Angel Makers of Nagyrev - Who Buys This Much Flypaper?
Approximately 60 miles southeast of Budapest, Hungary, along the shores of the Tisa River, is the city of Nagyrev. At the beginning of the 20th century, Nagyrev was a small farming village that held on to strict traditional ways. One of those traditions was arranged marriages for their teenage daughters to other aged men in the village. No matter their backgrounds, personalities, ages, or the desire of the bride, these arrangements were carried out. Life wasn’t easy in the village. Work was rough, alcohol flowed freely, and abuse was commonplace as the men took out their frustrations on their families. This status quo would change though in 1911 when Julia Fazekas arrived in Nagyrev.
Nagyrev was a poor village without a standing doctor. They relied on the healing and ministrations of what were called “wise women.” These women had enough medical training to provide services and medicine to its citizens. Julia Fazekas arrived with the recommendations of several doctors and was readily accepted as their village midwife and wise woman. She came alone; her husband disappeared some years back and his whereabouts and the circumstances behind the disappearance were unknown. Even with her mysterious appearance, Fazekas was accepted into her position as medical practitioner.
A few years after Fazekas’ arrival, World War I began and all able-bodied men left to serve in the army. With their departure, all of the work then fell to the women of Nagyrev; farming, going to market, and all household duties. The village didn’t remain without men for long though. The remote location of Nagyrev made it a prime location for prisoner of war camps. Affairs began happening between the women and the prisoners. With the affairs came unwanted pregnancies. There was only one person to turn to when this happened – Julia Fazekas. At the time, abortions were illegal in Hungary, but this did not deter Fazekas. In fact, she was arrested and imprisoned at least 10 times for performing the procedures. Whether it was because of judges’ personal beliefs or the fact she was the only medical professional in the village, Fazekas was acquitted. In 1918, toward the end of the war, Nagyrev’s men began returning, and with them, the old way of life for the women. However, the old way of life didn’t sit well with the women or Julia Fazekas anymore.
One evening a woman, bruised and beaten, visited Fazekas. While attending to this young woman, Fazekas suggested there was a way to stop the abuse. While she watched, Fazekas boiled strips of flypaper in water. After a few minutes, she skimmed the extracted arsenic from the top of the water, bottled it, and sent the patient home with instructions on how to administer it. She told the woman that there was no way to detect the poison in decomposing flesh, and that there was no way to trace it, for the death to come back on her. Days later, Julia stood in her doorway as the husband’s funeral procession passed. It didn’t take much time before other women were asking for Fazekas’ solution to stop their abuse, and the husbands of the town began dying.
As Fazekas’ solution gained popularity, she had to bring others into the fold and they began calling themselves the Angel Makers. She established rules for their little group:
Do not talk about fight cl… murder cl… Don’t talk about us.
Only unhappily married women are eligible for this service. No good men, and it wasn’t offered to unmarried women.
Only abusive husbands – no women, no children.
Other than that, Fazekas was open for business, and business was booming. So much so, she needed to hire an assistant. Now, one would think that with all these dead bodies showing up, there would be some questions asked. But it appeared that everyone, from the young and healthy to old and withering, died of heart attacks. At least, that is what the death certificates said. Might be a good thing that either Fazekas’ cousin or her accomplice’s, er, assistant’s son was the coroner and signed all of the certificates as such.
It was a matter of time before Fazekas’ rules were broken. Once the technique of boiling flypaper to procure the lethal arsenic dose was learned by others, the motives and victims began to grow. The women began using this method to poison other members of their family: siblings they didn’t get along with; parents that were too old; parents or extended family that had land holdings that would be passed down to them; and sadly, even children that they couldn’t afford to feed.
Eventually, word got to the authorities. Deaths were so prevalent in Nagyrev that they began calling it the “Murder District.” There were questions about how they were finally notified. Some suggest an Angel was caught in the act. When questioned, she rolled over on Fazekas. Another account suggests that a medical student performed tests on a body found in the Tisa. Traces of arsenic were found in the body’s nails and hair. When word of this discovery got to the Angels, some of them panicked and began digging up tombstones and changing them with graves that were not killed by the Angels. The authorities, wise to the plan, caught some of these women in the act. The police then exhumed 50 bodies, 46 of those tested positive for arsenic poisoning.
In the end, 34 women were indicted for being an Angel Maker, including Julia Fazekas. Fazekas however did not make it to trial. When she learned the police were coming for her, she chose to take her own life rather than face the courts. Of the other Angels, 26 were tried, 8 of which were sentenced to death. Only 2 of the 8 had that sentence carried out. It is suggested that in her 18 years in Nagyrev, Julia Fazekas was responsible for, or accomplice to 45 – 50 deaths, but some accounts approximate that 300 Angels were made by Julia Fazekas and her accomplices.
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