The German-allied Hungarian government established the Hungarian Labor Service in 1938, after banning Jews from military duty. Between 1939 and 1945, Jewish men from 18 to 48 years old were drafted into Labor Service brigades instead of the army. These men were organized into military battalions under the command of army officers, and were initially employed in mining and construction projects for Hungarian industrial firms. As Hungarian involvement in World War II increased, more Jewish men were drafted into the Labor Service. Often working in the line of fire, these men dug trenches and tank traps, repaired roads, and cleared mine fields for the Hungarian Army. On the Soviet front alone, around 40,000 of these laborers died from maltreatment, exposure, enemy fire, or execution at the hands of the German Einsatzgruppen.
