E8 Saviours to the rescue

The landowner, Baron György de Rohonczy, became the saviour of many Roma in the Lackenbach camp. Until 1921, he has been a senior civil servant in the district administration in Oberpullendorf. A staunch monarchist, he resigned from the service after the proclamation of the Republic in 1919 and went on to run his estate’s affairs. After the opening of the “Lackenbach gypsy camp” in 1940, he called in numerous Roma families and their children as labourers for his estates, providing them with proper food and accommodation, and thus saving their lives. At least 50 Roma employed as farm labourers on his estates were able to flee across the border to Hungary. Rohonczy was never prosecuted by the Nazi authorities for assisting the Roma. With his action, he set an example for other owners of large estates, who also called in several Roma from the camp and were thus able to save them.