Hungarian officials tour Hajduhadhaz labor camp

Andras Galambos (later Andrew Gerrard) was born on June 15, 1918 in Toroszentmiklos, Hungary. His father, a flour mill owner, died in 1936, leaving behind Andras, wife Zelma, and daughter Anne. Zelma and Andras stayed in Hungary while Anne, her husband Paul Somogyi, and their young son Peter immigrated to Australia in 1939. Andras studied law at the University of Szeged and after graduation, enrolled in the Mechanical Engineering program at the Technical University in Budapest in order to avoid military service. But in fall 1942, he was drafted into a Jewish forced labor battalion. Battalion officers relied on Andras for repairs and general office work, exempting him from physically demanding work. In the winter of 1942-43, the battalion-excluding Andras and several officers-was sent to the Eastern Front to combat the Soviet Army. Andras was released from military service in Sept. 1943 to continue his studies in Budapest. On March 20, 1944 the Germans occupied Hungary, and Andras was again drafted into a Jewish forced labor battalion to construct air raid shelters. The battalion relocated to Hajduhadhaz in eastern Hungary to build concrete bunkers, fortifications, and a branch line to facilitate transportations. In Hajduhadhaz, Andras reconnected with a former classmate and amateur photographer, Ladislaus Radnai. They proposed documenting the battalion's war efforts with still and motion picture cameras to their commander who loved the idea and often excused the two men from physical labor. The commander even hosted an exhibition of their work. In October 1944, following the Soviet advance, the battalion's Hungarian officers fled Hajduhadhaz camp. The slave laborers were moved several times over the next several weeks, eventually making it to Szolnok to repair bomb-damaged rail lines. In Szolnok, Andras obtained a radio from relatives and became the battalion's unofficial radio operator. Andras decided to escape a train with fellow laborers bound for Austria and head for Budapest under the protection of Swedish papers his mother had obtained for him. Back in Budapest, Andras discovered that his mother Zelma had narrowly escaped deportation by sneaking out of a line of detained people. Andras formed a fake military unit with other young Jewish men to avoid being drafted again. After days of marching through the streets pretending to perform civil work, the "unit" was detained by German military police and deported. Andras was again saved by his Swedish papers, as Raoul Wallenberg happened to be at the train station demanding the release of all Jews with a Schutz Pass. Andras and his mother then took refuge as employees in a hospital in Budapest that fell under the auspice of the Swedish Embassy (Andras was an orderly and Zelma became a cook). They witnessed food and water shortages, atrocities by the Arrow Cross, and the siege of the city. The Soviet Army liberated Budapest in January 1945. In 1948, Andras and his mother joined Anne and her family in Australia.