driving a wheelbarrow on the sidewalk. The same was the case with Ferenc Fejes, GergelyHorvath, Janos Keri and Antal Szabo, who joined the police department to support their families.They were of a gentle nature, who did not harm anyone.Some of the captives were not hurt, while others were terribly tortured. The Rev. Mihaly Wernerwhose genitals were lacerated with pliers day by day by immature Serbian youngsters.93Policeman Sandor Soros' skin was torn with the bead of a gun. He was skinned alive so that hecould not even walk and had to be carried to the execution on a stretcher. The captives wereinformed by some more humane Serbs that they were to be executed that night, as there hadarrived at the village a partisan commando to cover the executions. Mihaly Werner, titular Abbotgranted absolution to the men in extreme peril. Antal Lendvai confirmed atheist, would notaccept the absolution but abused the priest.Peter Safrany, a farmer who had formerly been mayor of the village, knew himself to beguiltless. Nevertheless, he took leave of his wife Klara Csonka. Harnessed their two horses.stashed food for a couple of weeks on the cart. and joined the line of fugitives on October 5. Hewas warned by his Serbian friends from Martonos. He returned from the Transdanubia at theend of April, when the foam of revenge had evaporated. No harm was done to the former mayorexcept for a few summons.The massacre of the Hungarians of Martonos originated with Zivojin Putnik, Mita Grubanov,Duric Beljin, Ljubomir Congradac, a butcher called Milo and others. It was carried out by DuskoPetric, Svetozar Bajic and his son Miles, Vlajko Kretin, Dragomir Kojic and a number of youngpeople. One of them had a heart attack, because of the dreadful sight of the execution. Some ofthe slaughtered were not killed immediately by the bullets, and tearfully begged their executorsto kill them and not to bury them alive. <strong>This</strong> massacre was evidently a war crime like the ones atAdorjan, Temerin, Mohol and Bezdan, although neither the originators nor the executors werecalled to account for the murders.Some irresponsible Serbian elements planned a large scale massacre at Martonos too, since theyconsidered the 24 dead to be insufficient. The male population was forced to go and work at theferry crossing on the Tisza, so that after completing a certain amount of work they could be shotinto the river.There were some Russian soldiers at the crossing also. Laskovicz, one of the Martonos residentswas ordered there. He had been a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union during World War I, andcame back with a good command of Russian. He started talking with the commanding officer ofthe Russians. The officer asked him why the Hungarians working in front of his eyes were sodownhearted and sad. The man said that his fellow workers believed, and not without anygrounds, that their guards planned to machine-gun them into the river as soon as the work wasfinished.At first, the Russian officer would not believe this explanation94for the sadness. Talking with armed Serbians later, he understood that the fear of the Hungarianswas not groundless. He then ordered the leader of the Serbians not to do any harm to the
Hungarians of Martonos. He obliged the Serbian nachalnik (commander) to report to himconcerning the safe arrival of the Hungarians to their homes or else he himself would be shot.Thus, the mass massacre did not happen at Martonos after the small scale butchery. <strong>This</strong>is the list of the 24 martyrs of Martonos:1. Ferenc Barany, farmer2. Ferenc Fejos, policeman3. Lajos Forro, butcher4. Janos Gruik, police sergeant5. Ferenc Hollo, joiner6. Gergely Horvath, policeman7. Miklos Horvath, agricultural worker8. Karoly Jozsa, tailor9. Janos Keri, policeman10. Istvan Koncz, agricultural worker11. Antal Lendvai, worker12. Gabor Nagy, village cashier13. Peter Ozsvar, worker14. Janos Puspok, farmer15. Kalman Safrany, policeman16. Janos Soros, village mayor17. Sandor Soros, policeman18. Antal Szabo, policeman19. Peter Szarapka, farmer20. Laszlo Takacs, basket-weaver21. Istvan Torok, farmer22. Janos Torok, fisherman23. Janos Varkulya, policeman24. Mihaly Werner, Titular AbbotZENTAAfter 1919, new rows of houses were built behind the outer row of houses and the cemetery.2000 Serbian settlers came to live here the "Dobrovoljacs" (in direct violation of the TrianonPeace Treaty, of 1920, which forbade the mass-transfer of population from other territories). By1941, many of them had learned Hungarian. In 1941, when the Hungarians marched in,95some of the Dobrovoljacs thought they would have to defend Yugoslavia in this part of the town.Fifty-two of them paid with their lives for their inopportune assessment of the situation (Serbiandata from 1946.)Nandor Burany, a Zenta born writer, gives the following account in his <strong>book</strong> "Collapse" of thedays and weeks when partisan units occupied the town in the wake of the Red Army:
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Library of Congress Catalogue Card
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Mutilation of the hands or feet wit
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they wanted to belong. On the annex
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individuals, then shooting them by
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the Russians and under their protec
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22PEOPLE OF BEZDAN1.On a May aftern
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26that those people all fell victim
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- Page 22 and 23: Jani was set free for he had been a
- Page 24 and 25: There were some people who, in spit
- Page 26 and 27: March 12, 1945. The relatives of th
- Page 28 and 29: Ferenc Csapo, 33 Mihaly Miovacs, 18
- Page 30 and 31: Having heard about the advance of t
- Page 32 and 33: "On November 3, I got up at five in
- Page 34 and 35: The vicar would come every night. H
- Page 36 and 37: hand. Raising it to his mouth, he d
- Page 38 and 39: "24th October, 1944. Yesterday was
- Page 40 and 41: "I have only one chance to be sacri
- Page 42 and 43: The data, which shows that on the s
- Page 44 and 45: all the captured Serbs, as neither
- Page 46 and 47: Before and during World War II, the
- Page 48 and 49: would order fire in an instant. Wit
- Page 50 and 51: Our house looked out over the main
- Page 52 and 53: He had just arrived home after thre
- Page 54 and 55: 28. Jozsef Pasztor, 34 56. Albert G
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- Page 58 and 59: 7917 year old Karoly and 8 year old
- Page 60 and 61: 82FROM SZENTFULOP TO THE GAKOVA CAM
- Page 62 and 63: My mother died on January 4, 1946.
- Page 64 and 65: Jozsi, the leader of our committee
- Page 66 and 67: his own grave, then machine gunned
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- Page 72 and 73: 15 Istvan Polyakovics, Zenta, 18861
- Page 74 and 75: idge was built (from several rows o
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- Page 78 and 79: The Catholics of the village were o
- Page 80 and 81: and their supporters. On one occasi
- Page 82 and 83: "My younger brother, Bandi, was tak
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- Page 86 and 87: In Tunderes (Vilova) there was no o
- Page 88 and 89: weeks spent starving, laying on str
- Page 90 and 91: 121PACSERAt Pacser sixteen Serbians
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- Page 112 and 113: The accused did not make use of his
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The People's Court of Budapest just
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From then on all hell breaks loose.
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Recommended readingeRudolf Kiszlion
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