Magyar Baráti Közösség

Történelmünk  :: Fragments of History III. - End of WW.II. ::

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Megjegyzés: Translated to English by Laszlo G. Fulop.

Escapees testify - Deposition #3.

"...I lived in Zsablya when Tito's guerrillas occupied the town. It was on October 25, around four in the afternoon when the guerrillas moved into town. Before long they arrested Peter Fekete, a Hungarian compatriot and hung him on a mulberry tree in front of the Town Hall..."

Excerpts from the book “Berkes and the Monk” (pp. 156-165) by Ferenc Fiala, Published as “Berkes és a szerzetes” in Munich (München), Germany, 1979

Recorded in Klagenfurt, Austria, on Augusztus 11, 1952 in the office of the MHBK

Present are the undersigned.

Istvan Mate, who escaped from Yugoslavia into Austria on June 19, 1952 with his wife and 8-year old little son, was born on December 12, 1911 in Zenta, a Roman Catholic, married, father of one child, was a restaurateur, and currently a farm worker. He lives in Untervellach bei Villach, Austria. In Yugoslavia he lived in Obecse. The depositor testifies:

In the October of 1944 I lived in Zsablya when Tito's guerrillas occupied the town. It was on October 25, around four in the afternoon when the guerrillas moved into town. Before long they arrested Peter Fekete, a Hungarian compatriot and hung him on a mulberry tree in front of the Town Hall. The corpse was left there for two days for the inhabitants to see. Peter Fekete was a farmer, father of seven children. He was hung because the guerrillas accused him of helping the Hungarian rangers and of cooperating with them. I was arrested on the same day around six o'clock, because I had a shop. After my arrest I was taken to the Town Hall and locked up in the town jail. I was the second one arrested. After this every day 20-30 persons, sometimes even fifty people were brought in by the guerrillas. I was locked up with them, so as an eyewitness, who saw and lived through the whole thing, I submit the following:

They began interrogating the arrested every day around 10-11 PM., which entailed the most tortures. I can tell you the following about the younger brother of the above mentioned Peter Fekete: after they interrogated, or rather tortured him, and tossed his half-dead body next to me, he told me that they pulled his testicles back with wires and beat them into shreds. I, too, helped loading the bodies onto carriages when they were taken to the cemetery. In the cemetery I had to dig graves, about 25 ft. long by 13 ft wide and 7 ft. deep. We had to take about 14 carriages of corpses, thus about 150 bodies were buried into such a mass grave. On the carriage I was ordered to lay on top of the dead, had I not obeyed I'd have been shot. Among the corpses there were young ones and old people, some were 13-14 year old students.

The executions were done with Tommy guns and the victims were undressed completely naked, even the women. Among the executed ones I knew Andras Magyar ranger, Vida Borcsok restauranteur, Andras Csipa a crippled war veteran, Bela Bukovary chief judge, Peter Kutri, Jozsef Borcsok and Janos Borcsok. These men all worked in the Town Hall, as judge, others as jurors. In Zsablya I know of four mass graves. I am willing to support my testimony by swearing to its truth, for I, too, was part of it as an arrested person. If necessary I could testify more.

Deposition was affirmed and signed after being read aloud. Dated as above.

Signature

Signature

Deposition notary