Recsk labor camp
The forced labor camp Recsk was a labor camp near the village of Recsk in the small area Pétervására . The camp, which was located in the immediate vicinity of a quarry, was operated by the Hungarian State Security (ÁVH) between 1950 and 1953 . Among the approximately 100 smaller and larger labor camps at that time, it was the most notorious as the "Hungarian Gulag" .
history
Based on the model of the Soviet gulag , around 1,500 deportees were held in the Recsk forced labor camp, some of them without a court ruling, who had to do heavy physical labor in the quarry under minimal living conditions. The prisoners were frequently threatened, tortured or punished by deprivation of food.
The camp was kept secret for a long time. Two successful escape attempts are known. During the first attempt to escape, the fugitive managed to escape to Czechoslovakia , but after hearing the news that several family members had been arrested, he turned himself in to the police. On May 20, 1951, eight prisoners managed to escape by disguising themselves as a guard and pretending to be accompanying seven prisoners to work outside the camp. Most of the people who had fled were caught, only one of them, Gyula Michnay, managed to escape to Vienna . On “ Radio Free Europe ” he read the names of 600 prisoners there. As a result, the families of the prisoners received a sign of life again for the first time and in the West they learned of the existence of the camp.
After Stalin's death in March 1953, the Prime Minister appointed Imre Nagy decided to close the internment camps and the Recsk forced labor camp. The buildings and fences were torn down, leaving essentially nothing of him. Nevertheless, it was possible to identify the area after the fall of the Wall, and one or two buildings were rebuilt, according to survivors and based on photos.
To this day, the mass grave of those murdered here has not been found.
Secrecy after 1953
One of the former prisoners, György Faludy , describes the climate of liberation in September 1953 in his autobiographical novel " Hidden Days in Hell ":
“A well-known proverb at the time was that one should remain silent until the grave, otherwise one would end up in the grave. Any statement about the circumstances, place or the reasons for the internment was punished with a prison sentence of 6 years. Family members were instructed to tell that they had been on a research trip to the Soviet Union, but those who asked too many questions should be reported to the police. "
Commemoration
The Recsk National Memorial Park, inaugurated in 1996, houses a memorial for the former prisoners. You can visit the watchtower and a sleeping barracks, as well as part of the barbed wire fence.
swell
- Literature in Hungarian
- Bíró Sándor: A "mátrai" lovagrend, Egy recski fogoly emlékezései. Dovin Kiadó, Budapest 1989, ISBN 9630268345 .
- Böszörményi Géza: Recsk, 1950–1953. Interart, Budapest 1990, ISBN 9630199785 .
- Erdey Sándor: A recski tábor rabjai. Püski, Budapest 2002 (8th kiadás), ISBN 9639337765 .
- Faludy György : Pokolbéli víg napjaim. önéletrajz, Magyar Világ Kiadó, Budapest 1989, ISBN 9637815007 .
- Györgyey Ferenc Aladár: Lágerhumor. Interart, Budapest 1990, ISBN 9638035137 .
- Nyeste Zoltán: Recsk: emberek az embertelenségben. Sorozat: Tanúk - korunkról 4., Magyar Öregdiák Szövetség és Bessenyei György Kör, New Brunswick 1982.
- Nyeste Zoltán: Recsk: emberek az embertelenségben. Püski, Budapest, 1989 (2nd kiadás), ISBN 9637845208 .
- Sághy Gyula: Recski rabok, a kövek árnyékában. Recski Kiadó, Budapest 2004, ISBN 9632164946 .
- Somossy Tamás: Egy család Recsk árnyékában. Életkarcolatok a múltból, szerzői kiadás, Budapest 1996, ISBN 9636509875 .
- Sztáray Zoltán: A recski kényszermunkatábor rabjai. Recski Szövetség, San Bernardino 1981.
- Literature in other languages
- Sztáray Zoltán: Souvenir du camp de concentration de Recsk. Saturne, Paris 1957.
- Sztáray Zoltán: Death camp at Recsk. United States Information Agency, Washington 1958.
- György Faludy: My Happy Days in Hell. Reissued 1985, ISBN 0002174618 ; 2003, ISBN 9632065840 .
- György Faludy: Bright days in hell. Rütten & Loening, 1964, OCLC 31501275 .
- Anton Rainprecht: The Recsk extermination camp in Hungary (1950–1953): A report. 1982, OCLC 75126479 .
- Movies
- Recsk 1950–1953 , documentary film; Directed by Géza Böszörményi and Lívia Gyarmathy, 86 minutes, 1988.
- Szökés , feature film; Director: Gyarmathy Lívia, book: Böszörményi Géza, 96 minutes, 1997.
Web links
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 47 ° 54 ′ 0 ″ N , 20 ° 5 ′ 28 ″ E