Romania Key Places - '45 Aid Society

Members of the Boys were born in Romania.

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

Members of the Boys were held in Nazi labour and concentration camps and used as slave labourers. They had also survived World War II in hiding or as lone children.

Romania Key Facts

Capital: Bucharest

Population 1939: 19.900,000

Jewish Population in 1939: Approximately 750,000

Present-day Population: 19,424,322

Present-day Jewish Population: 8,000–10,000

The Boys Birthplaces

Members of the Boys were born in modern-day Crişana Province in Romania.

In the interwar period the region was part of Romania.

The region’s principal city is Oradea, which is 642km from the capital Bucharest.

In August 1940 under the Second Vienna Award, in which Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy arbitrated a new border. Hungary regained control over Northern Transylvania and Crișana, including major cities like Oradea, which was then known by its Hungarian name of Nagyvárad.

To find out more about the region click here.

Members of the Boys were also born in the Maramureş region of Romania.

In the interwar period the region was part of Romania.

The Boys lived in or near Satu Mare, Sighetu Marmației and Vișeu de Sus. To find out more about the region click here.

Northern Maramureș was annexed by Hungary in 1939.
Southern Maramureș was given to Hungary in August 1940, in the Second Vienna Award.

Jews in this areas were persecuted under Hungarian laws and after the German occupation of Hungary deported primarily to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp.