User:Wiki-tom76/Károly Miklósi

Károly Miklósi (Budapest, November 18, 1926 – February 5, 2017) Hungarian photographer. Between 1945 and 1947 was a political prisoner. He is the author of the book Orosz hadifogságom története (The Story of My Russian Prisoner of War).

His life
He was born in Zugló (Budapest) in 1926 and had two younger brothers. After graduating from four civil schools, he earned his living by doing errands as well as an assistant worker. From 1943, he became an apprentice photographer in a printing press. In his spare time he played in a band as a drummer. During the Second World War bombings, for example, he played music in a cellar, but he survived the Siege of Budapest without injury.

The period he spent in captivity
On February 1, 1945, he was on the way by foot to his workplace to see when he could start working. At the intersection of Thököly út and Hungária körút, he stumbled upon three Soviet soldiers who were checking the papers of the civilians. Together with some young people of a similar age who were passing by, they were pulled aside and then told that they were being taken for a small work. This ever-growing group was finally locked in the basement of the house on the corner, from where they were driven to Gödöllő on foot the next day together with other groups gathered in a similar manner. Here they were sent to a prisoner-of-war camp on the territory of today's University of Agricultural Sciences. In the camp, he lied that he was born in 1927, to see if he would be sent home, but he had no luck.

From the prison camp, he was transported by train through Foksány in Romania to the territory of today's Ukraine, to the settlement of Terniv. Here, under inhuman conditions they had to build their own camp and they were forced to participat in the reconstruction of the area, as well as in seasonal agricultural work.

In spite of the harsh circumstances, he was lucky to be able to play music, so he was able to perform a few times at various local events and most likely thanks to this he was treated a little bit better. His parents only found out the reason for his disappearance because he managed to throw 1-2 letters out of the train on the way, and the finders delivered these to them. His father worked at an arms factory at that time. He asked the Soviet commander there to help him release his son, since he had done nothing to warrant his detention. The commander started looking for the young boy from Pest, but it was not easy to find him because of the change in his birth data. However, he did make it home by the end of 1947.

Later life
His former workplace, the printing press, which was still privately owned at that time, took him back to work, so he was able to start a new life and started a family.

After the nationalization, despite being deported, he joined the Hungarian Workers' Party. He became a print photographer when photography replaced text drawing. In his free time, he played as an amateur soccer player. During the 1956 Revolution, he tried to defect with his wife and three-year-old daughter at the time, but they could not cross into Yugoslavia, as they got lost at the border in the pouring rain at night. Fortunately for them, they were able rest with an old peasant and then took the train home. After that he mostly worked as a freelancer.

In 1995, he received a 242,000 Forint (at that time about $1,820) compensation ticket from the Hungarian government for his suffering. He was able to sell it for 48,400 Forint ($363). His younger daughter urged him to write a book about his political imprisonment and the horrors he experienced in the forced labor camp. In 2003 under the book titled Málenkíj robot (1945–1947) – Holocaust the Russian way was released. Later he published the book titled Málenkíj robot. The story of my Russian captivity. at his own expense in 2010.

He had two daughters from his marriage. He also had five grandchildren and one great-grandchild during his lifetime.