Five of the Boys came from Nelipyno.
Nelipyno is also known as Harsfalva in Hungarian and Nelipino in Czech.
Nelipyno is a village is western Ukraine, near the border with Hungary and Slovakia. It is situated about 27 kilometres east of Mukachevo, on the banks of the Latorica river. Other nearby towns home to many of the Boys include Uzhhorod, Berehove, Irshava and Taychiv.
Until the end of World War I, Nelipyno belonged to the Austro-Hungarian empire. During the period between the two World Wars it was part of Czechoslovakia. In the course of World War II it was occupied by Hungary. At the end of the war it became part of the Ukrainian republic of U.S.S.R.
PRE-WAR NELIPYNO
Jews probably settled in Nelipyno in the first half of the 18th century. In 1830, the Jewish population was nine. By 1880, the Jewish population was 209, of a total population of 795. In 1921, under Czechoslovakian rule, the Jewish population rose to 496. Jewish families in Nelipyno earned a living from commerce and agriculture.
By 1941, the Jewish population had reached 672, out of a total population of 2,765.
OCCUPATION
In 1938, Nelipyno and the surrounding area were annexed by Hungary with these territories formally incorporated into Hungary in 1939. The town became known as Harsfalva in Hungarian.
With the Hungarian occupation of Harsfalva, Jews were pushed out of their occupations and were subjected to discrimination and antisemitic attacks. Men were sent into forced labour battalions and drafted for service on the Eastern front, where most died.
In August, 1941, those who could not produce Hungarian citizenship were expelled to Nazi occupied Ukrainian territory, and murdered there.
DEPORTATION
The Nazis occupied Hungary in March 1944 and installed a puppet government. That government participated in the Holocaust.
In April 1944, the Jews in Munkacs and surrounding villages including Harsfalva were rounded up and placed in a ghetto. In May 1944, they were deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in occupied Poland. When the trains arrived in Birkenau a selection was made on the ramp. It offered healthy young men and women a chance of survival as they were often selected for slave labour.
An estimated 85% of the Jews of Subcarpathian Ruthenia perished in the Holocaust. The fact that the Subcarpathian Jews arrived six months before the camp was liberated in January 1945, greatly increased their chance of survival.
LIBERATION
After the Second World War, the Carpathians were annexed to the Soviet Union in 1945. Harsfalva became part of the USSR and was renamed Nelipyno. Many Jews felt there was no future for them under Stalinism and either did not return to their homes or decided to flee westwards.
Many of the Jews from Nelipyno were murdered in Auschwitz. A few survivors returned but they eventually settled elsewhere.
PRESENT-DAY NELIPYNO
In 2001, Nelipyno had about 3,554 inhabitants and no Jews live there today.