Eight of the Boys were from Bedzin, a town in Zaglebie Dabrowskie, in southern Poland. Two more Honorary Boys joined the group in London. It is one of the oldest towns in the province and today has a population of around 56,000. Its neighbouring towns include the former mining city of Katowice and industrial Sosnowiec.

PRE-WAR BEDZIN

Until World War II, Bedzin had a vibrant Jewish community. In 1938, the town’s Jewish population numbered around 22,500.

The town became the centre of Jewish and Polish socialist activity and during the 1905 Russian Revolution, when it was part of the Russian empire, it was a base for Jewish workers parties such as the Bund and Po'alei Zion.

After World War I, Bedzin Jews worked in iron-ore mining and metallurgy, as well as metal production. Most Jews earned their livelihoods as merchants and craftsmen. They also owned chemical works and factories making paints, candles, and buttons.

LIFE IN THE GHETTO

On 5 September 1939, the German Army entered Bedzin. The SS burned down the Great Synagogue, murdering 200 Jews inside, and surrounding Jewish homes went up in flames. Those trying to escape were burned alive or shot.

In early 1940, a ghetto was established in the town, housing 30,000 Jews. However, as Jews were frequently used as forced labour, Germans did not establish a fully closed-off ghetto immediately.

Several thousand Jews from the district were expelled from their homes and sought refuge in the Bedzin ghetto, including the Jews from Oswiecim (Auschwitz in German), who arrived in April–May 1941, before the construction of the Auschwitz- Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. This brought the town’s Jewish population to 27,000.

DEPORTATION

In May and June 1942, the first deportations took place. In August 1942, about 8,000–10,000 Jews were sent to Auschwitz. In May 1943, the ghetto was officially closed off and in summer 1943, the final deportations took place. In total, about 30,000 Jews were sent to Auschwitz from Bedzin.

The Jewish underground resistance in Bedzin became active at the beginning of 1940. In August 1943, during the last deportation, Jewish resistance fighters staged an armed revolt that lasted several days. One of the leaders killed in the uprising was leading female Jewish partisan, Frumka Plotnicka, who had earlier been a fighter in the Warsaw ghetto uprising. All the resistance fighters were killed in the action.

In the summer of 1943, most of the Jews in Bedzin were deported to Auschwitz. The Bedzin ghetto was liquidated by 8 August 1943. Only a small group of Jews were kept behind, forced to clean up, sort through abandoned property and search for hiding Jews. The last inhabitants remained in the ghetto until January 1944, when about 1,000 people were taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Since Bedzin was one of the last Polish communities to be liquidated, there are a relatively large number of survivors from there, and an extensive collection of personal photographs survives.

LIBERATION

In January 1945, Bedzin was taken over by Soviet troops. Jews began to come back to the area, some intending to return to their homes.

More than 1,000 Bedzin Jews survived the war, some by hiding, given help by local Poles.

In 1946, the Jewish population of Bedzin numbered 150 people. Although some Jewish survivors resettled after the war, all of them left after some time for Palestine or the West. By the 1970s, there was little to no Jewish life remaining.

Five of the Boys came from the town, which is known as Velky Bockov in Czech, Nagybocsko in Hungarian, Bocicoiu Mare in Romanian and Bitshkof in Yiddish.

Velykyi Boychik is a village in the Zakarpattia Oblast region in south-western Ukraine, very close to the border with Romania. It is about 11 kilometres from Solotvyno and about 38 kilometres from Tyachiv. Other towns in the region of the Carpathian Mountains, home to members of the Boys, include Mukachevo, Uzhorod, Berehove, Vynohradiv, and Svaljus.

Until the end of World War I, Velky Bockov belonged to the Austro-Hungarian empire. During the period between the two World Wars it was part of Czechoslovakia. During 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 VELKY BOCKOV

Jews probably settled in Velky Bockov in the first half of the 18th century.

Two families were present in 1728, after which there was no record of Jews for over a century. This was probably due to the death of the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Josef II in 1790. He had granted certain privileges and freedom of worship to the Jews through his "edict of tolerance", issued in 1782. After his death, however, there were attempts to banish Jews from the region. There was no record of Jews in Velky Bockov until the mid-19th century.

In 1880, the Jewish population was 520, out of a total population of 3,605. By 1921, during the Czechoslovakian period, the Jewish population rose to 1,092.

Jewish families earned their livelihood mainly through trade and crafts. A number of Jews were professionals and government officials. The Zionist youth organizations were active and had branches in Velky Bockov

In 1941, the Jewish population was 1,708.

OCCUPATION

Following the Munich Agreement in 1938, Czechoslovakia was divided up, and in March 1939, Velky Bockov and the surrounding area were annexed by Hungary. Velky Bockov was now known by it Hungarian name of Nagybocskó.

The Hungarians were pro-German, and imposed laws restricting Jewish access to education, trade, and the professions. Many Jews were persecuted and pushed out of their occupations. Jewish businesses were taken over by Hungarians but many remained closed.

In 1940, dozens of Jews from Nagybocsko were drafted into Hungarian Labour Battalions for forced labour or service on the eastern front, where many died.

In the summer of 1941, the Hungarian authorities identified as “alien” more than 100 Nagybocsko Jewish families unable to prove Hungarian citizenship, mainly the poorest ones, and deported them to Kamenets-Podolski in German occupied Ukraine, where they were murdered in August 1941

DEPORTATION

In March 1944, the Nazis occupied Hungary and installed a puppet government.

At the beginning of April of that year all the Jews in Hungary were ordered to wear the yellow badge on their clothes. In the same month, Jews from Nagybocsko were forced into the local synagogue, where they were kept for three days before being taken to the Mátészalka ghetto in present-day Hungary. They were deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in occupied Poland in late May, 1944.

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

In the autumn of 1944, the Soviet Red Army entered Nagybocsko and liberated it from the Germans.

In 1945, after the Second World War, the Carpathians were annexed by the Soviet Union. Nagybocsko became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and was from then onwards known as Velykyi Bychkiv in Ukrainian.

The majority of the Jews from Velykyi Bychkiv were murdered in Auschwitz and most survivors settled elsewhere. A small Jewish community existed here until 1950.

PRESENT-DAY VELYKYI BYCHKIV

In 2016, Velykyi Bychkiv had about 9,300 inhabitants. No Jews live here today.

Six of the Boys came from Veľka Sevljus.

There are several alternative names used for this city: Nagyszolos in Hungarian, Sevlus in Czech, Seleusu Mare in Romanian, Vinogradov in Russian, Seylesh or Selish in Yiddish, Vinohradov in Slovak and Veľka Sevljus during Czechoslovak rule.

Veľka Sevljus is situated in the region known historically as Subcarpathian Ruthenia, now south-western Ukraine. It is 19 kilometres west of Khust and 29 kilometres east of Berehove, near the borders of Romania and Hungary. Other nearby towns home to many of the Boys include Mukachevo, Uzhorod, Svaljus and Tacovo.

Until the end of World War I, Veľka Sevljus 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 VEL’KA SEVLJUS

The first Jews probably settled in Veľka Sevljus in the first half of the 18th century. In 1768, two Jewish families were living there.

Under the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Kaiser Josef II, the Jews specialised in the production and export of wine.  His "edict of tolerance", issued in 1782 granted certain privileges and freedom of worship to the Jews. After his death, there were attempts to banish Jews from the cities, however a Jewish community remained in Sevljus.

In 1880, the population of Sevljus amounted to 4,400, of which five hundred of the residents were native Romanians. By 1877, out of a population of 1,191, there were 193 Jews, or 16% of the total population.

By 1910, the population had grown to 7,811, of which the majority of the inhabitants were Hungarians.

A yeshiva with dozens of students was opened in the mid-19th century and the stone built Great Synagogue was erected in 1904. A Hebrew school with 150 children was also established in 1922. Some continued their studies at the Hebrew Gymnasium in Munkacs.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a substantial improvement in the economic situation of the town's Jews.  In Veľka Sevljus, most of the city's trade was in Jewish hands. Jews also owned banks, flour mills, distilleries, a canning factory and a number of farms. There were also Jewish doctors, veterinarians, lawyers and engineers. A few were administrative officials.

Many Jewish refugees arrived from Galicia during WWI, including Hasidim with their leaders.  During the interwar period of the Czechoslovakian Republic, the Zionists were very active in Sevljuš and in 1921 the Jewish National Party won 11 of the 36 seats in the municipal council.

The Maccabi sports club had a branch in Sevljus, and there were active branches of many youth movements in the city, who sent their members to training farms and factories as a preparation for emigration to Palestine. Many emigrated there from 1930-1939.

The Jewish population of Sevljus grew significantly after the First World War, reaching 2,913 in 1921 and 4,262, out of a total of 13,331, or 32%, in 1941.

OCCUPATION

Following the Munich Agreement in 1938, Czechoslovakia was divided up and Veľka Sevljus and in March 1939, the surrounding area were annexed by Hungary. The town was now known by its Hungarian name, Nagyszollos.

The Hungarians were pro-German, and imposed laws restricting Jewish access to education, trade, and the professions. Many Jews were persecuted and pushed out of their occupations. Jewish businesses were taken over by Hungarians but many remained closed.

In 1940, hundreds of Jews were drafted into Hungarian Labour Battalions for forced labour or service on the eastern front, where many died.  In August 1941, dozens of Jewish families without Hungarian citizenship were expelled to Kamenets-Podolski in Nazi occupied Ukraine, where some were murdered.

DEPORTATION

In March 1944, the Nazis occupied Hungary and installed a puppet government. At the beginning of April of that year all the Jews in Hungary were ordered to wear the yellow badge on their clothes.

In April 1944, on the last day of Passover, 12,000 Jews from Nagyszollos and the surrounding districts of Ugocsa and Halmi were rounded up and forced to move into the Nagyszollos ghetto. Wealthier Jews were taken to the synagogue where they were tortured to disclose where they had hidden their valuables.

Conditions in the ghetto were extremely cramped with many families living together in the same room, causing suffering and disease.

Between 20 May and 3 June 1944, the Jews in the Nagyszollos ghetto were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in occupied Poland in three transports. Moshe Gutman, the community leader, was offered a chance to escape to Budapest, but refused, choosing instead to stay with his community.

After the deportations, a local underground group was uncovered by the Germans. Its members were arrested and executed by firing squad on June 17, 1944.

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

In the autumn of 1944, the Soviet Red Army entered Nagyszollos and liberated the town.

After the Second World War, the Carpathians were annexed to the Soviet Union in 1945. Nagyszollos became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and was renamed Vynohradiv.

A great number of the Jews of Vynohradiv were murdered in the Holocaust. Most of the surviving Jews who returned to the town after the war soon left, as it was not possible to practice religious observance under Stalinism and Zionist politics could lead to arrest. As a result, most chose to leave the Carpathians.

Some emigrated to the United States, to different countries in Europe and some to Australia. About 400 Jews emigrated to Israel, some illegally during the period of the British mandate.

PRESENT-DAY VYNOHRADIV

 Today, Vynohradiv is an industrial city with a population of over 25,000.

One of the synagogues has been restored and it is possible to visit the Jewish cemetery, but little more remains of the vibrant pre-war Jewish community.

Nine of the Boys came from Tacovo, known as Tetsh in Jewish sources, Tecso in Hungarian, Tyachiv in Rumanian and Tacovo in Czech.

Tyachiv is situated in the region known before the war as Subcarpathian Ruthenia, near the border with Romania. Other towns in the region home to many of the Boys include Mukachevo, Uzhorod, Svaljus, Irshava, Berehove, Khust and Vynohradiv.

Until the end of World War I, Tacovo belonged to the Austro-Hungarian empire. During the period between the two World Wars it was part of Czechoslovakia. During World War II, it was occupied by Hungary. At the end of the war it became part of the Ukrainian republic of the USSR.

PRE-WAR TACOVO

Jews have lived in the town since at least the 17^th century. For a period, they were expelled from the region, until 1840 when the limitation on Jewish settlement in Hungary was revoked. The Jews of the region were among the poorest in Europe, many living in rural areas and working in agriculture.

Tacovo has always been an Orthodox community. In the 1870s a Jewish cemetery was consecrated and in 1880 there were 321 Jews. In 1895 the synagogue and next to it a prayer house were consecrated, as well as a yeshiva.

Until the beginning of World War I, the community steadily developed; in 1910 it numbered 839 Jews. During the war, many Jewish youths were conscripted into the army and a number of them fell in battle.

After the war, when Subcarpathian 'Rus was included in the new Czechoslovak republic, Jews from Moravia and Bohemia settled in the region. In the 1930 census, 1,431 (94%) of 1,525 Tacovo’s Jews declared themselves as Jews by religion as well as by nationality and 6% by religion only.

In 1941, there were 2,150 Jews in Tacovo.

OCCUPATION

Following the Munich Agreement in 1938, Czechoslovakia was divided up and Tacovo and the surrounding area were annexed by Hungary, being formally incorporated into Hungary in 1939. The town became known as Tecso in Hungarian.

The Nazis occupied Hungary in March 1944 and installed a puppet government. That government participated in the Holocaust.

Jewish people in Tecso were subjected to discrimination during the Hungarian occupation. Incidents of verbal and physical antisemitism became an everyday occurrence. Those who could not produce Hungarian citizenship were expelled, and in July 1941 about ten Jewish families were deported to Kamenets Podolski in Poland, where they were murdered by German and Hungarian troops.

Others were conscripted into work battalions of the Hungarian army. Most of them perished on the eastern front.

DEPORTATION

In March 1944, the Nazis invaded Hungary and occupied the Subcarpathian 'Rus, taking over control of Tecso from the Hungarians. In April, the Jews were forced to wear a yellow star and they were gradually divested of their possessions.

In May 1944, most of the Jews of the district were assembled in the ghetto of Mateszalka in what is now Hungary. About 5,000 Jews from Tecso and neighbouring villages were crammed into the ghetto with no chance of escape.

On May 24, 1944 the first group from the ghetto was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in occupied Poland. On May 28, an additional 2,208 Jews were sent there, and most of them were murdered.

An estimated 85% of the Jews of Subcarpathian Ruthenia perished in the Holocaust. However, the fact that the Subcarpathian Jews arrived six months before the camp was liberated in January 1945, greatly increased their chance of survival.

LIBERATION

Tecso was liberated in the autumn of 1944 by the Red Army. Immediately, Jews who had been in hiding returned to the town, as well as survivors from the eastern front and from the camps. About 20 families returned.

In 1945, Tecso became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union and became known as Tyachiv. However, the Soviet regime made Jewish community life impossible. Many Jews felt there was no future for them under Stalinism and most of the community left, migrating mainly to Israel and the Americas.

PRESENT-DAY TYACHIV

The synagogue building was turned into a sports club; the Talmud torah building served as the office of the government co-operative and the mikveh became a bath-house. The remaining members of the community prayed in a private home.

During the early 1970s, most of Tyachiv’s remaining Jews left for Israel. In the 1980s, the cemetery was renovated. At this time there were still six people of Jewish origin in the town.

At the beginning of the 1990s, there were two Jewish families living in Tyachiv.

Today, the town’s population is around 9,000.

Eight of the Boys came from Svalyava, a town in the Carpathian Mountains, now in western Ukraine.

Svalyava is located on the Latorica river, about 25 kilometres north-east of Mukachevo, in the region known historically as Subcarpathian Ruthenia. Other nearby towns home to members of the Boys include Uzhorod, Khust, Vynohradiv, Irshava, Berehove, and Tacovo.

It is known as Svalyava in Ukranian and Russian, Szolyva in Hungarian, Svalyeve in Yiddish and Svalova in Romanian.

Until the end of World War I, Svalyava 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 USSR.

PRE-WAR SVALYAVA

Jews probably settled in Svalyava in the first half of the 18th century. In 1830, the Jewish population was 45. By 1880, the Jewish population was 319, out of a total population of 1,664.

The Jews of the Subcarpathian region were among the poorest in Europe, many living in rural areas and working in agriculture. Jewish families earned their livelihoods from trade and crafts. They worked mainly as traders and craftsmen, particularly as carpenters, blacksmiths, tailors, cobblers, glazers, tinsmiths, brush makers and painters.

At the beginning of the 20th century, two sawmills were built in order to establish a local furniture industry, as well as a chemical factory for wood, alcohol, acetone, and glue, employing Jewish workers. In 1921, during the Czechoslovakian period, the Jewish population of Svalyava rose to 1,099.

By 1941, the Jewish population rose to 1,423, out of a total population of 8,400.

OCCUPATION

Following the Munich Agreement in 1938, Czechoslovakia was divided up and Svalyava and the surrounding area were annexed by Hungary, before being formally incorporated into Hungary in 1939. The town became known as Szolyva in Hungarian.

The Hungarian government was pro-German, and the Jews of Szolyva were subjected to discrimination under the Hungarian occupation. Many Jews were persecuted and pushed out of their occupations.

In 1940, 150 Jews from Szolyva were drafted into forced labour battalions and others were drafted for service on the eastern front, where most died.

In August, 1941, a number of Jewish families, who could not prove their Hungarian citizenship, were expelled to Kamenets-Podolski in Nazi occupied Ukrainian territory, where they were murdered.

DEPORTATION

The Nazis occupied Hungary in March 1944 and installed a puppet government. That government participated in the Holocaust.

In April 1944, the Jews of Szolyva were gathered in the synagogue; from there they were taken to the brick factory outside Mukachevo with Jews from surrounding localities.

On 22 May 1944, the ghetto was emptied and all its inhabitants, including over 1,000 Jews from Szolyva, were deported to 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.

The fact that the Subcarpathian Jews arrived six months before the camp was liberated in January 1945, greatly increased their chance of survival.

An estimated 85% of the Jews of Subcarpathian Ruthenia perished in the Holocaust.

LIBERATION

After the Second World War, Szolyva became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, and became known as Svaljus. Many Jews felt there was no future for them under Stalinism and either did not return to their homes or decided to flee westwards.

Most of the Jews from Svaljus were murdered in Auschwitz and a few survivors returned, but eventually settled elsewhere. The few survivors who returned to Svaljus after the war attempted to revive the Jewish community, but Jewish life became impossible under the communist regime then in power in Ukraine.

The synagogue building was turned into a bakery, and the study hall was used to store grain, and to house offices. The mikveh (ritual bath) was converted into a public bath.

PRESENT-DAY SVALJUS

In 2001, Svaljus had about 17,909 inhabitants. No Jews live there today.

Six of the Boys came from Slatinske-Doly, as it is known in Czech and Slovak. It is called Aknaszlatina in Hungarian and Solotvina in Russian.

Solotvyno is a village in the Zakarpattia Oblast region in south-western Ukraine, very close to the border with Romania. The village's Ukranian name, Solotvyno, comes from its salt-mining heritage, and refers to the nearby salt mine (sol in Russian meaning salt).

It is south-east of Khust, and is the final stop of the Ukrainian section of the railway, which runs from Lviv to Transcarpathia. Other towns in the region, home to members of the Boys include Mukachevo, Uzhorod, Berehove, Vynohradiv, Velki Bockov, Svaljus and Tacovo.

Until the end of World War I, Slatinske-Doly belonged to the Austro-Hungarian empire. During the period between the two World Wars it was part of Czechoslovakia. During 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 SLATINSKE-DOLY

Jews probably settled in Slatinske-Doly in the first half of the 18th century.

An organized Jewish community appeared in the early 19th century, maintaining various welfare and charity institutions. In 1830, the Jewish population was 218, rising to 674 in 1880 out of a total population of 3,642. By 1921, during the Czechoslovakian period, the Jewish population reached 1,785. Jews owned 65 business establishments, 35 workshops and flour factories. A few were white-collar workers and professionals.

In 1941, the Jewish population increased to 2,537. Zionist and religious political parties were especially active.

OCCUPATION

Following the Munich Agreement in 1938, Czechoslovakia was divided up and, in March 1939, Slatinske-Doly and the surrounding area were annexed by Hungary. The town became known as Aknaszlatina in Hungarian.

The Hungarians were pro-German, and imposed laws restricting Jewish access to education, trade, and the professions. Many Jews were persecuted and pushed out of their occupations. Jewish businesses were taken over by Hungarians but many remained closed.

In 1940, dozens of Jews from Aknaszlatina were drafted into Hungarian Labour Battalions for forced labour or service on the eastern front, where many died.  In August 1941, a few Jewish families without Hungarian citizenship were expelled to Kamenets-Podolski in Nazi occupied Ukraine, where they were murdered.

DEPORTATION

In March 1944, the Nazis occupied Hungary and installed a puppet government.

At the beginning of April of that year all the Jews in Hungary were ordered to wear the yellow badge on their clothes. In the same month, 2,044 Jews from Aknaszlatina, and another 3,000 Jews from the surrounding area were transferred to an improvised ghetto. They were deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in occupied Poland in late May, 1944.

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

In the autumn of 1944, the Soviet Red Army entered Aknaszlatina and liberated it from the Germans.

The majority of the Jews from Aknaszlatina were murdered in Auschwitz. A few dozen surviving families returned after their liberation, but most left for Czechoslovakia and elsewhere.

In 1945, after the Second World War, the Carpathians were annexed by the Soviet Union. Aknaszlatina became part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and is now known as Solotvyno in Ukranian.

PRESENT-DAY SOLOTVYNO

In 2013, only three Jews recorded to be living in Solotvyno. In 2016, the population was 8,791.  The village has a small salt mining museum and one of the former synagogues is now a bakery.

There is a Jewish cemetery and a memorial plaque dedicated to Solotvyno’s Jews who perished in the Holocaust.

Satu-Mare, known in Hungarian as Szatmar, is a town in northern Transylvania, north-western Romania.

Six of the Boys came from here.

PRE-WAR SATU-MARE

Jews were present in the town since the early eighteenth century. In 1715, when Satmar became a royal town, they were expelled, beginning to resettle in the 1820s. In 1857, a synagogue was built. The first Jewish printing press was established in 1903. Jews also contributed to the local Hungarian press.

Satu-Mare was a center of Jewish Orthodoxy and Hasidism; it was the home of Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum, the founder and leader of the Satmar Hasidic sect. In the 1920s, there were several Zionist organizations in Satu-Mare, and the yeshiva, one of the largest in the region, was attended by 400 students.

OCCUPATION BY HUNGARY

In September 1940, Hungary occupied the region of Satu-Mare and civil and economic rights and of the Jews were restricted.

Like other Jews in the region, in summer 1941, those who could not prove Hungarian nationality were deported to Kamenets-Podolski, where they were murdered by Hungarian and German troops

In 1941 there were 12,960 Jews living in Satu-Mare, about 25% of the total population.

LIFE IN THE GHETTO

On April 26, 1944, the Nazis established a ghetto in Satu-Mare. Jews from Satu-Mare, as well as from the surrounding areas, were concentrated there until the deportations began that summer. At its peak, there were 18,000-19,000 Jews living in the ghetto.

DEPORTATION

On May 3, 1944, the Jews of Satu-Mare were ordered into a ghetto that was established in the Jewish section of the city. The ghetto held approximately 19,000 Jews, including those who were brought in from the rural communities in the Arded, Carei, and Satu-Mare districts.

The ghetto in Satu-Mare was liquidated between 19 May and 1 June 1944. In total, 18,863 Jews were deported from Satu Mare, Carei and the surrounding municipalities. Of these, 14,440 were killed.

LIBERATION

After World War II, a handful of survivors returned to Satu-Mare, which at that point had become part of Romania.

In 1947, there were about 7,500 Jews living in the city. Many of these Jews were from southern Transylvania and other parts of Romania where the Jewish communities survived almost intact.

Subsequently, many of the Jews of Satu-Mare emigrated to Israel. By 1970, there were about 500 Jews remaining in Satu-Mare.

PRESENT-DAY SATU-MARE

In 2004, a Holocaust memorial was dedicated in the Decebal Street Synagogue's courtyard. Aside from the synagogues, two Jewish cemeteries also remain.

In 2011, only 34 Jews remained.

Rachiv is also known as Raho in Hungarian and Rakhov in Romanian.

Rachov was in the most easterly part of Czechoslovakia in the inter-war period. Today, it is part of western Ukraine and is located close to the Romanian border.

Until the end of World War I, Rachov 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.

Jindrich Abish was one of the eight members of the Boys who were born in Rachov. He remembered in an oral testimony given at London’s Imperial War Museum that the town was a ‘lively’ place and tourist centre.

PRE-WAR RACHOV

Jews settled in Rachov in the 1860s but had lived for far longer in the surrounding villages.

As in many towns and cities in the Carpathians Jews predominated in Rachov’s commercial life. The town’s three sawmills also belonged to the wider Abish family and three flour mills belonged to Jewish families as did the electric power plant, which belonged to Jindrich Abish’s aunt and her husband.

The town had a multi-ethnic population made up of Ruthenians, Hungarians, Schwarbs and Jews. Abisch recalls a well-integrated community and that everyone spoke each other’s language.

Jews were active in local politics and the town had Jewish doctors, lawyers and dentists. In the interwar period both Zionist and religious political parties, primarily Agudat Israel, were active in the town and a number of Rachov’s Jews emigrated to Palestine but many who hoped to do so were prevented by the introduction of the British 1939 White Paper that restricted Jewish immigration into the Palestine Mandate, which was then part of the British Empire.

In 1941 the population of Rachov was 12,455 of which 1,707 were Jewish.

OCCUPATION

Following the Hungarian occupation in March 1939, the town became known as Raho. Some of the town’s Jews fled into the Soviet Union. Some were the first to join the Czechoslovak brigade that fought against the Nazis on the eastern front in 1941 but others were arrested and shot as spies.

Under the 1938 Munich Agreement, Ruthenians were given autonomy in part of Carpatho-Rus, including Rachov. The Ruthenian authorities were pro-German and antisemitism increased.

In March 1939, the Hungarians occupied the region and imposed laws restricting Jewish access to education, trade, and the professions.

Many Jewish men were drafted into slave labour battalions sending them east for forced labour on the eastern front. Jews who could not prove that they had Hungarian citizenship were deported to Poland and many were murdered there by the SS.

In March 1944, the Germans invaded Hungary and installed a puppet government. That government participated in the Holocaust.

DEPORTATION

The day after Passover, 16 April 1944, the Germans and Hungarian police began a general roundup of all Racho's Jews. The Jews were held in the school opposite the town council building while it took eight days to complete the roundup.

Abisch said that many Ruthenian families offered to hide Jewish children but the vast majority of the parents, unaware of what awaited them, refused.

On the ninth day they were all taken to the train station and sent to the ghetto, more akin to a camp, in Mateszalka, almost 200km away in modern day Hungary. This was the first transport to arrive in Mateszalka.

The Jews of Racho spent a month here with 17,000 other Jewish people. They were then deported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp in occupied Poland.

Prisoners on the ramp warned new arrivals to say they were healthy, and teenagers were told to say they were older than they were. These inmates spoke Yiddish which increased the chance of the Boys survival. Many arrivals from Greece, France, Italy and Holland did not understand the warnings.

Abisch heard hours of gun fire after the selection in Birkenau and he believed that many of the Jews fought back.

It is estimated that about 1,200 of Rachov's Jews died at Auschwitz or in other concentration camps.

Although Auschwitz is the symbol of the Holocaust and the genocide carried out against the Jews, it was significantly different from the other extermination camps as it was not just a place where Jews were deported to and murdered.

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. The eight members of the Boys from Rachov, who survived Auschwitz, were taken to work as slave labourers. The fact that they arrived six months before the camp was liberated increased their chance of survival.

LIBERATION

Rachov was liberated by the Red Army in the autumn of 1944. As the Nazi concentration camps were liberated in 1945, a handful of survivors returned to Rachov. Most of the survivors found that their home’s occupied by strangers.

The Carpathians were annexed to the Soviet Union in 1945 and the town was renamed Rakhiv. Most of Rakhiv’s Jews were either very religious and or Zionists. It was not possible to practice religious observance under Stalinism and Zionist politics could lead to arrest. As a result, most survivors chose to leave the Carpathians.

A few Jews remained in Rakhiv, but the overwhelming majority left for Israel in the 1970s.

Present day Rakhiv

The town has a population of around 15,000 and little to no Jews live there today.

Although only four of the Boys came from Prague, the great majority of them passed through the Czech capital city on their way to the UK. It played a central role in the story of the Boys, as it was the city of departure to the UK for three out of the four groups of survivors.

The first group of the Boys were flown to England from Prague in August 1945. The third and fourth groups of the Boys also travelled to England from Prague, in February/March and June 1946 respectively.

Click on the groups to read more about the role of Prague in the Boys’ journey to Britain.

PRE-WAR PRAGUE

Part of the Austro-Hungarian empire until 1918, Prague then became the capital of Czechoslovakia until 1993, when the country split in two and was divided into the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Prague is home to one of Europe’s longest-standing Jewish communities. Jews have lived in Prague and the surrounding region since the 10^th century. A Jewish community was officially established there in the 11^th century and has thrived for hundreds of years, despite multiple pogroms and expulsions, up until the Second World War.

In the early 18th century, the Jews made up a quarter of Prague's population. More Jewish people lived in Prague than anywhere else in the world.

At the outbreak of World War II, over 92,000 Jews lived in Prague, almost 20 percent of the city’s population. Thousands of Jews had fled to the city from Germany, greatly increasing the size of the community.

DEPORTATION

In March 1939, the German army invaded the region and established the German protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia in the western regions of Czechoslovakia.

Between October 1941 and March 1945, about 46,000 Jews were deported from Prague mostly to Theresienstadt – a ghetto about 60 kilometres from Prague. From there, most of the Czech Jews were transported to their death in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp.

Almost 50 of the Boys spent a number of years in the Theresienstadt ghetto, but the majority of them were teenagers who had been forcibly taken there in the closing weeks of the war in the spring of 1945, arriving on death marches on foot or by train.

LIBERATION

At least two-thirds of the Jewish population of Prague perished in the Holocaust.

After the war, around 5,000 Jews returned to Prague from the camps. As well as this, over 200 had managed to evade deportation and had been living in hiding underground.

On May 9, 1945, the Soviet Red Army entered Prague and liberated it from the Germans.

After being liberated from Theresienstadt, some of the Boys passed through a Jewish orphanage on Belgicka Street in Prague. It is now a Jewish school.

POST-WAR PRAGUE

From 1948 to 1949, the Soviet Block supported Israel, enabling the emigration of Czech Jews to the newly formed state. However, after 1949, Jewish life was stifled by the Communist regime and emigration became virtually impossible. Stalin encouraged Czech leaders to stamp out religious and cultural activity, including Judaism. The regime demolished around 90 synagogues and dozens of Jewish cemeteries were shut down. Many Jews felt there was no future for them under Stalinism and escaped to the West.

From the late 1960s to the late 1980s, any mention of the Holocaust Prague’s Jewish history was stifled. It was not until the mid-1980s, as Communist attitudes began to reform throughout Europe, that there was a surge in interest in Prague’s Jewish legacy.

Vaclar Havel, the last president of former Czechoslovakia and the first president of the newly-established Czech Republic, was sympathetic towards the Jews and was quick to establish a diplomatic relationship with Israel and initiate the restitution of Jewish property in Prague.

Since then, there has been a revival of Jewish legacy and Jewish life in Prague. In 1992, the Pinkas Synagogue was reopened, followed by the restoration of the Maisel Synagogue in 1995 and the Spanish Synagogue in 1998, both part of the Jewish Museum. In 1996, an educational and cultural centre was established.

PRESENT-DAY PRAGUE

During the Communist era, many Jews learned to hide their identity. Now, Prague’s Jewish community has seen a rise in young Czechs who have only recently discovered their religious heritage. Because of this, however, it is difficult to calculate the exact number of Jews living in the city, with estimates from 1,500 to 5,000, with an additional 10,000 to 15,000 unregistered Jews across the country.

Prague is now home to many Jewish tourist sites and supports a considerable Jewish tourism industry, spanning multiple historical synagogues, museums and an old Jewish cemetery dating from the 15^th century. The city is also home to a Jewish nursery, schools and old age home, as well as kosher restaurants and a kosher hotel.

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.