Pink postcards 11

[31 December 1914]
Name of the sender: Károly Timó
Address of the sender: Nagy-Sztropkó

Address: To the honored Miss Antónia Zajác
3rd district, Kis-Korona Street 52
Budapest

Previous letters (gray dots): • Budapest, 23 December 1914 • Budapest, 21 December 1914 • Budapest, 11 December 1914 • Budapest, 2 December 1914 • Budapest, 28 November 1914 • Budapest, 27 November 1914 • Budapest, 18 November 1914 • Budapest, 27 October 1914 • Debrecen, 25 September 1914 • Szerencs, 28 August 1914

My dear son,
I am writing this letter in the Carpathians, by the light of a campfire. I send my wishes of luck, so that the new year be more pleasant than the past one. I am here in a village next to the frontier. The music for the New Year’s Eve dinner is provided by gunfire. It is not cold, we are just swimming in mud, which is a big problem, and very exhausting. I also wish a happy new year to your mother, sisters, and all the people in the workshop, including the old man.
Embraces and kisses you your loving Károly
Write immediately, when there is a field post number.

[The machine starts again.

“I am here in a village next to the frontier. The music for the New Year’s Eve dinner is provided by gunfire. It is not cold, we are just swimming in mud…”

What can you add to this?

“Sztropkó (Stropkov), a town in the district of the same name in Zemplén county, with 2585 Slovak, German and Hungarian inhabitants (1910). Its former castle stood from the 14th century to 1675; now only a part of its eastern side stands. The church, developed from the former castle chapel, has several remarkable works of art: old (14th c.) iron candle holders, chasubles (16th c.) The lords of the castle were the Keglevics, Perényi, Sztáray, Vécsey, and finally the Gersei Pethő families. In 1760 the young Prince Lubomirski of Poland was accompanied to the castle of Munkács through Sztropkó. The town suffered a lot during the Russian incursion of 1914-1915. Cf. Ede Unghváry, Adatok Sz. mezőváros és várának történetéhez [Data to the story of Sztropkó town and its castle] (Adalékok Zemplén vm. történetéhez 1897. 1–4.) (T. Cs.-Szl.)” • Révai nagy lexikona [Révai’s Great Encyclopaedia], XVII, 757]

Traces of the ravages by the Russian incursion in Sáros and Zemplén counties, in the settlements around Sztropkó. Photos of the report by Kornél Divald, sent out in May 1915 to assess the damages. Published by the Klub Vojenskej Histórie Beskydy. The report also mentions among the destroyed monuments, at number 68, the medieval church of Sztropkó.

At the end of the year of 2014, which passes in the sign of the field post, this post is supposed to be the last one, so we wish all readers a Happy New Year!

Next postcard: 4 January 1915