Collections & Personal Stories
Lives Behind the Artifacts
While the Photo Archive presents individual historical photographs, Collections & Personal Stories brings together the people, places and events that gave those images their meaning.
Each collection is the result of archival research, image analysis and documentary evidence. Original photograph albums, military documents, newspapers and surviving artefacts are combined to reconstruct forgotten lives and place them back into their historical context.
Rather than simply displaying photographs, these permanent collections are presented as digital exhibitions. Every story represents a carefully researched historical project that preserves not only the original material itself, but also the knowledge uncovered through ongoing investigation.
As the archive continues to grow, additional collections will be added, creating a permanent record of individuals, military units and families whose stories deserve to be remembered alongside the objects they left behind.
Current Permanent Collection
Original Photograph Albums
Family Archives
Personal Histories & Biographies
Identified Soldiers & Officers
Military Hospitals & Medical Personnel
Decorations & Provenance Research
Letters & Personal Documents
Research Case Studies
Archive Discoveries
Permanent Collections
Dr. Ákos Osváth – The Physician Who Chose Humanity
Built around an original wartime medical album containing 233 photographs from Hungarian Military Hospital No. 125 in Szombathely, this permanent collection documents one of the most remarkable medical archives preserved from the Royal Hungarian Army.
It tells the story of Captain Dr. Ákos Osváth and the Hungarian medical personnel who treated wounded Soviet prisoners of war during the final months of the Second World War.
Years of archival research transformed an anonymous photo album into a fully documented personal history, revealing one of the most remarkable humanitarian stories preserved in the TŰZKERESZT Digital Archive.
Győző Szegedi and the Italian Pilot Training Programme of 1939
This collection follows Hungarian pilot Győző Szegedi through the Italian pilot training programme of 1939, preserving sixteen photographs from the course together with portraits, his calling card and official casualty records.
Beyond Szegedi’s personal story, the photographs document one of the first generations of Hungarian military pilots trained in Italy before the Second World War. His story ends in 1942, when he died in an aircraft accident over the Danube near Újpest.
Nemes Nagy-Tóth István — From Ludovika to Gluchov, 1935–1942
An original wartime photograph of a Hungarian officer’s grave at Gluchov became the starting point for the reconstruction of the life and death of Captain nemes Nagy-Tóth István.
A portrait from the 1935 graduating class of the Royal Hungarian Ludovika Academy, contemporary death notices, military casualty records and wartime sources trace the young career officer from Budapest to the Eastern Front.
The investigation connects his death on 16 July 1942 with the disastrous fighting involving the Hungarian 38/I Battalion near Dubovicsi, and with a group of Hungarian graves seen at Gluchov only three weeks later by field chaplain Pál Soltész.
Browse the Archive
Explore original photograph albums, researched biographies, permanent collections, family archives and documentary studies documenting the military history of Hungary and the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. New research projects and personal stories are added as the archive continues to expand.
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TŰZKERESZT Digital Archive • Collections & Personal Stories
