Ms. Bačka

Mrs. Bačka grew up in a big family; she had nine siblings. They grew up like animals, she said. The Hungarians oppressed them, they lived in poverty, and no one had respect for them. The local Roma had horses and cows that they took to the markets, but they lost everything during the war, and so did her family.

One winter, there were very sharp frosts, and they tied rags on their feet in place of boots. Her father went to the village to work for the peasants to feed the family and get something to eat. Then his hand froze, and he lost a finger. When the gendarmes came across the Roma, they caught them and shaved their heads. Her father argued with them about it, because it was shameful for a young girl or woman to have her hair shorn. But it was all to no avail; it did not help when he asked them to check the girls for lice first.

When Mrs. Bačka was fifteen years old, the Slovaks took her father to a camp.[1] It was far away, near the town of Zahony on the current Slovak-Hungarian-Ukrainian border, and he was then sent further beyond Uzhhorod. After a while, everyone was released.

Meanwhile, her mother, who had a heart condition, stayed home alone with all the children. At that time the Roma were taken away along with the Jewish inhabitants; Mrs. Bačka’s family, fearing for their lives, hid from the Germans in a large cellar in the village. They were helped by a Hungarian landowner, for whom they worked, and they were able to stay hidden overnight. Roma from her home village were also taken away.[2] One of the cousins never returned, nor did the customs officer Balog.[3]

[1] No further details.

[2] No further details.

[3] First name not given.

Her father was a musician and after the war he played for the Russians. Three months after the front had passed, Mrs. Bačka got married. There were Russian soldiers at the wedding because they had to invite them. They would have come anyway, she says, even without an invitation. But the Russians brought meat and other food and generally treated them well; they did not harm them.

She and her husband had five children. She tried to get the committee to return the property they had lost – two horses, two cows and a wagon. The Hungarians were given back their land and everything they had taken from them, she says, but they gave her nothing because she had no document to prove it.