Ferenc Joó

Ferenc Joó was born on 24 June 1908 in the village of Barátka in Bihor County (on his 1945 questionnaire he marked his place of birth as "currently a Romanian annexed territory" - which indicates that he was still hopeful and that he did not wish to make concessions to the new regime). His father was a railwayman, but the family also had a certified "Semerja" noble ancestry. In 1930, after graduating from the Ludovika Academy, he was made an infantry lieutenant. Between 1941 and 1944 he was an assistant officer and lecturer at the infantry military training school in Sopron. He was awarded the Governor's Commendation for "educating officers' cadets". He left for the battlefield in November 1944 as commander of the 38/I Battalion. With this battalion he took part in the fighting on the outskirts of Budapest and returned to the capital. By the beginning of January 1945, his battalion had been completely worn down by desertions and bloody casualties in Kőbánya. Joó must not have felt much like fighting either, because he stayed behind in Budapest. He was a Soviet prisoner of war from 18 January to 8 February 1945, but was then handed over to the new army. The circumstances of his captivity are unclear, but according to his autobiography he was slightly wounded on 2 January 1945, after which 'I managed to withdraw from the fighting, volunteering with 31 of my men in uniform for the incoming Soviet army. I was held in Gödöllő for two weeks and then I was transported by rail to Debrecen, where I reported to the Ministry of Defence, which was being formed there, and was given a post." He received excellent ratings, but a year later, on the orders of the SZEB, he was transferred to the reserve staff and was demobilised in 1947. He then tried to find work as a farm labourer, shop salesman and construction labourer.