The Battle of Isaszeg and the War of Independence

Isaszeg is one of the glorious places in Hungarian history, on the sixth of April 1849, during the famous spring campaign of General Artúr Görgey struck a decisive and strategic blow to the Austrian forces at Isaszeg. Most of the country was liberated from imperial control: the Hungarian armies liberated Komárom, liberated Buda – the War of Independence regained its base.

The majority of Hungarians know very little about the large number of Hungarian Jews who took part in the War of Independence. Approximately 20 000 of the 180 000-strong Home Army, and a third of the Pest battalion, were soldiers of Jewish origin. The Jewish community therefore made a huge human sacrifice and provided considerable financial support for the Hungarian War of Independence. Although this has been generously forgotten by posterity, the imperial court was not for a moment so oblivious. For their support of the War of Independence, the Jewish community was made to pay a heavy military tribute and was conscripted into the Austrian army as a punishment. And they had to wait until 1867 for recognition of their equal rights.

„In our struggle for independence in 1848-49, our Jewish compatriots also took part with dedication.” (George Klapka)

„Twenty thousand fought valiantly in our army.” (Lajos Kossuth)

„Among the Jews in our army, there were more outstanding individuals, in proportion to their own numbers, than in proportion to those of other races.” (Zsigmond Mikár, Secretary General of the Defence Associations)

„In discipline, personal courage and tenacious perseverance, in all military virtues, they fought valiantly with their comrades.” (Artúr Görgey)

„Prove yourselves true sons of Hungary, like the worthy descendants of the heroic Maccabees: you have freely and voluntarily chosen your vocation: the cause for which you fight is a just and holy cause; your honour depends on your conduct, like that of the Jews: your life and destiny are in God’s hands” (Inspirational speech of Rabbi Schwab Löw of Pest to the Jewish soldiers of the Pest Battalion on 22 June 1848).

„And if the homeland calls for voluntary sacrifice, the Jews will never be left behind. We know of examples of Jews of mediocre wealth in the same locality who not long ago voluntarily sacrificed more to the country’s fire than their wealthy landlord.” (excerpt from the political daily Future of 12 December 1848)

„The suppliers of the Hungarian army were for the most part Jews… and in this field they were most indispensable and performed extraordinary services…The Jews then rendered invaluable service to the Hungarian army, supplying it with everything it needed. Windischgraz, in his proclamation of February 11, 1849, therefore, declares that, knowing that the Jews are the chief suppliers of the „rebels,” he will have all Jews caught in such a misdemeanor tried before a military tribunal.” (excerpt from the book 1948 and the Hungarian Jews by Dr. Béla Bernstein)

Photo of Henrik Link the soldier doctor from Isaszeg

It is well known that the medical profession was one of the open disciplines available to them, and so on the battlefields and in the war hospitals there was a prominent number of Hungarian Jewish doctors, whose courage and excellence were in no short supply. The tomb of Lieutenant Henrik Link, a corpsman in 1848, is in the Jewish cemetery in Isaszeg. After the battle, he was involved in collecting the wounded, dressing their wounds and healing them. He lived for 104 years. The field hospital was in the former water mill building.

And another area where Hungarian Jewry was at the forefront was in newspaper writing. Their presses were tireless in publishing articles, speeches, patriotic pamphlets, reporting on public and political events, in short, keeping the spirit alive in the population.