Békéscsaba Ghetto

Members Boys and their families were imprisoned in the Békéscsaba Ghetto.

Békéscsaba Ghetto was one of a network of ghettos set up by Nazi Germany after it invaded in Hungary in March 1944.

The Boys were teenage and child-Holocaust survivors, who were brought to the UK after the war for rest and rehabilitation.

Located in southeastern Hungary, Békéscsaba is 178km southeast of Budapest and 58km north of Arad, Romania. Before 1944, it was home to moderately sized Jewish community before the war of around 1,500. To find out more about Békéscsaba and the Boys who grew up in the region click here.

After Germany invaded Hungary in March 1944.

Ghettoisation

On 11 May 1944, the Jews of Békés County were rounded up into two ghettos one of which was in Békéscsaba.

The ghetto consisted of eight two-storey buildings. About 4000 Jews were concentrated in the ghetto.

Those imprisoned in the ghetto suffered from hunger, lack of space and violent treatment by guards and police. Instead of toilets there were latrines ditches with a bar. Sometimes people lost their balance and fell into them.

Deportation

^{Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.}

On 26 June 1944, the Jews in the ghetto were transported to the Auschwitz II-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp and Strasshof in Austria. A smaller group was selected for forced labour in Austria and Germany.

Memorialisation

Today, the Jewish cemetery in Békéscsaba remains, and a Holocaust memorial plaque was erected in the city. To find out about visiting Békéscsaba click here.