Hungarian Prisoners of War in the Caucasus

András Knuth

knuth.andras89@gmail.com   

In most cases we talk about Armenians, who left their country, but this time I will speak about Hungarians who forced to live here in this beautiful countryside. My subjects are the hundred thousands of people, who became prisoners during and after the Second World War.

During my investigation, I found Hungarian prisoners in three camps in the Caucasian region, at Yerevan, Grozny and near Ganja, but it is sure, that they worked in other locations as well. The majority didn’t speak Russian, even less chance for Armenian, Azeri or Georgian, that’s one of the reasons why they worked mostly in simple public works. The soviets had ruined the oil pipes when the Germans attacked in 1941, reopening them was a simple and suitable work for them. Another concrete example can be the building of the Opera House in Yerevan, where the Hungarian prisoners also took their part in the work. Renovating roads, bridges, railways and building new public facilities were typical jobs. About 2-3% of the prisoners were able to do their old professions in workshops. The complete number of Hungarians in the Caucasian camps couldn’t be more than a few hundreds. I have found an official file, in this, 92 Hungarian military officers were required for the camp at Yerevan in June 1945.[1]

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