Monument to the Civilian Heroes Who Fell in World War II
Statue, monument, memorial plaque
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Garamkövesd Municipality erected a monument in honor of the civilian victims of the war in Garamkövesd in June 2015. ; At the inauguration ceremony, Mayor János Elzer said in his speech that their village suffered greatly from the bloody battles of the war, which claimed many military and civilian victims. There is already a monument to the military victims in the church and cemetery, now the names of the thirteen civilian victims have been carved in stone. The Saint Ladislaus Division of the Hungarian elite army, famous for its exceptional courage, suffered its greatest loss here, in the battles along the Ipoly and Garam rivers. The memorial plaque on the stone block also honors the fallen heroes. ; The monument was created at the initiative of Ilona Kálmánné Jasztrabszky. In the final stages of the war, the woman, now eighty-four, kept a diary of the events of that time, in which she faithfully describes her ordeals. She also fondly remembers the Saint Ladislaus soldiers, who on December 24, 1944, even brought Christmas trees to the children hiding in the cellars. Aunt Rózsika recalled what it was like to live in the line of fire. “In one week, many people’s houses and all their possessions were reduced to nothing. Some were seriously injured, and some were innocent victims. These memories can never be freed from.” ; From December 1944 to May 1945, the region was the scene of heavy fighting. Ninety-two-year-old retired colonel Dr. Jenő Farkas, who was also a member of the Saint Ladislaus Division, looked back on the war period with a military eye. He wrote a book based on the war diaries of his comrades, for which he also used the diary of Rózsika Kálmán. He gave those present a precise description of the battles that took place here, listed the names of the fallen soldiers, and the development of the war situation with daily and even hourly accuracy. The legendary courage of the Saint Ladislaus Division testified to the motto “I believe in one God, I believe in one homeland. We believed then and I believe today.”