András Toma

András Toma (5 December 1925 – 30 March 2004) was a Hungarian soldier who was taken prisoner by the Red Army in 1945, then discovered living in a Russian psychiatric hospital in 2000. He was probably the last prisoner of war from the Second World War to be repatriated.[1]

The native form of this personal name is Toma András. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.
András Toma
Birth nameToma András
Other name(s)András Tamás
Born5 December 1925
Újfehértó, Hungary
Died30 March 2004 (2004-03-31) (aged 78)
Nyíregyháza, Northern Great Plain, Hungary
Allegiance Kingdom of Hungary
Royal Hungarian Army
Years of service1944–2000
Ranksergeant major (főtörzsőrmester)
Battles/warsBudapest Offensive

As he never learned Russian and nobody at the hospital spoke Hungarian, he had apparently not had a single conversation in over 50 years, a situation of great interest in the fields of psychiatry and psycholinguistics.

Life

He lost his mother when he was four years old. He lived in Sulyánbokor near Nyíregyháza, when he was drafted in 1944. His regiment fought around Auschwitz and Kraków. Toma was captured on 11 January 1945 and was taken through Ukraine and Belarus to the camp of Boksitogorsk (Бокситогорск) near St. Petersburg. Due to an illness he was taken to the military hospital of another camp in Bistrjag (Быстряги) 1,000 km east of Boksitogorsk. In January 1947 he was transferred to a psychiatric hospital in Kotelnich (Котельнич). Since those who were in hospitals were deleted from the lists of prisoners of war, Toma was lost to Hungarian authorities. He was declared dead in 1954.[2]

He lived under the name András Tamás (Андраш Тамаш). A Czech linguist of Slovak descent, Karol Moravčík, identified him as Hungarian, and on 11 August 2000 Toma arrived back to Hungary where his family was identified with the help of DNA investigation. Toma was promoted to sergeant major by the Minister of Defense, and since his service was continuous, his salary was paid. 74-year-old Toma moved in with his half-sister Anna who cared for him until his death in 2004.

References
  1. Hungarian POW identified
  2. Magyar Nemzet, October 3, 2000
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