On the Hungarian Camp Poetry Composed in Soviet Captivity

This study examines some of the key features of Hungarian camp poetry composed during and after the Second World War by soldiers and civilians held in Soviet captivity in GUPVI and GULAG camps. The analysis concentrates on formal and stylistic elements such as sound patterns, shifts in narrative perspective, evocative lexical choices, and on recurring representations of dehumanization. These strategies serve to bear witness to personal and collective trauma and articulate suffering, identity, and forms of resistance through poetic language. By examining these poems within their historical, cultural, and literary contexts, the article highlights the role of camp poetry in understanding how language and creativity respond to conditions of extreme oppression.