Labour service

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Labour service (Hungarian: munkaszolgálat) were a form of Hungarian forced labor, labor battalions conscripted by the German-allied regime primarily from young Hungarian Jewish men at the onset of and during World War II. They were an outgrowth of pre-WWII units that were not based upon race or ethnicity. The Fascist, Nazi-allied Regime made these units into exclusively Jewish ones where the men were treated like cannon fodder and were generally very badly abused. Men who worked in mine quarries were frequently pushed off the man-made cliffs and embankments to their deaths. These units were stationed all over Hungary, including the Eastern Front in Ukraine -- where most of the men died or in Austria. The term "Nyilas" applies to the Gendarmes and Army men who guarded these slaves.

Initially this badly fed and poorly clothed unit was assigned to perform heavy construction work within Hungary. With the attack on Russia, most of these units were sent into Ukraine for additional forced labor work. Atrocities such as marching labour service units into mine fields to clear the area for advance, and the death by torture of prominent servicemen were attributed to some of the Fascist Hungarian troops. Some Munkaszolgálat units were entirely wiped out; others had as few as 5% of their members survive the war.

The famous poet Miklós Radnóti and writer Antal Szerb also died during labour service. Ordinary people such as Miklos Farkas born in Turcz in 1909, in the Northern Transylvanian county of Szatmar were among the few survivors of their units. This particular one was last based in Siegendorf, Austria, having previously been detailed to a stone quarry for most of the war where many of the men, al Jews, were intentionally pushed off the steep cliffs in these quarries to their deaths. At Siegendorf, as the war came to an end, the guns of the advancing Russian forces could be heard by the Nyilas (Hungarian Arrow Cross troops who "guarded these Jewish slaves") decided to march most of the men out of the camp. Miklos and a few of the men suspected this was an attempt to murder them before the Russians could free them. They scattered underneath the barracks while they heard their friends being marched away. They heard volleys of gunshots not too far away a short time later. Several hours later, in the night, they emerged from hiding and sneaked eastward towards the Hungarian-Austrian border where they met Russian forces. Most of these young men had typhus and had to be hospitalized for several weeks til they recovered, then took one-way train trips home. Miklos went home most of the way as a stowaway on top of a train car to the small city of Halmin, now called Halmeu in Northern Romania. Most of these men were never compensated by Hungary—certainly no survivors were ever compensated by the Austrians since they claim to be victims of the very conspiracy they joined—because the Hungarians claim there were no records to prove their service since they kept them and keep them under lock and key. Almost none of the Nyilas responsible for murdering so many Jewish men were ever convicted and sentenced to long prison terms. The few who were caught were given symbolic sentences, which explains why the Holocaust happened in the first place.

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