Debrecen Ghetto

Members of the Boys were imprisoned in the Debrecen Ghetto.

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

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

Debrecen is the third largest city in Hungary, located near the Romanian border. To find out more about the Boys who lived in Debrecen and its surrounding area click here.

Overview

The German army entered Debrecen on 20 March 1944. Persecution of the Jews immediately intensified.

^{Sultan Jacob, pictured in England in 1945, was held in the ghetto.}

On 28 April the order was given to set up a ghetto. The Ghetto was situated in the western side of the city. It was divided in two by Hatvan street. The Jews were forced to build a 2.7m high wall around the ghetto, which was complete on 15 May 1944. Rooms contained at least one family.

The ghetto was guarded by local Hungarian police.

Deportation

On 21 June 1944, the ghetto was moved to the nearby Serly brickyards. Jews from the surrounding communities of Balmazujvaros, Hajduboszormeny, Hajdudorog, Hajduhadhaz, Hajdunanas, Hajdusamson, Hajduszoboszlo, Teglas, and Vamospercs were also brought to the brickyards, which now held 13,084 Jewish men, women and children.

The first two trains deported Jews to Sasshof in Austria where they were put to work in agricultural enterprises. The rest of the Jews were taken by freight trains to Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Although one train passed through Bratislava on the way to the Theresienstadt Ghetto.

Ten families were saved and taken to Switzerland on Kastner rescue train, that left Budapest on 30 June 1944.