Hungarian folklore and poetry in the Soviet labor camps

This paper focuses on one of the two distinct, yet interrelated bodies of Hungarian poetry born out of totalitarian repression: the poetry composed by Hungarian prisoners of war in Soviet labor camps during World War II, which is commonly referred to as Hungarian Gulag poetry, which reflects on the harrowing experiences of soldiers and civilians captured and deported to Soviet labor camps. Composed under conditions of extreme exile and forced labor, these poems explore themes of survival, displacement, and the profound dislocation of personal and national identity. Amid the brutality of Soviet repression, the poets’ clandestine verses stand as acts of cultural and intellectual resistance. Through this body of work, Hungarian