Labour service ( Hungary ) Labour service ( ) was required of " political unreliable " and Jewish men in Hungary during World War II after they were prohibited from serving in the regular armed forces by passage of the Hungarian anti - Jewish laws . In Hungary , Jews comprised over eight percent of the population , and the government imposed an alternative to military service . Labour service was forced labour , performed by labour battalion s conscripted by the German - allied Hungarian regime primarily from Hungarian Jewish men during World War II . These units were an outgrowth of World War I units , when Jews served in the Hungarian armed forces along with Christians , as in Germany and other European countries . The Fascist , Nazi - allied Regime commanders treated the Jewish units with extreme cruelty , abuse , and brutality . Men who worked in mine quarries were frequently pushed to their deaths off the man - made cliffs and embankments . These units were stationed all over Hungary , including the Eastern Front in Ukraine , where most of the men died . The gendarmes and Army men who guarded these " slaves " were mostly members of the Nyilas fascist anti - Semitic political party . The badly fed and poorly clothed units were initially assigned to perform heavy construction work within Hungary . With Germany ' s attack on Russia , Hungary officials sent most of these units into Ukraine for additional forced labour work . They were subjected to atrocities , such as marching into mine fields to clear the area so that the regular troops could advance , and death by torture of prominent servicemen . Some Munkaszolgálat units were entirely wiped out ; others had as few as 5 % of their members survive the war . The famous poet Miklós Radnóti and writer Antal Szerb died during labour service . Ordinary people , such as Miklos Farkas born in Turcz in 1909 , in the Northern Transylvanian county of Szatmár , were among the few survivors of their units . His unit was last based in Siegendorf , Austria , having previously been detailed to a stone quarry for most of the war . At Siegendorf , as the war came to an end , the guns of the advancing Russian forces could be heard by the Nyilas ( Hungarian Arrow Cross troops who guarded the Jewish slaves . ) They decided to march most of the men out of the camp . Suspecting an attempt to murder them before the Russians could liberate the prisoners , Farkas and a few other men scattered underneath the barracks while they heard their friends being marched away . A short time later , they heard volleys of gunshots not too far away . Several hours later , in the night , they emerged from hiding and moved eastward towards the Hungarian - Austrian border where they met Russian forces . Most of the young Jewish men had typhus and had to be hospitalized for several weeks until they recovered , then took one - way train trips home . Miklos went home most of the way as a stowaway on top of a train car to the small city of Halmin , now called Halmeu in Northern Romania . Most of these men were never compensated by Hungary — and none was compensated by the Austrians . The Hungarians said there were no records to document the forced labour service . Almost none of the Nyilas responsible for murdering many Jewish men were convicted or sentenced to serious prison terms . The few who were caught and tried were given light symbolic sentences .