Sapper lieutenant and chemical engineer who worked at the Institute of Military Technology.
Stáhnout obrázek
Palágyi Tivadar Szár, 1923. november 13. His father was a notary, his grandfather was a soldier in the army of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. He was initiated a sapper lieutenant by governor Miklós Horthy in August of 1944. He has studied in Hajdúszoboszló, Debrecen, Budapest and Kőszeg. He graduated as a chemical engineer. On the day of the German occupation of Hungary (19 of March, 1944.) he was in duty in Buda Castle when a German platoon appeared at the gate. Since the Germans were to enter without permission he was ready to shoot on them. He was ordered not to open fire in the very last moment. In autumn of 1944. he served on a military boat on the Danube river close to Mosonmagyaróvár. One day they witnessed that a carrier boat ran on mine and started immediately sinking. There were hundreds of prisoners of war in the water, many of them burned and seriously injured. He ordered his group to save as many survivors as possible. In January of 1945. they were ordered to keep position against the Red Army on the banks of Ipoly river. Their task seemed hopeless because the Russians were in obvious numerical superiority. The Russian attack began after dusk and soon overpowered the Hungarian defenders. When he was taken into captivity the Russian soldier asked him wheter he had a gun. He denied that he had one, but as his bag has been searched his pistol was found. The Soviet soldier put his gun into his head right away and pulled the trigger. Luckily, the weapon was not loaded. After several weeks of captivity the Soviets offered to the remaining Hungarian soldiers to fight against to Germans. Palágyi Tivadar took this choice. His main task was to deactivate German and Soviet mines. While working on minefields in western parts of Hungary an explosion occured in which he lost his left foot above the ankle. That happened in the summer of 1945. He was in hospital for nearly 8 months where he studied languages. Althought that he would have been considered as a soldier of the Horthy era (which members were hunted by the communists) the fact that he has been injured during the fights against the Germans helped him to continue his carrier at the army. He was working at the Institute of Military Technology until the 1st of January, 1957. He recalls that at every department of the institute a few Soviet advisors participated. Their order was to bring every new invention to the USSR. For decades he has been working for Danubia Patent and Law Office LLC.