find the exact spot of the mass grave of the Szolyva concentration camp and to place a monument there. The Hungarian Cultural Association of Transcarpathia (KMKSZ) gives us a great deal of help with this work and we hope to continue this cooperation in the future.

You said earlier that legal rehabilitation will not be necessary as there were no convictions. At the same time, the survivors suffered not only moral and political damages, but material ones too. For instance, the years they spent in the camps are not taken into account when determining their pensions; and neither those who were disabled there nor their relatives are entitled to welfare. Are you doing anything to change this situation?

To tell you the truth, I do not yet see clearly this aspect of the situation. I have been head of the working group for barely two months ad this question did not come up yet.

Did you make any progress in clarifying the historical background of these events? Did you discover upon whose instructions and for what purpose the deportations of the Hungarian men were undertaken?

As far as I know, nobody gave instructions to historians to this effect. The KGB is unwilling and we have few Hungarian historians.

What does the Hungarian group of the Rehabilitation Commission do anyway?

Their work was quite disorganized until now; they did not even keep minutes of their meetings. Now we practically have to start all over again. By September, we would like to summarize our findings so that we can take a position and publish it in the paper. In my opinion, just to admit the deportations is already a big thing.

For forty-five years we kept silent, we had to keep silent, about what happened in the autumn of 1944. Now we can mention it, we can speak the truth. Is that enough?

For us, maybe it is. But we must give proof to the next generation so that they, too, can see clearly this tragic phase of our history. The collective rehabilitation of the deportees is an absolute necessity! It is not the KMKSZ that should clear the name and honor of the deportees but the power that committed this outrageous lawlessness.

July 27.

A series of articles in the "Komszomolszkaja Pravda" brings into the open the role that SZMERS played in the execution of Stalin's orders. The name off this military counter-intelligence organization is an acronym for "Death to the Spies!" This organization also played a part, along with the NKVD, in the action of November 1944 when the Hungarians and Germans were forced into labor camps. One of its leaders was Ivan Alekszandrovics Szerov, who later became Minister of National Security and who also had a role in the events of the 1950s in Hungary. In the Ukraine, it was Szerov who carried out Krushchev's instructions for mass repression.

August 11.

The first official "rehabilitation evening" was held in Badalo. Organized by the Territorial Commission for Rehabilitation. The Hungarian and Ukrainian press was also invited. Col. Alekszej Korszun, deputy head of the territorial office of the Soviet Union's Committee for National Security, reviewed the case of 23 men, out of the 83 from Badalo, who were taken to labor camps. These 23 died in Boriszov in the Minsk region, also in the region of Donyeck and Jarkov, of fatal weakness, according to their hospital records. In the Badalo graveyard, Forgon Pal, Bishop of the Reformed Church of Transcarpathia, with the collaboration of the Rev. Komlos Attila and the executive secretary of the Hungarian World Federation, held a service in memory of the innocently deceased.

August 26.

Chaired by Molnar Bertalan, the Commission to rehabilitate the victims of the reprisals held a meeting. It delegated Col. Alekszej Korszun to go to the Special Archives in Moscow and gather all documents that would shed light on the political background of the November 1944 deportations. He was also to find out if the authenticated camp lists are kept there. Dupka Gyorgy was asked to search for similar documents in the State Archives in Beregszasz.

September 1.

Within the framework of the International Human Rights Conference, the cornerstone of a monument o the memory of the victims of political persecution from the 30s-50s was installed in Revolution Square in Leningrad.

October 7.

The meeting of the Transcarpathian territorial organization RUH was dedicated to the victims of Stalinist party dictatorship. One of their speakers, Mihajlo Banik declared: "Since the 1944 liberation of Transcarpathia, this region has lost more men than in the previous 1000 years".

October 6.

Upon the initiative of the Transcarpathian territorial organization RUH, the Society Memorial was formed in Ungvar to advance the cause of the rehabilitation of the politically persecuted and the restoration of their human rights. Dupka Gyorgy became a board member representing the KMKSZ.

October 14.

At Tiszapeterfalva, the Board of the KMKSZ adopted two important resolutions proposed by Dupka Gyorgy. The first:

Re: The Deportations of November 1944

In Beregszasz on November 18 1989, the Hungarian Cultural Association of Transcarpathia (KMKSZ) organized a Memorial Conference with the participation of Transcarpathian and Hungarian historians and researchers. This conference, entitled "The Transcarpathian victims of Stalinism" was also underwritten by the Territorial Commission of Rehabilitation. As per the 2nd minutes (of September 22, 1990) of the Working Group and the proclamation here adopted, the KMKSZ:

1.- addresses the following demands to M. S. Gorbachev, President of the Soviet Union

- The Presidency of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union

- The Supreme Council of the Soviet Union

- The Supreme Council of the SSR the Ukraine

to apologize to those Hungarians and Germans whose relatives between the ages of 18 and 50 were deported to Stalinist labor camps purely on the basis of their ethnicity.

2.- They should serve justice by the collective political and moral rehabilitation of the deportees. By holding the perpetrators publicly accountable they would place a suitable memorial to the thousands who died senselessly and those who returned maimed in body and soul.

3.- Acting in the name of the deportees, the Hungarian Cultural Association of Transcarpathia expects - because of the inhuman conditions in the camps: - that for every surviving inmate's 1 year in camp 3 should be counted. As they did heavy physical work as civilians, without judicial proceedings, without pay or compensation or moral rehabilitation, they should be paid 300 rubles' wages for every month.

4.- The Association expects the present Administration to do all in its power to avoid repeating the past; that the spread of democracy will stop once and for all reprisals against people, ethnic groups and persons, and to banish fear from people's lives. With this, we can jointly place a suitable memorial to the victims of Stalinism.

Accepted an appeal for financing the creation of a Memorial Park on the site of the Szolyva camp:

APPEAL:

The Hungarian Cultural Association of Transcarpathia appeals to the leaders of Hungarian and non-Hungarian undertakings, factories, agricultural enterprises and other establishments, as well as of social organizations, to help financially within their means to create a Memorial Park on the site of the Szolyva concentration camp and to place there a monument to the victims of Stalinism.

It is well known that this concentration or rather, deathcamp was functioning from November 1944 until early 1945 receiving the innocently deported able-bodied men, the sole purpose being their removal from the general population. Their only crime was their nationality, yet they were forced to labor like slaves, their ranks decimated, in complete disregard of international human rights. At that time, they buried thousands of people who died as a consequence of epidemics, hunger and cold in an unmarked mass-grave located outside of the camp.

To save and restore this graveside, which once covered 1 hectare but is much smaller now, and to create a Memorial Park there is of primary interest not only to Hungarians and Transcarpathia, but to all eastern Central Europe since the debilitated POWs were gathered here too. For many, it became their final resting place.

Those wishing to help are requested to pay the offered sum to the "Transcarpathia fund" created by the Hungarian Cultural Association of Transcarpathia (KMKSZ), to the accounts maintained at the following banks, or more precisely at the operative division of the district savings banks:

In Ungvar,	account	#1174
In Munkacs,	"	#710
In Beregszasz,	"	#359
In Nagyszolos,	"	#295
In Huszt,	"	# 1
In Tecso	"	#181

October 16.

The JUSTITIA HUMANA HUNGARIAE was founded in Budapest. Dupka Gyorgy and Milovan Sandor, representing the KMKSZ, as well as Mankovits Tamas, editor-in-chief of "Karpatalja" (Transcarpathia) were present at this event. The representatives of the Hungarian political prisoners living beyond the borders, as well as leaders and members of the Committee to Serve historical Justice called the meeting mainly to discuss the grave sins committed against humanity by the communist dictatorship about which, for four decades, everybody lied or kept silent. Aside from these discussion, they also tried to formulate common positions on moral reparations and material compensation. The host of the meeting, Molnar Imre, chief counselor to the government, asked the Secretariat of the Hungarians Living beyond the Borders to propose three subjects for open discussion. He asked those present to evaluate the waves of persecutions in the last 45 years; to determine which layers of the population were mostly affected; and finally, but not least, not to forget the rehabilitation's that might have taken place already or are being contemplated. In their countries, did the governments take active steps in this direction and, if not, how do they plan the execution of such projects?

The importance of this meeting was heightened and its standard raised by the appearance at the consultations by Entz Geza, Deputy Secretary of Political Affairs, who said in his opening speech: "...there can be no reconciliation without justice". He added that the past political regime debased the whole community with the outrage committed upon the men of different nations. We must work together to discover all the past sins so that justice can be served.

At the end of the meeting the JUSTITIA HUMANA HUNGARIAE (the Advisory Committee for the Hungarian political Prisoners and Persecuted) was formed. It set itself a 7-point working program for the future.

October 17.

On this day, the Commission of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union entrusted with deliberating the question of the relationship among national groups and ethnic politics held a meeting. During this meeting they discussed the repeal of, or amendment to, certain laws adopted by the State Defense Commission of the Soviet Union or other administrative organizations. This question arose in connection with parliament's stated intentions to declare as illegal the reprisals against the forcibly resettled peoples and to restore their human rights. They intend to pass laws requiring the rehabilitation of people who suffered reprisals during the years of personal cult.

October 29. Upon written request of the KMKSZ, the Executive Committee of the City Council of Szolyva gave its permission to establish a memorial park on the site of the camp cemetery, which used to cover more than 1 hectare, but most of it is built over now. The coordination of the planning and execution of this work will be undertaken for the KMKSZ, by Toth Mihaly, vice-president, Dupka Gyorgy, executive secretary and Kiszely Tihamer, board member; for the Territorial Rehabilitation Committee, Molnar Bertalan, vice-president of the territorial Council.

November 24.

Upon the initiative of the local KMKSZ, the memorial monument to the Hungarian victims of Stalinist terror is unveiled in the Roman Catholic cemetery of Beregszasz. The monument, depicting a grieving woman, was created by the artist, Horvath Anna, and executed by Kerenyi Gyula, architect.

November 24.

On the camp graveyard in Szolyva, where a Memorial Park is being organized by the leadership of the KMKSZ, the ground-breaking ceremony is taking place. From all over Transcarpathia, the victim's relatives, survivors, and representatives of the KMKSZ attended.

Present were also the representatives of the parliamentary parties of the Hungarian Republic, Ministry of Defense of the Hungarian Republic, the Prime Minister's office of the Republic, the World Federation of Hungarians, the Association of Recsk, and the Association of Political Prisoners, as well as delegations of the RMDSZ and youth organizations from Transylvania. At the ecumenical service the Reformed Church, Roman Catholic, Uniate and Lutheran pastors participated. The speakers stressed the fact that the secrecy has been lifted; we can all openly honor our dead. At the ceremony, it was said in Ukrainian: "We swear to do all we can so that such evil acts should not be repeated again!"

November 29.

In Moscow, the KGB, according to present instructions, unearthed some previously classified documents on, for instance, persons who were victims of Stalinist reprisals. So far, not even in the Soviet Union have laws been passed to de-classify such documents. In Transcarpathia, Col. Alekszej Korszun was the first to publish documents concerning the reprisals suffered by Transcarpathian Hungarians. The still-living veteran Stalinists and communists place bigger and bigger obstacles in the way of the reform communists so that the illegalities of the past should not be brought to light.

During November.

The KMKSZ continues to make up the lists and put up a series of monuments to the memory of the dead in the cemeteries, churchyards, and public squares of Transcarpathian villages. With memorial meetings and ecumenical services, they remember the Stalinists victims among the Hungarian men deported as civilians in the autumn of 1944.

December 2.

In response to the appeal of the KMKSZ, the agricultural collective of Tiszapeterfalva, in the Nagyszolos district, adopted the resolution to donate 50 thousand rubles to the construction of the Szolyva Memorial Park and to participate in the graveside's restoration.

December 13.

In Miskolc, in the former Party headquarters, Mankovits Tamas, editor-in-chief of "Karpatalja", organized an international forum the theme of which was the search for and rehabilitation of the Hungarian men, victims of Stalinism, who were deported in the autumn of 1944. Toth Mihaly, vice-president of the KMKSZ, Col. Alekszej Korszun, assistant head of the committee of Transcarpathia's State Security, and Dupka Gyorgy, member of the Transcarpathian Rehabilitation Commission, gave speeches. Present were at this event: the Justitia Humana Hungarian, the Commission for Historical Justice, the Historical Justice, the Historical Institute, the Institute for Hungarian Research, the Union of Philosophers of Miskolc, as well as reporters from several Hungarian newspapers.

January 16, 1991.

As previously reported, on October 14, 1990, the KMKSZ presented an appeal to the Head of State of the Soviet Union and to the Ukrainian Parliament concerning the deportations of Transcarpathia's Hungarian men. In response, Ivan Poljuk, member of the Supreme Council of the Soviet Union in charge of ethnic groups, came to Ungvar and met with Col. Alekszej Korszun and Dupka Gyorgy, members of the Territorial Commission for Rehabilitation, and with Toth Mihaly, vice-president of the KMKSZ. The members of the Commission handed him some documents to facilitate the rehabilitation of the people concerned.

April 17. The Ukrainian SSR's law on the rehabilitation of the victims of Ukrainian political reprisals is published. It aims at the compensation only of those who were convicted by tribunal. Adoption of the law concerning the compensation of and damages to people interned as civilians and taken to "malenykij robot" is being delayed as these victims were not convicted to forced labor camps by any court of law. In the last few days, in accordance with instructions from the executive committee of the Council of people's representatives, throughout Transcarpathia's towns and district, working groups were formed to look into the question of restoring the human rights of those who had been rehabilitated.

July 12.

In the "Karpati Igaz Szo" appears the column entitled, "For Whom the Bells did not Toll" by Dupka Gyorgy, member of the Ungvar town and district council. In his columns, he publishes material concerning the deportations of Transcarpathia's Hungarians.

August 11.

Upon the initiative of the Makkosjanosi KMKSZ, a monument is erected to the memory of the victims of W.W.II and Stalinist terror. At its dedication, Jeszenszky Geza, Foreign Minister of the Hungarian Republic, also made a speech.. Previously, he visited the monument on the Pass of Uzsok where the remains of the First World War's Hungarian and non Hungarian soldiers are buried and placed a wreath there.

September 20.

The editors of the "Karpati Igaz Szo" organized a meeting with the experts in the field of rehabilitation. These declared to those present that they will press for complete material rehabilitation of the Hungarian and German internees at the highest forum. This document was prepared after the meeting. Thus, the head of the territorial council appeals in writing to the Supreme Council of the Ukraine to add to the rehabilitation law an amendment that would assure material compensation also - aside from the moral and political rehabilitation - to the former deportees.

During September.

The town council of Ungvar asked Mihajlo Beleny, sculptor of Ungvar, to prepare the model of the monument to be erected in memory of the victims of political reprisals. As proposed by several representatives, this memorial to be placed as a memento on the square where the offices of the State Committee for the National security are located.

After crushing of the August putsch, it came to light that in those extraordinary days the hard-line communist functionaries decided, among other things, to reorganize the composition of the Rehabilitation Commission, suspending the membership of Col. Alekszej Korszun and Dupka Gyorgy. They also wanted to stop all research at the State Archives for documents concerning the November 1994 internment of Hungarian men.

Initiated by Toth Mihaly and Dupka Gyorgy, the Hungarian representatives of the District Council submitted a petition to Leonid Kravcsuk, President of the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian SSR. In it they urge the material rehabilitation of the draft-age men who were carried off from their homes and interned by the KGB troops, in accordance with Resolution #36 of November 13, 1944 of the military council of the 4th Ukrainian Front.

Asztalos Eva, architect with the planning office of a house renovation and restoration institute, was entrusted by the leaders of the KMKSZ with the planning of the construction of the Szolyva Memorial Park.. So far, a total of 39,000 rubles were invested in this construction. Toth Mihaly, vice-president of the KMKSZ, took charge of all matters concerning this Memorial Park.

November 15.

1. - Resulting from the thousands of letters received from Hungarian and German nationals, and members of other ethnic groups asking for rehabilitation, I. J. Bihunec, Dupka Gyorgy, A.M. Korszum, members of the working group, and V.I. Ivanenko for the UKGB, have studied this question. It has been determined that, in accordance with the orders of the Military Council of the 4th Ukrainian Front, men between the ages of 18 and 50 of Hungarian, German or other ethnic groups have, in fact, been interned in November-December 1944 and January 1945 and were ordered to be taken to forced labour camps beyond the borders of Carpatho-Ukraine. The leaders of the Territorial Council of Peoples' Representatives familiarized themselves with these documents.

2. - It must be stated that the leaders of the Territorial Council of the Peoples Representatives petitioned the Supreme Council of the Ukraine to discuss the rehabilitation of the citizens of Hungarian, German and other ethnic groups who were interned between November 1944 and January 1945 and take to forced labour camps. It was also asked to determine the amount of their financial compensation, the return of their assets and the restoration of their valuable possessions. The time these citizens spent in the camps must be added to their current work-record, as ordered by the Ukrainian SSR's law "The Rehabilitation if Ukrainian citizens, victims of Political reprisals".

3. - Representatives elected from the Transcarpathia to the Ukrainian Supreme Council must be urged to press for placing the question of the internee's compensation on the agenda.

Molnar Bertalan
President of the Working Commission

November 17.

In Odessa, the all Ukrainian Nationalities Congress was held where Kover Gyorgy represented the KMKSZ. In his speech, he illustrated the Stalinist reprisals that the Hungarians of Transcarpathia suffered in November 1944.

On this day , in front of the Rakoczi-manor in Munkacs, Transcarpathia's first public monument commemorating the Hungarian and German victims of Stalinism was dedicated Its creator is Matl Peter, sculptor from Munkacs.

November 24.

The KMKSZ is organizing a quiet wreath-laying ceremony in Szolyva, on the old site of the camp graveyard, where a Memorial Park to the victims of Stalinism is being constructed.

All the paperwork ordered by the KMKSZ and necessary to the construction of the Memorial Park in Szolyva is now ready. Construction has started.

December 10.

Csulak Laszlo, the KMKSZ's legal expert, has produced a new and important document concerning the internment of Hungarian men in November 1944.

TO:
LEONID KRAVCSUK
PRESIDENT OF THE UKRAINE
K I E V

ON THE OFFICIAL ANALYSIS
OF THE LAW PASSED ON THE REHABILITATION
OF THE VICTIMS OF POLITICAL REPRISALS

According to the declaration of sovereignty of the SSR of the Ukraine and taking into consideration that some of the victims of the persecutions of the 30s, 40s and early'50s are being rehabilitated, the third session of 12th meeting of the Supreme Council adopted the law of the SSR of the Ukraine of the rehabilitation of the victims of political reprisals. The proposals and suggestions made by the representatives, legal experts, and the Ministry of Finance of the SSR of the Ukraine during the discussions following the first reading of the proposed law were taken into consideration.

The law is reform-minded and well thought out. It is this kind of law that gives the newly-reborn state its character. From the point of view of the Ukraine's Hungarian, German or Gypsy populations, it would seem that the mountains laboured and gave birth to a mouse....

The non-Slav population of Transcarpathia had hoped that the laws passed will apply to them also. They have long awaited passage of legislation that will make them all equal. But not so this law or the Soviet-era laws which were written for the world at large. Let the whole world see that everything is in order here, that all our citizens are equal, that we broke with the past! Yet the truth is....

The truth is that this law does not apply to the 35 or 40 thousand Hungarians, Germans or Gypsies, fewer and fewer of whom are still alive.

To the innumerable petitions and interventions of the victims, the Justice Department of Transcarpathia replied that the recently adopted law does not apply to the Hungarians, Germans, and Gypsies who were tricked into reporting for three days of labour and then interned; that these people were "morally" rehabilitated only and are not eligible to receive the financial compensations prescribed by the law.

It was only after 1985 that one could mention the fact,that in the autumn of 1944 the Hungarian, German, and Gypsy men between the ages of 18 and 50 were obliged to report to collection points for tree days of public labour. These "three days" will be remembered by every family. The men were herded behind barbed wire with guns. Because of the inhumane treatment, total lack of sanitation, from hunger and cold, most of these men died either already on their way or in the camps. Those that came back returned disabled; many died later from diseases contracted at the camps and never lived to see passage of this law.

Please allow me not to digress on the motives of the internment at the end of 1944 of the non-Slav civilian population. These are well-known. It is also well-known (as reported at the conference of historians) that the commander of the IVth Ukrainian Front, who reported the internment of the civilian population as capture of enemy soldiers, received a high state decoration for this falsehood.

The men who were tricked into internment spent, on the average, three years in prison, but many were confined behind barbed wire for 7 to 9 years.

The fact that these men were not persecuted by court order only enhances the criminality of the actions of Stalin's penal organizations. The appearance of legality was maintained, at least on paper or by show trails, by Judicial proceedings.

After thorough study of the whole law, its preface and paragraphs 1 and 3, there can be no doubt in our minds that it must apply to the non-Slav victims interned at the end of 1944. If, in practice, this law is applied arbitrarily, or interpreted discriminatory, it will represent a cynical injustice for the many of Transcarpathia's inhabitants, affront the memory of the victims as well as outrage those who witnessed the reprisals. Under such circumstances, public homage to the memory of those who died in concentration camps should be prohibited. Or that monuments should be dedicated to them, which is happening in every ethnic settlement. At every service held at these monuments, the population condemns these Stalinist reprisals. The local papers all published translations of the law as a fact of state justice, ethnic equality and harmony. Yet the administrators (as well as one of the authors) of the law will tell you: "This does not apply to you; you will be rehabilitated morally only".

Will the law be so blatantly ignored in the Ukraine also?

Will one thing be written on paper and something else done?

The administrators of the law do not want to acknowledge the victims of the reprisals; they rather believe the reports of Stalin that these men were POWs.

We are outraged by the local administrators' discriminating interpretation of this law and we appeal to the Supreme Council to interpret officially the paragraphs 1 and 2. Should you have any doubts, we ask that the issues be clarified by your establishing a committee composed of historians, archivists, and scientists who would question the local population and the families of the victims.

Should the tendentiously discriminating interpretation against the rehabilitation of the victims of the political reprisals be continued. We shall have to appeal to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations.

Fodo Sandor
President of the Hungarian Cultural Association
of Transcarpathia

Forgon Pal
Bishop

Reformed Church of Transcarpathia

April, 1992

Saw the publication of the volume entitled "Istenhez fohaszkodva" ("Beseeching God"), a collection of camp poems and prayers, edited by Dupka Gyorgy and printed by Intermix Publishing.

At the beginning of the year, the registered Transcarpathia Foundation held its first meeting where it was decided that the Foundation will underwrite the development of the Szolyva Memorial Park. The KMKSZ's appeal for subscribers was not very successful. The preliminary budget for carrying out this project is finished: it would require 1,200,000 rubles on the free market to create a worthy monument to Transcarpathia's Hungarian dead. The curators ask everyone to contribute as much as they are able to the creation of this Memorial Park. Donations are to be sent to: Transcarpathia Foundations, Ungvar, Ukrszocbank 700 162.

May 23.

Baksa Lujza, reporter of the "Karpati Igaz Szo", interviewed Ivan Bihunec, deputy head of the Regional Rehabilitation Commission, on the status of the rehabilitation of the interned Hungarian and German men.

Excerpts from this interview:

"As for the Hungarians and Germans interned in the former Soviet Union, the Supreme Council's leaders have already brought this question to the attention of the legislators. After weighing it at length, the responsible parliamentary commission decided that according to the Geneva convention, the belligerent party has, indeed, the right to mobilize the enemy population for public works. At same time, they admitted that in the course of such mobilization they infringed on human rights. Nothing more happened.

Unfortunately, we have no lists of names of those who were taken away from their homes as they did not voluntarily report at the collection points. They were considered POWs on the documents we have found so far, and those are not rehabilitated. We can only hope that those who were in camps had their own personal files which will show whether they were interned or became POWs. But it requires a lot of research to obtain these documents. The same goes for the compiling of lists of those who were considered "kulaks."

May, second half.

Toth Mihaly, the delegate from, the District of Beregszasz to the Transcarpathia Foundation, publicly accepted the leadership in moving along the Szolyva Memorial Park as the presidency of the KMKSZ cannot finance the construction costs. In the on-side evaluation of the most urgent activities, the mayor of Szolyva, planner Asztalos Eva, the Transcarpathian Nationalities, as well as representatives of Intermix, a mixed corporation, collaborated with Toth Mihaly.

May 14.

saw the production of Nagy Zoltan Mihaly's novella, "Satan Fattya" (Satan's Bastard) by the Folk Theater Company of Beregszasz. The play, produced by Schober Otto and shown in Budapest also, is a faithful illustration of Stalin's tyranny.

June 14.

Together with a Reformed Church service, the dedication ceremony of a monument to the memory of the victims of W.W.II and forced labour camps took place in Mezovari.

August.

The Hungarian Ministry of Culture supports the publication of the Book of Recollections of the victims of Stalinist camps.

September.

The Executive Secretary of the KMKSZ appeals to the local chapters to compile the lists of the survivors, of the forced labour camps, to enable the needy to share in the financial assistance to be received in the near future.

October 17.

Dr. Sepsey Tamas, Deputy Minister and Head of the State Commission of Reparations and Compensations, visited Transcarpathia. In Beregszasz and Ungvar, he held a lecture and met with survivors and the widows of those who died in the camps.

The Presidency of the KMKSZ instructs the presidents of the local chapters to make up the list of those claiming compensation, and bring it to the offices of the KMKSZ for authentication.. The compensation envelopes may be bought at the Hungarian Consulate in Ungvar.

After W.W.II, for political reasons, many citizens of Transcarpathia suffered infringements of their rights, for which compensation will be partially taken over by the Hungarian State. To avoid misunderstandings arising from the peculiar circumstances of the Transcarpathians, this question has been explained at length by the Karpati Igaz Szo and among the Ukrainian papers, the Novini Zakarpattya. As a result, "compensation fever" broke out among the Transcarpathians and for weeks the Hungarian Consulate in Ungvar and the offices of the KMKSZ were under siege by the crowds.

October 20. The Karpati Igaz Szo publishes the full text of the XXXII Hungarian law of 1992, dealing with the compensation of those were illegally and for political reasons deprived of their life and liberty. Among Transcarpathians, the law applies to those who were Hungarian citizens at that time (for instance those who were carried for labour by the Soviet authorities, or were victims of show trails). If the victim is no longer alive, half of the compensation may be claimed by his surviving widow. Hungarian citizenship is counted until the day of the Paris peace treaty. As far as the POWs are concerned, entitled are those who were kept in camps after August 1945. The compensation extends also to the Jews deported from the territory and to members of the Ruthenian work brigades. Those who infringed the basic rights, as described in the Document of Agreement on the Political and Civilian Rights, (i. e. member of the secret police, agent, communist functionary, or those who helped put down the 1956 revolution) will be denied compensation. Nor will children or relatives receive compensation.

November 2.

The time limit for presenting compensation claims has been reached. According to Perduk Janos, office manager of the KMKSZ, this organization made the optimal use of the available time. It took over the securing and completing of the compensation papers. Most of the office of the local chapters did well also. At the central office, they admitted and accepted the claims of Ruthenians, Ukrainians, Slovakians, or Germans also; after all, they were Hungarian citizens too at that time. At the first transport, the office holders of the KMKSZ handed over 2,000 claims to the Hungarian functionaries. Since the time limit has been reached, the KMKSZ will no longer complete the required forms, but this does not mean that the KMKSZ considers the action closed. It will keep in contact with the Hungarian State Commission for Reparations and Compensations, will arrange to ship the supplementary documents, will act as intermediary between the members of the KMKSZ and the commission, and will help check out for the interned.

November 26.

A day of mourning for the interned.

December 1.

The proposal of a Resolution of the Allowances due to the Interned Citizens is brought before the Territorial Council.

In the years of Stalinist reprisals and upon the illegal order of Soviet state organizations, as well as that of the military commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front, many people who had no connections to Hungarian military units or the German army were interned to regions of the Carpathio-Ukraine without reasons other than their ethnic background.

Thus, according to the October 18, 1944 Resolution if the Military Council of the 4th Ukraine Front, 8500 Hungarian, German, Ruthenian Ukrainian and other men between the ages of 18 and 50 were groundlessly detained and forcibly interned in military camps between October 18 and December 16, 1944. The majority of the survivors were released between 1946 and 1949 only.

The Territorial Council condemns these illegal acts of the commander of the 4th Ukrainian Front considering such actions unacceptable in a civilized country; Expresses its condolences to the victims of these groundless reprisals, as well as to their relatives and kin; and will do everything in its power to ensure that the victims receive adequate compensation for the wrongs inflicted by these lawless reprisals.

Therefore, the Territorial Council of the Workers' Representatives resolved;

1. - The decision of the Military Council of the 4th Ukrainian Front concerning the internment Hungarian and German men and members of other ethnic groups is to be considered illegal.

2. - A single, lump-sum assistance is to be given to those people who can prove their internment. This assistance is payable out of the local budget.

3. - The time spent in the camps must be counted in the internees' work record, on a one-to-one basis.

4. - They have to be made eligible for out-of-turn medical care and must benefit from a 50% discount on all prescribed medications.

5. - The welfare office of the state territorial administration should provide a sample of an ID card to be approved by the Territorial deputy of the President of the Ukraine.

6. - The representatives if the district and local councils will be entrusted with issuing these Id cards on the basis of archival documents.

December, end of.

The representatives of the KMKSZ through lack of support, did not manage to put this proposal on the agenda of the December 23, 1992 session of the Territorial Council.

According to an end of December broadcast by the Kossuth Radio, the State Commission for Reparations and Compensations received 30,000 compensation requests from Transcarpathia.

The Tragedy of the Hungarians of Transcarpathia