Hungary A New Grouping

[hunyadi]

Was out yesterday at the local big flea market with a fellow (new) forum member showing him the sites for all the best militaria. Ran across a few documents at a table and started looking. Got excited as they were all to one husband / wife. Then looking at the cased medals on the table I realised that the medals and the documents were the same ones. Then I asked the nice lady if they were all from the same people. 'Yes' was the answer 'would you like to see more?'. Of course - then she produces a pile of papers, documents, passports, party books, etc...'Do you want them all?' 'YES!'. We bargained for a price that was acceptable for the both of us and I bought the whole lot - as a jesture she even threw in the suticase! When I got it home I started going through it all putting the documents (not seen in the photo) into protective sleeves. They are about 2" thick! Just a rough look throguh and the paperwork and documents cover the grandparents, the parents and the children. Best of all the wife wrote three memiors from the 1970's to the 1980's giving a fairly detalied account of what she did and to my surprise all of the awards that she was given (Order of Labor, Gold, Silver and Bronze. Order of Merit of the HUPR in Silver in 1951 and tons more!) She was also active in the communist party when it was illegal in 1937. It was there in 1937 that she met her second husband - the first marriage only lasted a year in 1955 and she married the other man in 1957. Interstingly enough it looks like the second husband was a POW and got back to Hungary in the early 1950's. (so he may not have been a good coummunist - or he was doing something in Mother Russia during those years.) Also of interest are some documents to another individual (perhaps brother?) that were from the Budapest Politcial Police and dealing with Jewish activity during the war - the documents are from 1946 (this was the forerunner to the Hungarian Secret State Police - AVO/AVH) All in all - its an amazing grouping that starts at the turn of the 20th century and ends at the fall of Hungarian Communism. Will try to add more when I do furhter research.

[Guest Rick Research]

Any photos? I wonder if you just bought them from the grandchildren themselves?

An untouched suitcase of multiple generations... intact....

a 21st century King Tut's Tomb! Congratulations!!!!!

[hunyadi]

Thanks Rick! Sitaution was more a - they died and a family member knew that this particular person sold stuff like these 'old documents' at the flea market.

There are several photos of the second husband and photos of the wife, her father and mother, passport photos, photos of the kids, etc... no family photo album though

But like you say its a 21st century King Tut's Tomb. And like the old Tomb - it tells a big story about life during that time.

[Ed_Haynes]

Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!!!

Ain't phaleristic archaeology fun!

[ccj]

Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow!!!

Ain't phaleristic archaeology fun!

Wow, show us what's inside

[Ulsterman]

WOW!!!!

Show us more! Even better-proof positive of specific awards with specific dates!

Any Kivalo badges?

[hunyadi]

It will take some time to catalogue it all - it took all weekend just to sort out all the awards and the documents and put them in chronological order. As for Kivalo awards there are about 12. They have a combination of hanging star and the indiustry badges. The sad part is that I am in meetings all week long so I wont have any time to do much with it. But next week I may have some time to get more shots of it.

[Herr General]

What a great find!

[buellmeister]

Hunyadi,

A great Find and you certainly never know what you'll find at Flea Markets.

Regards,

Joel

[Hauptmann]

Hi Charles,

Need I say more!

Congratulations my friend!!!!

Dan

[Ulsterman]

...so, what ever happened to this treasure trove? I found this going through the old threads and was just wondering...

[Paul R]

...so, what ever happened to this treasure trove? I found this going through the old threads and was just wondering...

I am interested in seeing more!!!

[hunyadi]

I started photographing this, but I had to get back to the USA for a month - since then sadly I have been sheepishly looking at the suitcase realising that it will take even more time to get it all photogrpahed... Here are the ones that I do have photos of right now - its only the surface....

[hunyadi]

Another

[hunyadi]

more

[hunyadi]

and more

[hunyadi]

and more.....

[hunyadi]

Sadly - this is only the tip of the iceberg - Order of Labors, documents, photos, passports, etc...

[Ulsterman]

More, more!!

[Ed_Haynes]

Wow! What a fascinating exercise in phaleristic archaeology!!

[hunyadi]

Sometimes you find treaures within the treasures. Unfortunatly I wont have the ability to show all of the items for some time. But I met with my translator today and I pulled out some documets from the lot of Kovacs Imre who as far as I can find is the uncle of the woman whose lot this mainly is.

What we translated today is almost a movie in the making...

Kovacs Imre was born in 1904 and was a bank clerk for most of his life. During the war he was a commander in the Air Force and during 1944 was living in Budapest. The fisrt document that we translated was a 'copy' of his aquital of 'war crimes'...my interest was peaked!

[hunyadi]

The previous document did not give any specifics, but instead was a document that he could keep should anyone wish to 'prosecute' him for his actions during the war. As you can see the document was 'officiated' on September 12th 1947. What came next was the details of the trial! The process began in August 10th, 1945. From the accounts of others who were prosecuted for war crimes, I can only imagine what the man went through at the hands of the State Security Forces.

From the doucments the story unfolds...

On November 14th, 1944 one of the Arrow Cross squads that was going around and rounding up the Jews in city appeared at Honved Utca 18 where Kovacs Imre lived. The Arrow Cross were lokoing for a Jewish man who had defected from his labor unit (those of the jewish faith who were in the miltiary or who were called up went into labor battalions - basicaly pioneer / engineering units who built bridges, made trenches, etc...) When they found the man he promptly jumped out the window of the 6th floor to his death. The Arrow Cross were apparently outraged and sought to remove all of the jews from the appartmetn building. Imre refused them to take away anyone making claims to the men that all of the jews in the building had the proper documentation that exempted them from deportation. He even locked the main gait of the building to prevent their entry. For these actions the court in 1945 could only praise Kovacs Imre.

Enraged that the older Air Force commander hed refused to allow blood for the pogrom, the Arrow Cross men returedn at a later time. This time they rouned up everyone but there was an elderly man by the name of Szommer Miklos who remained hiding in the building. As Kovacs was being taken into the courtyard with the others in the building he started calling out for Miklos who apparently could retreive some of the documents for some of the jews and thereby prevent them from being deported. But Miklos was hiding because he was old and ill with diabeties. Due to his calling for the man the Arrow Cross found him and took him away regardless. The man died two days later of a diabetic coma. Kovacs maintained in his defense that Miklos could have come out on his own will and delived the paperwork and there would have been ample opportunity for him to have slipped away during the confusion fo the monent.

Later the Arrow Cross then went to look for the Jewish women. Many of the women had documents that exempted them from deportations as their husbands were in the military and working in the labor units. Apparently Kovacs was in charge of these womens documents but he did not give some of them to the Arrow Cross men as he claimed to the men that the papers had expired as their husbands had been removed from the military already and therefore the papers were invalid. However the documents had not expired. Because of the play on words three women were taken away. Only one returned and the other two disapeared. The only thing that exhonorated Kovacs was that the woman who survived gave testimony that she had two previous chances to escape but she had not taken them.

The final part of the document claims that even though Kovacs did not actualy kill these men and women by his own hands, his refusal to help in hiding the men and women from the pogrom made him just as guilty as their executioners.

From the documents it looks like he was not exhonerated of the charges for another two years. In a short biography that he later worte about himself (which he omits any role in the armed forces!) the whole court proceedings ahd occured because people in his building did not like him. As a result of the trial he was also denied a promotion at work for five years.

Page 1

[hunyadi]

page 2 of the court proceedings

[hunyadi]

last page - not in the best of shape

[Guest Rick Research]

Here is such an exemption.

Erzsebet Mayer was born in Zagreb 15 July 1900, making her an "enemy alien" as well as Jewish. Her Jewish husband, Dr.med. Simon Mihaly Balkanyi, had been a medical officer in the Hungarian reserves in WW1, decorated twice. More to the point, when this was filled out 3 October 1944, Dr. Balkanyi was also the obstetrician caring for the wife of the young fascist War Minister.