Szilveszter Matuska
| Szilveszter Matuska | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
January 29, 1892 Csantavér |
| Died | Unknown |
| Cause of death | Disappeared |
| Criminal penalty | Death, commuted to life imprisonment |
| Motive | Possibly sexual gratification |
| Killings | |
| Date | September 30, 1931 |
| Location(s) | Biatorbágy, Hungary |
| Killed | 22 |
| Injured | 120+ |
| Weapons | Dynamite |
|
Date apprehended
|
10 October 1931 |
Szilveszter Matuska (January 29, 1892 – disappeared c. 1945), was a Hungarian mass murderer and mechanical engineer who made two successful and at least two unsuccessful attempts to derail passenger trains in Hungary, Germany and Austria in 1930 and 1931. He was born in Csantavér (now Čantavir, Serbia).
Matuska made at least two failed attempts to derail trains in Austria in December 1930 and January 1931.
Matuska's first successful crime was the derailment of the Berlin-Basel express train south of Berlin on August 8, 1931. More than 100 people were injured, several of them seriously, but there were no deaths. Because of the discovery of a defaced Nazi newspaper at the scene of the crime, among other things, the attack was believed to have been politically motivated. A bounty of 100,000 reichsmark was put on the perpetrator.
Matuska's second and more notorious successful crime was the derailment of the Vienna Express headed towards Vienna as it was crossing the Biatorbágy bridge near Budapest at 12.20am on 13 September 1931. 22 people died and 120 others were injured, 17 of them severely.
Matuska carried out this crime by placing numerous sticks of dynamite in a brown fiber suitcase, which had detonated at a viaduct due to the weight of the train, causing the engine and nine of the eleven coaches forming the train to plunge into a ravine 30 meters deep. Matuska was discovered at the scene of the crime but, having passed himself off as a surviving passenger, he was released. Investigators in the three countries were on his trail, however, and he was arrested in Vienna one month later, on 10 October 1931, whereupon he soon confessed.
Matuska was tried and convicted in Austria for two unsuccessful attempts. He was later extradited to Hungary on condition that he not be executed. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment as agreed with Austria.
Following the bombing, Prime Minister Gyula Károlyi declared martial law and executed two representatives of the banned Hungarian Communist Party (KMP), Imré Sallai and Sándor Fürst.
...
Wikipedia