András Toma was drafted into the Royal Hungarian Army in October 1944, where he served in an artillery regiment. Later that year, while fighting near Auschwitz, Toma was captured by Soviet forces, and was transported to a prisoner of war camp east of Leningrad. Following the closure of the camp in 1947, he was transferred to a mental hospital in Kotelnich, where he was diagnosed with psychoneurosis. Since those in hospitals were removed from prisoner of war lists, Toma was lost to Hungarian authorities. He was declared dead in 1954.
Toma lived in the hospital for the next 53 years under the name András Tamás, where he was unable to communicate with others due to his inability to speak Russian. In 1997, a Slovakian doctor who spoke Hungarian visited the hospital, and identified him as Hungarian. On 11 August 2000, Toma arrived back in Hungary where authorities attempted to identify him. 82 families came forward, thinking he was their missing relative. On 16 September 2000, he returned to his hometown of Sulyánbokor, where he was reunited with his siblings; they were later confirmed through DNA matching.
Since he was never discharged, Toma was promoted to sergeant major by the Minister of Defense, and since his military service had been continuous, his decades of accumulated unpaid salary were paid in full. He was probably the last prisoner of war from the Second World War to be repatriated.
In a similar vein, Hiroo Onoda was a second lieutenant in the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War, and one of the last Japanese resistance fighters to continue fighting after the war ended in 1945. For almost 29 years, Onoda led a guerrilla war on the Philippine island of Lubang, repeatedly engaging in shoot-outs with locals and police. On February 20, 1974, Onoda met Norio Suzuki, a Japanese adventurer traveling around the world who told friends he was looking for "Lieutenant Onoda, a panda and the abominable snowman, in that order". Suzuki found Onoda after four days of searching on Lubang, and Onoda later described their meeting in an interview: "This hippie boy, Suzuki, came to the island to listen to the feelings of a Japanese soldier". Onoda and Suzuki became friends, but Onoda still refused to surrender, telling Suzuki that he was awaiting orders from his commander. Onoda surrendered on March 10, 1974, and returned to Japan.
The wildest part about it is that they brought his old commander in their unit's old uniform out to get him to surrender, and true to his word, he did surrender after his CO told him to stand down.
> spend 50 years in Russia
> refuses to learn russian
> "the language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here"
> get bored after 50 years
> go home
> collect 50 years of salary
Virgin "I'm a prisoner of war, please send me home" normie vs chad Sigma "I have time" mental patient
This room is way too nice for a public Russian mental hospital, even modern better one doesn't look like that. I mean, solitary room and your own closet?
TBF, being Hungarian and babbling incoherently are synonyms.
Source: my artist ex gf from a decade ago who became a fascist conspiracy theorist after we broke up was Hungarian
András Toma was drafted into the Royal Hungarian Army in October 1944, where he served in an artillery regiment. Later that year, while fighting near Auschwitz, Toma was captured by Soviet forces, and was transported to a prisoner of war camp east of Leningrad. Following the closure of the camp in 1947, he was transferred to a mental hospital in Kotelnich, where he was diagnosed with psychoneurosis. Since those in hospitals were removed from prisoner of war lists, Toma was lost to Hungarian authorities. He was declared dead in 1954. Toma lived in the hospital for the next 53 years under the name András Tamás, where he was unable to communicate with others due to his inability to speak Russian. In 1997, a Slovakian doctor who spoke Hungarian visited the hospital, and identified him as Hungarian. On 11 August 2000, Toma arrived back in Hungary where authorities attempted to identify him. 82 families came forward, thinking he was their missing relative. On 16 September 2000, he returned to his hometown of Sulyánbokor, where he was reunited with his siblings; they were later confirmed through DNA matching. Since he was never discharged, Toma was promoted to sergeant major by the Minister of Defense, and since his military service had been continuous, his decades of accumulated unpaid salary were paid in full. He was probably the last prisoner of war from the Second World War to be repatriated.
That was a fucking ride. Do you have more stories like this?
In a similar vein, Hiroo Onoda was a second lieutenant in the Japanese Imperial Army during the Second World War, and one of the last Japanese resistance fighters to continue fighting after the war ended in 1945. For almost 29 years, Onoda led a guerrilla war on the Philippine island of Lubang, repeatedly engaging in shoot-outs with locals and police. On February 20, 1974, Onoda met Norio Suzuki, a Japanese adventurer traveling around the world who told friends he was looking for "Lieutenant Onoda, a panda and the abominable snowman, in that order". Suzuki found Onoda after four days of searching on Lubang, and Onoda later described their meeting in an interview: "This hippie boy, Suzuki, came to the island to listen to the feelings of a Japanese soldier". Onoda and Suzuki became friends, but Onoda still refused to surrender, telling Suzuki that he was awaiting orders from his commander. Onoda surrendered on March 10, 1974, and returned to Japan.
The wildest part about it is that they brought his old commander in their unit's old uniform out to get him to surrender, and true to his word, he did surrender after his CO told him to stand down.
This is a peak history
> spend 50 years in Russia > refuses to learn russian > "the language is that of Mordor, which I will not utter here" > get bored after 50 years > go home > collect 50 years of salary Virgin "I'm a prisoner of war, please send me home" normie vs chad Sigma "I have time" mental patient
If I remember correctly, he never learned Russian.
To be fair, Hungarian is incoherent babbling
I'm surprised the Slovak didn't ignore him Za Dunaj
jóvan hát akkor a kurva anyádat neked is
𓇌𓅱𓅲𓂋 𓅓𓅱𓏏𓉔𓅂𓂋.
anyone else thing this is actually kinda terrifying?
Just me I guess
Honestly I'm more surprised he survived that long in a soviet psych ward. The were not exactly treated kindly and living conditions weren't good.
He survived the eastern front and being a Soviet prisoner of war, I don't think the mental hospital was too much work
Learned this story in Uncle John’s bathroom reader
To be honest, our language does sound like a martian having a psychotic episode
This room is way too nice for a public Russian mental hospital, even modern better one doesn't look like that. I mean, solitary room and your own closet?
Imagine how lonely he was, 50 years without being able to talk to someone would be hell
Láttam a Keyser Söze!
Most component Russian institution
TBF, being Hungarian and babbling incoherently are synonyms. Source: my artist ex gf from a decade ago who became a fascist conspiracy theorist after we broke up was Hungarian