Folia Historica 34. (Budapest, 2019)

I. TANULMÁNYOK - Miklós Tamás: Első világháborús hadifogolytábor Esztergom-Kenyérmezőn

separation of the suspected patients. The barracks where typhoid diseases occurred, were surrounded by planks. Bathing was made mandatory for the prisoners while their clothes and underwear were disinfected with steam disinfection machines. The barracks floors and walls were cleaned twice a week with soda and soap.

As a result of the protracted war and drafting, in the fall of 1914 the idea replacing the missing labor force with the prisoners of war was raised, but the practice only became widespread in the second year of the war. The scale of prisoner labor is well illustrated by the fact that according to data from January 1,1916,48,895 (77.17%) of the 63 352 prisoners in the Kenyérmező camp worked outside the camp. The proportion of POW workers continued to increase in the coming years: in 1917,91.62% of the prisoners of war worked outside the camp and in early 1918 slightly more than 90%.

One of the favorite pastimes of Russian soldiers in the camp was wood carving. The prisoners tried to get some income from the sale of items they had produced, which then they spent on food, or on tools, paints, canvas, etc. They made wooden boxes, dinner sets, pipes, picture frames, etc. Some painted pictures. The local history collection of the HNM Balassa Bálint Museum also contains several objects made by the prisoners in the camp.

Between 1914 and 1918, approximately 120,000 prisoners of war were taken to the Kenyérmező camp. Regarding the permanent population of the camp, the following figures might provide some insight: in December 1914 there were 4787 prisoners of war and 605 interned; In January 1916,12,868 Russian prisoners; At the beginning of 1917 there were 5640 prisoners of war, and according to data from January 1,1918, and 7611 were in the camp.

According to records, 4378 prisoners of war died, who were placed to eternal rest in 7 cemeteries in Kenyérmező and 4 cemeteries in Tokod and Ebszőnybánya. The prisoners who died in the Esztergom military hospitals were buried in the military cemetery of Szentgyörgymező or in the civic cemeteries of the city (Downtown Cemetery, Jewish cemetery, St. Anne's Cemetery)

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