‘Five-Day Labor.’ The Mass Deportations in the Autumn of 1944 in the Memory of the Former Székely Internees and Prisoners of War
‘Five-Day Labor.’ The Mass Deportations in the Autumn of 1944 in the Memory of the Former Székely Internees and Prisoners of War

Summary/Abstract: The experience of imprisonment at the end of World War II and during the subsequent period is still deeply etched in the survivors’ memory. Throughout the present paper, the author deals with specific issues related to the topic, focusing on the ordeal of some Hungarians from the Székelyland who took part in the operations and were taken prisoner by the Soviet and Romanian authorities both from the front and through centrally issued orders and instructions regarding those who had returned to civilian daily life. The author turns to several of the dozens of interviews with survivors that he has collected during the 1990s and the 2000s, but also to archival sources that reveal the details of how they were taken prisoners and their attachment to the homeland and the loved ones left behind. The paper approaches the topic from the bottom up, from the perspective of individuals affected by the war and its consequences.

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