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'Last PoW' laid to rest in Hungary

BUDAPEST - Thousands of people attended the funeral of a Hungarian man who spent half a century locked up in Russia before being released in 2000.

Andras Toma, 78, known in Hungary as the "last PoW," was buried Tuesday with full military honours in Nyiregyhaza in eastern Hungary.

Toma spent 55 years as a prisoner of war in Russia before he was discovered by chance by a Slovakian doctor visiting a psychiatric hospital in northern Russia in 2000.

The doctor recognized Toma was speaking an old-fashioned Hungarian regional dialect, mistaken by hospital staff for gibberish.

Toma had been taken prisoner by the Red Army shortly before the end of the Second World War. He had been fighting in Russia with the Hungarian Army on the side of Nazi Germany.

He was transferred to the Kotelnich hospital in 1947 and was suffering from suspected schizophrenia. He had lost a leg and forgotten his name.

It took several years to establish a full picture of what had happened to Toma during his ordeal.

After his return to Hungary dozens of people claimed to be his relatives before a brother and half-sister were finally found.

Posted by thinkum at April 7, 2004 02:04 PM