History Is the Crime

In post–World War I Hungary, the small village ofNagyrév captured the attention of the world as the hub of one of the largest female-led mass poisonings. At the center of this poisoning scandal was a midwife named Zsuzsanna Fazekas. When women confided in her about their problems, the midwife offered them a homemade arsenic solution, which they used to get rid of their abusive husbands, ailing family members, inheritance contenders, and even unwanted children. They were later dubbed “the Angel Makers of Nagyrév.”Main sources:Hope Reese, The Women Are Not Fine (BRAZEN, 2025).Patti McCracken, The Angel Makers: Arsenic, a Midwife, and Modern History’s Most Astonishing Murder Ring (WilliamMr,2023).Bernadette Giacomazzo, The Angel Makers Of Nagyrév: The Women Who Poisoned Their Families In 1920s Hungary, All That is Interesting September 15, 2021).