Merk Zsuzsa - Bálint Attila: Baja is town for 300 years - A Bajai Türr István Múzeum kiadványai 27. (Baja, 1999)

at the time of our expulsion from the nation, there was one man, one only of so many, who truly deserved to be called a HUMAN."

Although the city survived World War II without any major damage, on September 21, 1944, the allied air forces destroyed the city's strategically important bridge over the Danube. Baja's Franciscans recorded the event in the chronicles of the cloister as follows: "Today, they bombed Baja for the second time, the bridge was hit. The bombs were chained together. The bridge suffered a direct hit; detached from the bridge heads, both ends of the bridge now hang into the water. Two arches are still in place in the middle of the Danube. They must have been some exceptionally powerful bombs; they twisted the steel parts of the bridge as they were some delicate toys. The case-making factory also got hit; about 180 bombs fell in total. There were several casualties. Some marching troops just arrived to the bridge; several of them also died."

Baja's former military barracks on Vaskúti street were converted into a huge prison camp. Tens of thousands of Hungarian and German soldiers were taken from here to various laagers in the Soviet Union. We still do not know the exact number of the victims. The memorial erected in 1948 mentions 1,023 who were killed; other estimates range from 4,000 to 8,000.

The Baja's bridge destroyed by bombings in September 27, 7944.

12