The Evacuation of the Children of Alt-Futok
The following is the translation of an article of the same title in German that appeared in the Donautal magazine. Atl-Futok was a community in the Batschka.
Romania’s capitulation on August 23, 1944 finally awakened the Swabian community leaders in the Batschka to the danger approaching and initiated what would become “The Great Escape” of the German population of Yugoslavia in October 1944.
It was Saturday, September 30, 1944 and at ten o’clock in the morning the sound of salvos of artillery fire began and lasted for half an hour coming from the direction of Novi Sad (Neusatz) and could be heard from a distance. The population assumed that German troops were dealing with a Partisan attack or military manoeuvres were taking place in Peterwardein. The firing started up again on the morning of October 3rd…a Tuesday. The population knew nothing of what was occurring nor were they aware of the threatening danger they were in because they had no news of what was happening on the Eastern Front. For the inhabitants of the village of Alt-Futok the battlefield was still somewhere way out there far to the east of them. The German Army was retreating for tactical reasons they were told. Yet despite that, Swabian refugee treks from the Banat had passed through the village on September 3rd.
On the day of the great fire when sixty houses had gone up in flames, the Banat refugees challenged the villagers asking, “What are you waiting for? Get going! The Russians are already in Romania.” Few people took them seriously.
Two days later on October 5th the community officials had the drums beaten on the street corners and the town crier read out the last official decision of the Alt-Futok village Council. All children between the ages of six to fifteen were to be prepared for an emergency evacuation to be set in motion on Sunday, October 8th. They were all to assemble next to the inn in upper Alt-Futok and every child was to bring sufficient food to last for ten days. By noon most of the wagons were already crowded with children. The convoy of wagons and trucks headed out for Palanka at three in the afternoon. The evacuation of the 184 children was now in the hands of a group of women from Futok. The leader of these care givers was 23 year old, Käthe Einz from Torschau, who was the Kindergarten teacher.
The convoy consisted of two groups. A motorized bus group with 40 children led by Eva Mülbi and the wagon trek with Käthe Einz with her 145 children. They also had a military escort. The men were from Neutsatz (Novi Sad) and other parts of Hungary and had been billeted in Futok. The wagons that transported the children to Palanka had been requisitioned from the Serbian inhabitants of Futok. The children were unloaded in Palanka and boarded ships and barges while the military returned with the wagons back to Futok. Palanka was already evacuated and the two barges the children boarded had been meant for 200 children from Bulkes. They arrived too late. The ships and barges had left with their jam packed cargo. The children of Bulkes had to return home where disaster awaited them. Almost all of them died in the death camp in Jarek.