Saturday, March 29, 2025
On December 14, 1929, The New York Times published a shocking report that stunned not only Americans but also people in Hungary.
The article revealed that around 50 women were being prosecuted for allegedly poisoning and killing most of the men in their village between 1911 and 1929.
The village in question was Nagyrev, located about 130 kilometers south of Budapest, Hungary’s capital. Reports suggested that women there had used arsenic-laced poison to kill more than 50 men.
Because of this, the women of Nagyrev became known as the “Angel Makers” — women who quietly murdered husbands, fathers, and even lovers.
For years, the deaths went unnoticed. Between 1911 and 1929, dozens of men from Nagyrev died mysteriously, their bodies buried in the village cemetery. It wasn’t until 1929 that suspicions led authorities to exhume bodies, revealing traces of arsenic.
Historians and investigators later described this as one of the largest mass murders by women in modern history.
One name kept coming up during the trials: Zsuzsanna Fazekas, a village midwife.
At the time, Nagyrev had no doctor or priest, so Fazekas became a trusted figure.
Women confided in her about abuse, forced marriages, and domestic violence.
She not only performed illegal abortions but also reportedly taught women how to get rid of their husbands — with poison.
According to villagers’ testimonies decades later, Fazekas reassured women that she could “solve their problems” when they were trapped in violent or loveless marriages.
In early 20th-century Hungary, arranged marriages were common. Young women were often forced to marry much older men.
Divorce was nearly impossible, no matter the abuse.
Many women endured physical violence, rape, and infidelity from their husbands.
Fazekas’s “solution” spread through the village, especially during and after World War I, when returning husbands clashed with wives who had briefly tasted independence.
By 1929, police exhumed bodies and confirmed arsenic poisoning. Fazekas herself was arrested but drank poison before authorities could take her away.
That same year, 26 women were tried in the nearby town of Szolnok.
Eight women were sentenced to death.
Several others received life sentences.
Most denied their crimes, and many details remain unresolved.
Some estimates suggest as many as 300 men may have been killed across the region, though only about 50–60 murders were proven in court.
Historians remain divided about why Nagyrev’s women killed on such a scale.
Some cite poverty, greed, or boredom.
Others point to years of domestic abuse and arranged marriages as driving factors.
There were also reports of affairs with Russian prisoners of war, which may have fueled resentment when husbands returned.
Dr. Géza Chekh, a historian who studied the court records, said many questions remain unanswered even today.
A local farmer interviewed in the 1950s even claimed that Nagyrev’s women had been poisoning men “for generations.”
The story of the “Angel Makers of Nagyrev” remains one of Europe’s most chilling and puzzling chapters in criminal history — where an entire community of women took justice, revenge, or perhaps survival, into their own hands.
