Jehova Tanúk, reformadventisták és nazarénusok bori munkaszolgálata

Absztrakt

Approximately 6,000 Hungarian labor servicemen worked in Serbia during World War II. Most of them were of Jewish descent but one company also included members of small churches deported to the mines of Bor. Special Labor Company No. 801 comprised Jehovah’s Witnesses, Reformed Adventists, and Nazarenes who had been previously convicted, without the possibility of appeal, of disloyalty or other conduct related to refusing military service. All of them belonged to “sects” that had been banned in 1939. About 200 members of these small congregations lived together for nearly 15 months between 1943 and 1944 in one of the barracks of the central camp. Their situation differed from that of the Jews, forming a closed world among themselves. They had different experiences regarding their religious prescriptions about wearing military uniforms, performing military duties, observing the Sabbath as a day of prayer, and maintaining a vegetarian diet. They lived through torture and beatings, under constant threat of execution by Hungarian and German soldiers, but their faith, organization, and resilience helped them to survive. Although their interdependence forged strong bonds, they often faced division and even schism within their group. They considered this period as a time of trial and professing their faith, a time for solidifying their religious views and strengthening their ecclesiastical identity. Their special labor unit, deployed in a special operations area, occupies a unique place in the history of both Hungarian labor service and the minor churches.