The Carpathian Germans were a small German people living in the territory of today's Slovakia
from the 12th century to 1945, when they suffered genocide. This are the current doing and the history of the
people I come from. This page is provided as a private volunteer public service, and does not
represent the official opinions of the Carpathian German Landsmannschaft.
Dr. Thomas Reimer
03/30/2002
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THE CARPATHIAN GERMAN RELIEF FOR HUNGARY 1956
Their own suffering did not close the hearts of Carpathian Germans to the suffering of others. After the people of Hungary revolted against their
Communist overlords on October 23, 1956, the KDL, HiKo and HiBu swiftly organized the Karpatendeutsche Ungarnhilfe for the relief
of their erstwhile (pre-1919) countrymen. Rev. Desider Alexy, Rev. Jakob Bauer and architect Emil Czipf, the head of the building coop
Karpatenland, personally drove a truckload of relief goods into Hungary, the last trip to Oedenburg (Sopron) on November 1, 1956. Three days
later, the Soviets had reconquered the country.
Here is the truck that went to Sopron (from Karpatenpost, December 1956):
Here are Rev. Bauer, Rev. Alexy and Mr. Czipf with an Hungarian student in Sopron/Oedenburg (from my grandmother Martha Alexy):
After Hungary had been occupied again by the Soviet Union, the KDL collected another DM 7,000 plus goods at its small office in the basement
of the Archivstrasse 18, in Stuttgart, and sent 7,500 kg (or 16,500 pounds) of goods for the relief of the many refugees fleeing the country. The
truck, driven by Georg Schaefer, with Rev. Franz Prechtl as leader, arrived on November 21 in Linz/Austria, filled with Magyar
refugees. Considering how small, and poor, the Carpathian Germans were (see main page for details), this was a significant show of Christian
brotherhood. Especially as in 1956, any Carpathian German older than 37 years had been born under Magyar rule, which in the last decades had
spoiled a millenium of good memories through its forcible assimilation policies. But they held no grudges against the Magyars. Not all donors
were Carpathian Germans--a major contributor was the grocery Witzmann in Bad Cannstatt, while the Suebian manufacturer Kurt Knoedler
from Fellbach paid for the truck.
For details about this work of love, see Desider Alexy, "Die karpatendeutsche Ungarnspende: Eine Zwischenbilanz" in Karpatenpost,
December 1956, p. 4-5.