Commemoration: Hungarian university students, teachers killed by US fighters

A group of 36 Hungarian nationals, who died during the last days of the second world war, were commemorated in a cemetery in Hazlov, in western Czechia, on Saturday.

The commemoration was attended by representatives of the local authority, Hungary’s embassy in Prague, the Association of Hungarians in the Czech Republic, as well as the Esterházy János Association.

On April 11, 1945, a train carrying Hungarian university students, teachers, and their families trying to return to Hungary came under an air raid by US fighters. As it turned out later, the US pilots had mistaken their target for a German ammunitions train.

“These graves contain the ashes of mostly young people, whose destination was not Hazlov, yet, they remained here forever … only for being at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Hazlov Mayor Lenka Dvorakova told MTI after the ceremony.