SOPRON HUNGARY 1944

my mother-IN-law said in 1944 she fled from Sopron, Hungary [western border] to go into Germany..she remembers following the wagon and food was not plentiful....why would they be going into Germany in 1944?? forced labor?? .....

 

http://youtu.be/WOVEy1tC7nk?t=5m

Because Russia was coming.

 

was that a common reason to leave your home??i really haven't read much of the eastern front action/area....

 

It is commonplace in war for civilians to flee an approaching enemy army.

 

Hungary declared war on USSR in 1941.
Nasty things happened on Soviet territory.
It was a very good idea to try & avoid their wrath.
Legging it westwards was a good idea.

 

ty for replies...makes sense and info helps much...

 

She was fortunate to have left at that time. The Soviets were not gentle with civilian populations, as my wife's family discovered. They ended up not fleeing fast enough (the Nazi authorities in East Prussia forbade flight until it was too late), and eventually the Soviets caught up and passed on fighting the German army.

So my mother- and father-in-law were both taken by the Soviets for forced labor into the Soviet Union. Only my mother-in-law came back (a half-million German civilians were taken into for forced labor, and 1/2 did not come back).

 

they were German?..I just did a quick search....yes, the number of deaths are staggering....I probably read this before, but never much on forced laborers/etc...if you don't mind me asking, your wife went with them, and come back with her mother?