On November 19, the population of Berehove gathered for a commemoration combined with an ecumenical mass. In the town’s Reformed Church, the events that took place 75 years ago and the victims of the Stalinist camps were commemorated. Hundreds of people gathered for the occasion.
After the singing of the Hungarian national anthem, the event began with the preaching of representatives of historical churches. The importance of commemoration and prayer for the dead was emphasized, as the victims who had never been given a worthy burial were commemorated.
– History has badly wounded our memory with the tragedy of the Hungarians of Transcarpathia. But we must still feel the presence of God, as the decimated Hungarian population still lives here at the foot of the Carpathians, the pastors emphasized.
Subsequently, Mátyás Szilágyi, Consul General of the Hungarian Consulate in Berehove, expressed his thoughts and salutes to the deceased. He stressed that it was the day of remembrance. He then revived the events of 1944 and the circumstances of the deportation. It was the greatest tragedy in the history of Hungarians in Transcarpathia, which meant the death of tens of thousands of Hungarian men. And the families who stayed at home experienced years of insecurity and grief. The three-day work ended up in torture, suffering, deprivation, and humiliation. The survivors bore the physical and mental wounds in themselves, – the Consul General explained.
Following the speech, participants read the names of more than 300 victims from Berehove one by one.
After the mass, participants marched through the city with candles and placed wreaths of remembrance at the entrance of the Reformed Church, at the entrance of Secondary School No. 5 of Berehove, and at the Monument on the Pushkin Square. Hundreds of candles were lit beneath the commemorative plaques with the names of the victims, where almost everyone present could find at least one of their ancestors in the list.
The event was jointly organized by the Pro Cultura Subcarpathica NGO, the Department of History and Social Sciences of the Ferenc Rákóczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian Institute, the historical churches, and the Mayor’s Office of Berehove.