Mór Boros (1887-1944)

Artist, teacher, hero of World War I. He was born in Balassagyarmat on 23. April 1887. as child of Lipót Bornstein and Fáni Kornitzer, died in Auschwitz, where he was deported on 13. Juny 1944. 

He studied  in elementary and higher elementary schools in Balassagyarmat then he graduated as a teacher in Léva (today: Levice, Slovakia) in 1907. After that for a short time he was working as an educator in Horpács, where he  get personal contact with the famous Hungarian novelist, Kálmán Mikszáth. In 1908 he studied painting in the Budapest Academy of Fine Arts, and recieved a certificate. He was working as a primary school teacher in 1911 in Esztergom County than from 1913 in Bars County. During this period according to his own words: "I was practicing especially in the fine arts".

During World War I he performed military service, where he reached the rank of first lieutenant.  His duty was to draw maps of the position of the enemy for the regiment and the division.  In 16. Juny 1916. he wounded and captured by the Russians. He returned home only in May 1918. While he was prisoner of war he made study drawings in the Tretyakov Gallery that he sold at home.  In the prisoner camp he edited a half-serious half-humorous  illustrated weekly newspaper with the title "Prisoner Fidibus" (1916-18). In 1918 he took part of the exhibition of the 16th Infantry Regiment with several pictures.

He received the Military Merit Medal  (Signum Laudis) with Swords, the Karl Troops Cross, the Wound Medal, Hungarian, Austrian, German War Commemorative Medals. After returning home he was awarded the rank of captain.

After returning home he dealt with arts and crafts design, for example he designed stock for Drégely Industrial Company Co. In 1921 he prepared the irredentistic map of Nógrád and Hont County which was published by the National Institute of Nógrád County.

From the 1930s until his death he was a teacher in the Jewish Elementary School (Israelite Elementary School) and commander of the scout team.  Together with his wife, Lujza Rusznyák they were deported to Auschwitz and is likely that they had been killed on the day of their arrival. 

After the war their son, László Boros made aliyah, and settled in Haifa, Israel.

Sources:

• Tamás Zonda: Prominent citizens of Balassagyarmat. Balassagyarmat, 2011.
• Tamás Esze Collection. Yearbook of the Iván Nagy Historic Circle 1995.
•  The Golden Album of Hungarian Jewish soldiers : In memory of the world war 1914-1918 / edited by Márton Hegedüs. - Budapest 1940. p. 346. 
• Hungarian Jewish Lexikon. Ed by Péter Ujvári, Budapest: Magyar Zsidó Lexikon. 1929. p. 78. Reach online

(Yechiel)

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