The history of the village in Hungary where dozens of women killed their husbands

For almost 20 years, Nagyrev women, instigated by the village midwives, poisoned about 50 men. They were only caught because suddenly the cemetery started to get full. But not everything was bad …

On December 14, 1929, The New York Times reported a story that was causing astonishment not in the US, but in a much further place in Hungary.

On that date, the judgment of about 50 women who had been accused of poison the vast majority of men who lived in a remote village in the center of the country.

Although the news was brief, the report had Many details: Between 1911 and 1929, several women from the locality of Nagyrevlocated about 130 kilometers south of Budapest, would have Poisoned more than 50 men.

According to the women, the women, for some calls “Creators of Angels“They would have murdered the men with an arsenic solution in what was considered the greatest mass murder of men by women in modern history.

Women faced a public trial, during which a name was repeated: Zsuzsanna potterythe midwife of the village.

At a time when the village still under the domain of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and there were no local doctors, The midwife had a monopoly medical care in the village.

In 2004, in a BBC documentary, Maria Gunyaresident in the Hungarian village, explained why Zsuzsanna Fazekas was pointed out as the instigator of the poisoning: All women told the midwife the problems that they had.

“Zsuzsanna told women that if they had problems with their men, she had a simple solution“, CENTA.

And although Fazekas was primarily responsible for the murders, in the process archives, the testimonies of the village women reveal deep and painful stories of abuse, abuse and violations on the part of men.

The story has yet been hidden for many years. According to police reports, The first murders were registered in 1911but investigations only started in 1929.

What was the track that allowed you to get to the culprits? A cemetery that, suddenly, started to get full.

Zsuzsanna Fazekas arrived at Nagyrev’s village in 1911. He immediately drew attention for his ability as a midwife and being known to medicinal medicines, some even with chemicals, something unusual in the region.

“Nagyrev didn’t have a priest, much less a doctor. So her knowledge made people approach her and trust her,” said Gunya.

“Zsuzsanna began to see many things that happened in the warmth of the village homes: men who beat women, who violated themmany of them were unfaithful. Many mistreatment“He added.

So, Fazekas started doing something Forbidden in those times: abortions of unwanted pregnancies. It pfoi taken to trial, but was never condemned.

The big problem, according to Gunya, is that many weddings were arranged by families and very young women They were married to men, in some cases, much older. “At that time there was no divorce. You couldn’t separate you even if you were mistreated or abused, ”he said.

But the reports of the time also pointed to another data: the arranged marriages were accompanied by A kind of contractual agreement which included land, inheritance and legal obligations.

“Fazekas began to convince women that he could solve their problems,” Gunya told BBC.

O first poisoning It occurred in 1911. In the following years, more and more men continued to die, while World War I unfolded and the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed. In 18 years, there were between 45 and 50 deaths of husbands and parents who were buried in the village cemetery.

Many started calling Nagyrev “The Parish of the Assassins“.

These details caught the attention of the police. In early 1929, the corpses began to exhume them to examine them, and found an incriminating element: arsenic.

On July 19, 1929, the midwife saw that the police were coming home to take her. “He saw them approach, and understood that everything was ended for her. When the police arrived at the house, She was already dead; had taken a littleyour own poison“.

But the midwife was far from being the only culprit.

In 1929, 26 women were taken to trial in the neighboring capital of Szolnok County. Eight were sentenced to death And the remaining sent to the arrest, seven of which with perpetual penalty.

Few admitted their faultand their motives have never been totally clear.

Based on court archives, the doctor and historian Geza Czech Disse to BBC that There are still many mysteries for solving. “As for the motives, there are many theories: poverty, greed and boredom are some of them.”

“According to some reports, Some of the women had lovers Among the Russian prisoners recruited to work on Thursdays in the absence of their men in front of battle, ”explains the historian.

According to this theory, when the husbands returned, the women regretted the sudden loss of your freedom “And one after another, they decided to act.”

In the 1950s, the historian Francis Gyorgyev He met an elderly from the village during his imprisonment under the communist regime, said Nagyrev women “were murdering their men Since time immemorial“.

Furthermore, may not have been the only. In the neighboring town of Tiszakurt, other exhumed bodies also contained arsenic, but no one was convicted. According to some estimates, the Number of dead men In the region may have Arrived at 300.

But Not everything was bad. According to Gunya, after the poisoning, the men’s behavior with wives “It has improved remarkably.”