András Toma

András Toma (5 December 1925 – 30 March 2004) was a

Because Toma never learned Russian and nobody at the hospital spoke Hungarian, he had apparently not had a single conversation in over 50 years, a situation of great interest for the fields of psychiatry and psycholinguistics.^[2]

Early life

Toma was born in 1925, in the village of Újfehértó, Hungary. He lived in the hamlet of Sulyánbokor, near Nyíregyháza, where he worked as a blacksmith's apprentice. He had two younger half-siblings through his father, a brother named János and a sister named Anna, who were 12 and 18 years younger than him, respectively.^[3][4][5]

Military service

He was drafted into the

Toma lived in the hospital for the next 53 years under the name András Tamás, where he was unable to communicate with others due to his inability to speak Russian.^[7] In 1997, a Slovakian doctor who spoke Hungarian visited the hospital, and identified him as Hungarian. On 11 August 2000, Toma arrived back in Hungary where authorities attempted to identify him. 82 families came forward, thinking he was their missing relative. On 16 September 2000, he returned to his hometown of Sulyánbokor, where he was reunited with his siblings; they were later confirmed through DNA matching.^[6][3] Since he was never discharged, Toma was promoted to sergeant major by the Minister of Defense, and since his military service had been continuous, his decades of accumulated unpaid salary were paid in full.^[8][5] Toma, then aged 74, moved in with his half-sister Anna, who cared for him until his death in 2004. He was buried with military honours.^[9]

References