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Bottom image: A drawing illustrating the patriotism of the Hungarian Jewish labor serviceman.

Photograph | Photograph Number: 58015
Bottom image: A drawing illustrating the patriotism of the Hungarian Jewish labor serviceman. Despite the fact that the Jew is denied the right to wear a military uniform and bear arms, Erno Steiner picks up the abandoned machine gun of First Lieutenant Hevessy of the 4th Infantry Division and starts firing at Soviet troops to fend them off. One page of an illustrated album produced by Gyorgy Beifeld (1902-1982), a Hungarian Jew from Budapest, who was drafted into the Munkaszolgalat (Hungarian Labor Service system) and spent more than a year on the Soviet front, from April 1942 through May 1943. The album contains 402 drawings and watercolors by Byfield, as well as a narrative of his experiences.

Bottom image: A drawing illustrating the patriotism of the Hungarian Jewish labor serviceman.

Despite the fact that the Jew is denied the right to wear a military uniform and bear arms, Erno Steiner picks up the abandoned machine gun of First Lieutenant Hevessy of the 4th Infantry Division and starts firing at Soviet troops to fend them off.

One page of an illustrated album produced by Gyorgy Beifeld (1902-1982), a Hungarian Jew from Budapest, who was drafted into the Munkaszolgalat (Hungarian Labor Service system) and spent more than a year on the Soviet front, from April 1942 through May 1943. The album contains 402 drawings and watercolors by Byfield, as well as a narrative of his experiences.

Date
April 1942 - May 1943
Locale
USSR
Photo Designation
ART OF THE HOLOCAUST -- Artists B
Photo Credit
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of George Byfield (Gyorgy Beifeld)

About This Photograph

Biography
Gyorgy Beifeld (later George W. Byfield) was born in Budapest, Hungary on April 8, 1902. The son of a banker, Gyorgy received a law degree and worked as a stock broker. He was conscripted into the Hungarian Labor Service (Munkaszolgalat ) and served for 13 months on the Soviet front, from April 1942 until May 1943. He was wounded on August 28, 1942 at Prilushkniy. In 1943 Gyorgy returned to Budapest. The following year he appears to have been re-drafted or arrested, because he ended up in Dachau at the conclusion of World War II. After his liberation, he returned to Hungary, but left again after the communist takeover. Gyorgy immigrated to Australia in 1949 and settled in Sydney, where he and his wife later operated a successful tobacco shop. He died in Sydney on June 14, 1982.

Keywords and Subjects

Rights and Restrictions

Photo Source
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Provenance: George Byfield (Gyorgy Beifeld)
Source Record ID: Collections: 2001.156
 
Record last modified: 2004-02-26 00:00:00
This page: https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1143233