Following Germany’s invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and the Soviet Union’s attack on 17 September 1939, thousands of Poles, both civilians and soldiers, crossed the Hungarian border. Despite the difficult international situation and Hungary’s membership of the Axis powers, the Hungarians showed great goodwill and provided assistance to Polish refugees. The Poles were looked after – both by the Hungarian state and by Polish organisations operating in Hungary. Those interned were housed in numerous military and civilian camps.

The number of Polish internees during the initial period of their exile is estimated at around 140,000, including approximately 33,000 rank-and-file soldiers and officers. Over time, the number of refugees, primarily military personnel, decreased as a result of an evacuation operation organised by the Poles to France and the Middle East, to join the Polish military units being formed there.

In plot 2, row 12, of the local cemetery lies the grave of Major Franciszek Szkuta of the Polish Army, a veterinary surgeon, who died on 26 April 1945. The grave is marked by a horizontal concrete slab lying on the ground and a small cross with a gravestone plaque: “IN MEMORY OF FRANCISZEK SZKUTA / MAJOR, VETERINARIAN, POLISH ARMY / DIED 26 APRIL 1945 / AGE 55 / MAY HIS MEMORY BE HONOURED”

According to archival documents, Lieutenant Władysław Łabędź, born on 13 December 1890 in the village of Tajkuny, resident in Tarnów, who died on 7 April 1942, and Urszula Sidorow, a three-year-old child of Polish refugees, who died on 24 May 1945. Their graves have most likely not survived to the present day; during an inventory carried out in March 2025, these graves were not found.