The criminal case of László Draskóczi and his associates
Start of criminal proceedings
PDF : The criminal case of László Draskóczi and his associates _ Buried without a trace
The facts according to the final decision
The first nine defendants were all members of the Ragged Guard or were somehow connected to this military-type formation. Lajos Fodor served as Vannay’s deputy in László Vannay’s battalion from the end of 1938. As members of the Guard, several defendants participated in the invasion of the Highlands on November 10, 1938. Endre Kovács was the commander of the invading Tiszaújhely section, Antal Benkő was his deputy, and Pál Gödér was the service chief of this section. They participated in the torture and unlawful execution of at least three Czechoslovak citizens in Tiszaújhely and Tiszaújlak, accused of espionage, anti-Hungarian activity, or Czech friendship. Géza Iványi was initially the deputy commander, and later the commander, of the invading Salánk section. As a member of this department, he participated, together with Béla Hajts, in the torture and extrajudicial execution of two Czechoslovak citizens in Salánk. The members of the Guard terrorized the Jewish people living in their area, mistreating several of them and forcing them to financially support the Guard. As members of the Vannay detachment, Béla Hajts and Pál Gödér participated in the attack on the Dégenfeld farm, during which several Czechoslovak border guards lost their lives.
The other defendants participated in the anti-democratic conspiracy initiated by Lajos Fehér and István Cserháti in Budapest in 1947, which had loose connections with the ragged Guards. The stated goal was to gather young people living in the area into an organization and collect weapons and ammunition to put themselves in a position where, in the event of a possible Anglo-American-Soviet war, the members of the organization would use the collected weapons to weaken the state power of the people’s democracy and contribute to its overthrow. The members collected a small arsenal of weapons and ammunition, some of whom participated in breaking the windows of a Jewish person living there on Tölcsvár Street and in damaging about 20 tombstones in the Jewish cemetery in Farkasrét. Although Károly Nagy and Imre Dévai were aware of the continuation of the organization, they did not actually participate in it.
HU BFL – XXV.1.a.4 – 2633 – 1948
