Sighetu Marmației Ghetto

Members of the Boys were imprisoned in the Sighetu Marmației Ghetto.

The Sighetu Marmației 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. Sighetu Marmației was in Northern Transylvania, which had been annexed by Hungary under the 1940 Second Vienna Award.

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

^{Memorial and Museum Auschwitz Birkenau, Poland.}

Overview

A ghetto was set up in Sighetu Marmației in April 1944. One part was located near the town centre and the other was on the opposite bank of the river Tisza, which is now Solotvyno in Ukraine. To find out more about the Maramures region and the Boys who grew up there click here.

10,000 Jews from Sighetu Marmației and the surrounding villages were held in the town centre and 3,000 Jews across the river Tisza from Berbeşti and Dragomireşti.

The Roundup

As the Jews were violently rounded up their homes were searched. There were often strip and internal body searches as valuables were confiscated. Any baggage weighing more than 50kg was forbidden, and only food, clothing and bedding were allowed.

Daily Life

Ivor Wieder was held in the ghetto.

Conditions in the ghetto were appalling and there was serious overcrowding. People lived 15-20 in a room. Many had to live in cellars, attics, stables and sheds. Among those held in ghetto was the future Nobel Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel.

The head of the ghetto was the Sighetu Marmației chief of police and it was guarded by the local police.

Deportation

The deportations took place between 15-21 May 1944.

Four trains are recorded as having passed through the station in Košice in Slovakia carrying 12,849 people in total. The were bound for Auschwitz II-Birkenau extermination and concentration camp over 630km away. Between 70-100 people were crammed into the freight wagons which were sealed and locked with chains. Hundreds died during the journey. Most of the Jews were gassed on arrival after a selection in which the members of the Boys were selected as slave labourers.