Nagyrév Poisonings Investigated in Dutch Documentary

Every Hungarian male knows that the local breed of female can be a bit of a handful. But, in the early years of the twentieth century, the Magyar menfolk of the sleepy village of Nagyrév got more than they bargained for – much more. The local women became notorious for disposing of unwanted husbands with the help of local midwife Zsuzsanna Oláh-Fazekas and her secret supply of arsenic, made from flypaper. Once the story hit the press in 1929, a total of 51 women were arrested, six were sentenced to death and three, including the midwife, committed suicide. Dutch filmmaker Astrid Bussink is the latest in a long line of journalists, historians and true-crime freaks to tell the story. Her film, "The Angelmakers", has been selected for an award at the prestigious Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival.

According to this article in The Scotsman, the 35-minute documentary explores how the village lives with its grim legacy today and reveals the motives of its black widows. Bussink reveals some of their reasons herself, "The women had abusive husbands, some were forced into marriage and some of the men were crippled after the First World War or were unemployed or alcoholics. There was no divorce there in those days." Ouch! - Adrian Courage