Camp Balf

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On the cemetery wall in front of the church is the memorial for the Jewish forced laborers from Budapest.

Camp Balf (German: Wolfs ) was the location of the largest camp in the Sopron district (western Hungary on the border with Austria ), which was used from November 1944 to March 31, 1945 to accommodate forced laborers and around 30,000 Jews from Budapest .

memorial

Memorial for the murdered Jewish slave laborers in Balf

The memorial for the camp is in front of the church and the cemetery in Balf , which can be found above Dorfstraße. The monument group in honor of the martyrs who fell victim to the fascists in the camp in 1944/45 was created in 2008 according to plans by the sculptor László Kutas and the architect Barna Winkler.

history

In 1944 the village was occupied by German troops. Gestapo , NSDAP and the SS supply point moved into the town's buildings. Farmers had to provide barns and stables for the billeting of the "labor service agents". To build the south-east wall , the forced laborers had to carry out fortification work on the surrounding heights, on the lake and in the forest. For details on the history of the Jews in Hungary, see The Holocaust in Budapest. Inhuman treatment, poor hygiene and deprivation left hundreds of them to die. The poets Antal Szerb and György Sárközi as well as the essayist Gábor Halász died here.

After the war, a simple memorial was created. His inscription: “Within the sight of this monument, more than 2000 of our Jewish fellow believers fell victim to the madness from 1944 to 1945. More than 100 martyrs rest here. "

Memorial for the murdered Jewish slave laborers in Balf.
Quote from Antal Szerb:
"Freedom is not only the private affair of a nation, but also that of the whole of humanity."

A bronze relief by János Fodor depicted the labor service workers' march from 1968 onwards. The relief fell victim to metal thieves. That is why the current monument was created in 2008.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Map “Eisenstadt-Sopron Memorial Sites”.

Web links

  • Camp Balf et al on the private website of the Tenhumberg family.