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After we got married, Gabi didn't bother me, he was afraid of Joska. He made nuisance of himself very often. Example: In our bathroom if we wanted to take a bath, we had to make a fire in the water boiler to warm up the water. For that, you had to go to our coal-basement to bring up coal and firewood, and it took some time to feed the fire. Joska did that for us, then Gabi went into the bathroom and took a bath. We had to start the whole procedure from the beginning. Jancsi graduated from high school in l955. He was always an excellent student with high marks. His year-end report card was the same, but when he got the matura marks, instead of "excellent" he got "good" average. When Anyu asked the home room teacher what was the reason, the answer was: Gams Janos is the son and grandson of capitalists, he should not go to university, with the lower mark he could not apply. There was no unemployment in the Communist regime, so Jancsi got a job in the Vadasztolteny Co. as a labourer, he had to do a small boring job, putting a small part into radios. He came home from work every day, very upset, he will go crazy if he has to do that much longer. l956 was a busy year. The store prospered, almost nightly we visited one of our tailors to bring him some work and days later to pick it up. During the Communist area the only way to have a business enterprise was to do your own work. We were not allowed to employ anybody. The only one who came to pick up work from our apartment was an old friend of Joska, Rigo Imre. During that summer, one night we visited a tailor who lived very close to us, around the city's swimming pools. As we walked on the street, Joska held my hand, and said, we have to stop and wait. What on earth for? You see the man not far ahead, he is my father, and he must be on his way to the same tailor. I said, this is the best opportunity, why don't we meet him there? No way, was his answer, I won't let him hurt you in any way, not even with words. We waited till he left the place, then we entered the house. That was the only time I saw my father-in-law. Our honeymoon was very short, because I had to go back to the office. The first of May is the day of the workers, a very important holiday. It lasted two days. According to the new order, Christmas became a one day holiday. Everybody called May. 2nd, the second day of Christmas! On May 1st, every company employee had to meet at the workplace, and from there we had to march to the Communist Party headquarters. Everybody, who was not dying, had to be there. This was the first time I had to go from MEZOKER (Veg. and Fruit Co.). Joska said, this is our first long weekend, he was supposed to go to the army in a week’s time, we will go to Budapest, take a hotel room and forget about the march. I did not need very much persuasion, we took the train to Budapest. Visited friends, went to see a movie, eat in good restaurants, we left Friday night and came back Monday night. Next morning there was a letter on my desk from the secretary of "The Party". He asked me to give him a detailed explanation of my whereabouts and doings on that weekend, because I did not appear during the march. When I read it, I could not stop laughing. All the girls in the office came around my desk, they saw the letter and were extremely curious what was in it. When they all read it, it went from office to office, and I hope Tovarish Secretary figured out why everybody was laughing when they met him, during the day. The winter of l956 was blistery and snowy. There was not much money in the City Hall for snow removal, and after a particularly heavy snow fall, the Party got the brilliant idea, why don't we order the clerks from the surrounding offices to "volunteer" their services. We had a "meeting" about that, and were supposed to arrive next morning dressed accordingly and with a snow shovel. Now, in Hungary the city cleaned the streets and the sidewalks cleaning was the responsibility of the owner of the building or the tenant. First question was, where would we get shovels? The answer: a good Communist tovarish always looks forward and solve every problem. The Party is too busy to fight for the proletariat and has no time to solve every inci vinci problem! My not so inci vinci problem was, that I worked in the City Hall building, right across the street, from the Pollak house. I compromised a lot in my new life after l944, but to shovel snow in front of our store, I was not willing to do. I went home crying, how could I solve this problem? When Joska heard why was I crying, he said, when we have to go outside, just run home, and he will do it instead of me. He said there was a coal shovel in the basement, he will take it. We had a very mild night and for the morning there was not much snow left, so we were spared. Summer of l956 was like waking up from a long bad dream, not quite up, but almost. There were poets and writers who published works never permitted before. Newspapers printed articles, criticizing (very mildly mind you) the present politics. Somehow a new wind started to blow and everybody in the country noticed it. We heard, on October 23th, university students in Budapest will have a peaceful demonstration, it was very new, that they were allowed to do that. Joska was a person who never missed the news (at that time on the radio) nightly, he was usually working and listening to the radio. All of a sudden they stopped the program and played the Hungarian national anthem. We were not allowed to sing it, because, it starts: Isten aldd meg a magyart (God, give your blessing to the Hungarians.)-and there was no God in the Communist regime. I remembered very vividly October l5, l944, when the fascist takeover took place in Budapest, and started to get goose pimples. What is going on? Then a new voice, we never heard before said: The Hungarian State Radio is run by students, and it will be democratic, real democratic! We also heard, hardly believe our ears, that there are fights on Budapest’s streets and the AVO (the Hungarian secret police) opened fire on the students from a nearby roof. The number of the students increased steadily with workers, teachers, clerks etc. The Avo called the army, they came, but when they were ordered to shoot into the crowd, they lowered the rifles, and joined the crowd. We stayed up all night, listening to the news, and when we looked through the street, every light was on in every house. The announcer said, some cities joined the crowd in Budapest, got some rifles, and there are fights, they mentioned Fehervar too, but we did not hear anything. Next morning we were thinking, should we go to work? Looked out the window, the usual morning crowd was on the street. Anyu, Jancsi and I left for work. Well, it was not a successful workday. Everybody talked about the radio announcements, and we did not believe our ears. By the second day, there were more fights, and we heard that Fehervar was not spared, there were fights in the outskirts. The AVO in Budapest attacked the Killian Army Barrack. The Commandant of the Barrack was Maleter Peter. He ordered all his men to shoot at the AVO, there were bitter fights there. By the end of the second day, the students dismissed the present Parliament, and we were Democratic Hungary. The cities were full with flags, the middle part cut out (that was the place were the communist symbol replaced the old St. Steven crown.) Some people found an old flag and hung it through the window, there were crowds cheering. The new Prime Minister was Nagy Imre. He was a former political prisoner, one of the many who were jailed because of the alleged Rajk trial. I forget to mention something very important. During the summer of l956, all these Rajk prisoners (the ones who were still alive) were set free, and there was a big state funeral for Rajk and the others who were murdered. Nagy Imre was a smart man, would have been a great leader. On the third day, of the Revolution the jails opened, and every political prisoner was freed, among them the Catholic Cardinal, Mindszenthy Jozsef. People carried him on their shoulders! He gave a smart speech, don't do any revenge, stop fighting, the revolution has to stay clean! We had new newspapers, they were bought up at every street corner in minutes. Nagy Imre and Mindszenthy wrote many articles, saying: please calm down and start to build the new Hungary. The crowd occupied the AVO building, destroyed all the papers, threw even furniture out of the window. The notorious AVO guys were rounded up for trials, but some of them particularly those who had fired at the crowd, were killed by the students. There were many young people killed during these days. Where they fell, it was a shrine, full with candles and flowers. A completely new Jancsi came home from the factory on the second day, Oct. 24 l956. His company has free press, free radio and he is one of the organizers! That type of work was more like his line, finally he enjoyed going to work. In the new Hungary, he will be able to go to university, he never has to touch a radio again! In the following days, there was a rumour, we will have new money, the old one will be replaced and devaluated. In l956 there was a new law, everybody was allowed to claim back one of the properties taken away by the state. Joska had many properties taken away, because he was the only survivor of a large family. He decided to claim the house in Gyor. We hired a lawyer, and a few days before the unexpected revolution, we got the money, about 40.000 forint, which was a huge amount at the time. We wanted to improve the business, maybe rent a small place, so Joska doesn't have to work and deal with the clients in our bedroom. The money was in the bank. When we heard, that it could be lost again, we went to a shopping spree. We bought the newest kind of radio which had a clock in it, two bicycles, a sheepskin coat for me and a beautiful coat with fur lining for Joska. We wanted to buy a good mattress. Weisz Erno sold us all lining and suit material he could find in the store. We spent a lot, but still had about half of the money left. During the following weeks life started to normalize. We still had the Russian army in the country, but at the beginning, they just stayed quietly behind. The papers had large headlines, "We want the Russians out of the Country". We had many newspaper reporters from the West, who only saw the inside of the Communist country, the first time. The radio kept saying, we did what we could all by ourselves, but we need the help of the western countries for the follow up. In the western press, we were heroes, the first people to go against the mighty Soviets. How naive we were, second time in our life!!! Didn't we learn, never to trust anybody in l944? Well our enjoyment in the free Hungary did not last very long. The radio announced, that on November 4th, Maleter, who was the war-minister would meet the Russian Commandant, and they would discuss the Russian withdrawal. We woke up on November 4, about five o'clock in the morning, for the sound of tanks going on our street and all of a sudden the guns opened fire on the former Party Headquarters, which became the new regime's Headquarter. They also shoot at the City Hall. We lived 4-5 houses away from these buildings, I don't think you can imagine, how did it sound! (I certainly hope, that you will never hear it!!) We were so scared, jumped out of the bed, Anyu was screaming, come down to the coal-basement, the way you are, just put a coat on. Falus Bozsi neni and Pista bacsi run in also, lets go downstairs. We all run, when we discovered, that Jancsi was not there. Anyu became hysterical, Joska or Gabi run upstairs, and there was Jancsi, calmly putting on a tie! He does not want to die in pyjamas! Before we went down, we opened every window, so the glass won't break. I never was in that basement in my life, because there were rats there. Now you know, how do I feel about mice, imagine about rats! Fortunately we did not see any, probably they were afraid of the big noise. At 6.30AM, our newly acquired radio clock came on, loud and clear, for all our neighbours to listen to. It was time to wake us up, and we did not dare to go upstairs and close it. After about one hour, all of a sudden it was quiet. You have to experience that, you could actually hear the quietness. All of us stayed down for a while, than Joska and Jancsi walked upstairs and very cautiously looked through the windows. They found neighbours doing the same thing. On the other side of our street (very narrow) a friend, the Goldman family lived. Joska, Jancsi and Miki asked each other what happened? Of course nobody knew. We all decided not to go to work, wait and see what will develop during the day. The radio only played music. All of a sudden the "democratic radio" announcer's voice? "Our revolution is finished. The mighty Russian army occupied our Country once again, with tanks and artillery. We only had some rifles. Maleter met the Russian Commandant and he is a prisoner since. The Russian army used their artillery as they moved along the streets all over Hungary. We are begging the western countries please, please come and help us, because we alone don't have the strength to fight them. They came in my room to arrest me. Good Bless You All and please "God help the Hungarians" "the first words of the national anthem.( After that, we only heard music. Many people had rifles from the Killian barrack, but of course that was the first place the Russians overtake. There wasn’t any other place to find rifles. The West only sent encouragement, nothing else. Unfortunately, at the same time as our revolution became a reality, Israel fought Egypt over the Suez Canal. That was much more important for the West, they needed the Arab oil. For weeks there were partisan fights in Hungary, people made “Molotov cocktails” and dropped them on tanks from windows. The next tank shot at that building. Many people died, and Budapest looked like it did at the end of the Second World War. People whispered, we should have a general strike, and without newspaper or radio announcement, people stopped to go to work. The new prime minister was Kadar Janos. A man, who was in prison with Nagy Imre and Rajk. He had no fingernails, they were pulled off during interrogation. He was not a bad guy, but at the time, everybody said, he sold us out to the Russians. In my opinion he had no choice in the matter, the Russians needed a man, who suffered during the previous regime, so people would easier accept him. At the time everybody hated him, but in the later years, Hungary became one of the best Communist state to live in, and living standard improved. The political doctrine was easier, but all these things started only during the 60s. Everybody was on strike, but the people needed food. At the beginning farmers came to the market and brought their surplus food, some gave it away for free. People needed bread, children needed milk. Kadar was begging the population to stop the strike and we will see, conditions will improve. Our company was food supplier, we went back after a few days of the strike, so did the workers for bakeries and grocery stores. Slowly shops opened, but big factories were still on strike. The Russian tanks were everywhere. Our house was the first two-storey building toward the market. It was also wider than the next two houses and Anyu’s room window was directly facing the huge Gunn on the market. We did not feel very secure! The gun damage on our main square, the City Hall and the former Party Headquarter was bad. Luckily our office at the City Hall was spared. The Pollak house was also lucky, survived the second world war and the new Russian invasion intact. We just wished the occupants would of been that lucky! Slowly we had newspapers, we learned to read behind the written words. Szabad Europa "Free Europe" constantly had news, their headquarter was in Germany. That was the only station everybody listened. The station started to read daily, the peoples’ names, who crossed the border into Austria and made the crossing safely. During the revolution, the boarder guards left they posts, and with the help of their map, disarmed all the land mines. The first time since l948, our border was open to Austria. After the 4th of November there were new border guards but some of them closed their eyes, and let people go. Of course there were bad ones too, and lives were lost. In a few days we dared to go outside. We visited the Gathys and the Nadors. Around the Zichy park we saw many tanks, facing the courthouse and the police department. We did not visit Gams Gyuri, because Evi was very sick with double pneumonia, and did not want to catch it. Both the Nadors and the Gathys started to talk about leaving Hungary. It is a good opportunity now, and the possibility of another one is zero. To talk about, and to do it are two different things. Our life just started to be close to normal after the Holocaust. We all found old furniture and other articles, valuable only for us. These items belonged to somebody we loved, in our "former" life and when we looked at them, they gave us comfort. We had jobs, life was not easy, but will it be in a strange Country? Jancsi gave the final push, and than we had no choice. If I remember well, on the day he went back to work, a friend run to him: don't go in. All the people who worked for the free radio station were arrested, you are the last one still free. Go home! He said, when he came home, he has no choice, has to leave the Country. He went to Budapest to talk to Kenez Peter, will he come too? Peter had the violinist uncle in New Jersey, and little Gabi flew to him legally about a month before. There was no question, Peter's uncle will be happy to have him. He wanted to come, but he was not ready yet, there were things he wanted to do, first. Could Jancsi wait a few days. No he could not. He gave Jancsi his uncle's address and they said their goodbyes, and will see each other again soon. Jancsi came home on the train, and said, next morning he will take a train to the border and we should not worry, he will take good care of himself. Of course none of that registered with Anyu, under no circumstances will our family separate, if Jancsi has to go, we all do! Poor Anyu, she was smart, she knew what she had to do, but it was an extremely difficult decision. She lived all her life in Fehervar, she had many good memories before the bad ones came. Our house was extremely important to her, because that was the place we lived with Apuka. In l945, when the Pollak house was intact, we moved into the Gams house disregarding the hole at the front of our apartment and rubbish all over. We had furniture that belonged to Nagypapa, dining-room set belonging to Ili neni, it was comfortable to sit on those chairs where all our loved ones use to sit. Of course she also knew, that after surviving the Holocaust, none of her children will go to a Russian jail. We also kept telling her, from the West, we will have more opportunities to find Nagypapa's money. Gabi had many faults, but he really helped people to cross the border during much harder circumstances, he will be useful now! I never forget the picture, she was sitting in her favourite armchair in her bedroom and could not stop crying. We put her to bed around 9PM saying, we will wait an other day, sleep well and don't worry. She was so tired, she fell asleep. Joska got her winter coat, and sewed in 5.000.- forint. We decided with Jancsi and Gabi, we will wake her up 5AM and gave her no time to think, just go. We packed a small briefcase for the three of them, just a change of underwear, and for Anyu, pictures and the few jewellery pieces she had. We thought it would be smarter, if on that Monday, only the three of them will go, because we had shortage of apartments, and somehow people could "smell" if somebody left the Country, the empty apartment was occupied within the day, by strangers. We thought, if we stay until Wednesday, if their trip was not successful at least they will have a place to come back to. The scene next morning was heart breaking, Anyu had no energy left to fight, and agreed that Jancsi's life is the most important on this world. She was also upset, that we won't go together, but our plan to stay, was a good one, and we promised, by Wednesday we will join them in Austria. How naive we were? Specially Anyu, who was in Austria many times when she grew up with her Mother and Father. Even during the early 30s they took trips in my Grandfather's car. How could we imagine, that we will meet at the many kilometre long border!? Anyu's last words were: go to Vienna and take a hotel room on the Mariehielfe Strasse (like we would go the same way as she did when she was there as a young girl).They left around 1/4 past 6AM, went to the railroad station. We waited until they turned from our sight. I will write later what happened to them. The only thing I say now, that Anyu's coat-lining had a hole, and as she was walking, the 100 forint notes fell regularly through the hole. When she realized, what happened, not much was left. The date was November 20. l956. I went to work on that day, but my head was not there. I kept praying, they will be safe. I worked also on Tuesday, and the family did not come back till 10PM. Maybe, thanks God, they were successful and crossed the boarder safely. Joska talked to people, who were interested to go, and how do they want to accomplish it. A good friend of ours, Weisz Matyi and wife Magda came up with a good solution. They were Anyu's age, had no children, had no desire to start a new life, but we are young, of course we should go. Matyi knew a taxi driver who is enlarging his home, and needs money badly. He is also a very reliable person, should go to him and ask is he willing to drive us to the border? Joska should tell him, that Matyi is our mutual friend, so he doesn't have to worry about us. Joska found him at the taxi stand, and for 10 thousand forint, he was willing to drive us as close to the border as it is possible. He will pick us up at the market, next morning around 6. Joska went home to check if Anyu and Jancsi returned, and when there was no sign of them, came to see me in the office. He arranged our travel, but an official travel document would be useful, could I get one? I promised I try. I wrote a very official letter to authorize me to buy potatoes and onions for the company, the merchandise should be shipped by train. I had an official certificate with picture, as a proof that I worked for MEZOKER. It did not say, that I was a bookkeeper. The office was still in chaos, part of the building had shell holes, some people worked, some did not. It was not to difficult to go into the company vice president's office for a second and put a large stamp on my letter, and signed it. I was very satisfied with my work, and Joska liked it too. Tuesday afternoon Gathy Marika and Laci came to see us. There will be a truck available on Thursday morning it will take a group of people close to the border. Are we interested? The Neubarts want to go and another family. The truck driver asks 5000 forint per family. They don't have it, but Laci will sell something to get it. We said, we already made arrangements and are leaving tomorrow morning. Joska gave Laci 5000 forint. We hugged each other and hoped, someday we will meet again! Joska and I knew, they will have a difficult time with 2 children, Lilike was l0 years old, but Dezso only 20 month old. Their advantage was Marika's language skills, English, German and French. She had her teaching certificate for these languages. Later we heard, the Neubarts and the other family changed their minds, and the truck driver cancelled the trip. The Gathys found an other way to go in a few days. We talked to Bozsi neni and Pista bacsi (Gams Gyuri's mother) and told them, we have no time to go and see Gyuri, but we leave our apartment with everything in it for him and his family. He was married for 6 years, Andris was four years old and Judit three. They still lived in one room with shared kitchen with two other families, and the bathroom shared with Evi's parents. We also asked Bozsi neni to get in touch with Rigo Imre, gave him all the ready made work Joska had in his possession and also the the ones half finished. Also some people left material for suit, and Joska did not have the time to do the work. We left a letter for Imre, told him he can have all our tailor supplies, as a payment: please return all the work to the owners, we did not want to steal anything from them. Later Imre told us, he returned almost everything, but there were people who left like we did, those things are still in his house, He is a very good man, helped us in many ways and was very happy with all the tailor supplies we recently acquired. He sold it and from the cost, enlarged his house. Joska went to the grocery store across the street to buy vodka and rum, to help us on our way to give a gift to a bothersome border guard. The clerk knew us, we never bought these items before. He looked at Joska and said: don't tell me you will disappear too? Every person I sold these items lately were gone next morning! We bought good shoes, covering our ankles and tied with lace for both of us. I never owned a pair of trousers in my life, woman did not wear them in Hungary. Joska made one for me on that night. We had good coats, my new sheepskin and his fur-lined coat. Joska packed a very small suitcase and I packed a briefcase. Change of underwear, and pictures, documents we thought we will need. Joska's master licence, my graduation certificate and the report card from the special two years of bookkeeping school. How could you decide what will be necessary? It was not easy to leave our house. I was born there. All our loved ones spent time in here, their presence was constant. They touched the door handles, they climbed the stairway, I could almost hear their footsteps. I still walked by Klari's house every day wherever I went, now I will never do that again. The Pollak house is not ours anymore, but Nagypapa's initials P.R. are still there on the floor at the entrance. When we will leave tomorrow, it will probably be forever. We could not even say goodbye to Gyuri and the children! Joska did not have such strong attachment to the house, but he built the business from nothing to a successful operation. To leave all that and start a new life without speaking any other language except Hungarian, who could tell us if it will be possible? We don't have anybody living anywhere on the West who could give us advisce, we will be totally alone. If I walked the streets of Fehervar, I knew many people, familiar faces. From now on, we will be among total strangers, and we will never be able to come back! These were the negative thoughts. We had positive ones too. We are young, just starting our life. For the first time, we will live somewhere and don't have to worry we are Jews, we are capitalist, we have red hair or flat foot. We never lived in a Country, where we did not have to worry about something we had no control over, but it was for our disadvantage. Jancsi will go to university, it will only be up to him what he wants to be. We had no illusion, that life will be easy at the beginning, but the future and maybe our children's future will be secure. We had enough of every kind of "ism" we just want to be free, and go to bed without worrying that the police might ring the bell during the middle of the night. The biggest encouragement came from Joska: he hugged me, and said: look, behind my lapel I have several needles with different colour of threads. I have some thread in my suitcase and a scissor. I could go anywhere, I don't even have to speak the language, I will make a living for us, there is nothing to worry about! The apartment was in a mess. We went through every drawer to choose what to take, Anyu and Jancsi left Monday, the farthest thing in my mind was to clean up. I knew it won't be easy for Gyuri to move in, lots of work will be needed. We did not sleep much that night. Got out of bed at 5AM. Packed some food, a whole bread and the small luggage plus the vodka and rum. Bozsi neni and Pista bacsi came over when they heard we were up. We said our goodbyes to them. As soon as we saw the taxi on the market, we left, it was 6AM November 22 l956, Wednesday. Bozsi neni and Pista bacsi stood at the entrance and waited until we sat in the taxi and left. The driver had a map and showed us the route he was planning to take. We will go on the south side of lake Balaton, and through secondary roads will reach Kormend which is a border village, not as popular as the more northern routes around Gyor. He wanted to avoid checkpoints, if it was possible. We agreed with him whole-hardily. We met many military vehicles on the road, both Hungarian and Russian, but nobody stopped us. When we came closer to Kormend, we arrived at the border zone, and there were patrols. They stopped our car and asked where are we going. I showed them my MEZOKER letter, I am buying potatoes and onions for the company. Why is my husband with me? He had some free time and did not wanted to let me go by myself in these dangerous times. Could I show him my purse? Yes. Why do you carry so many family pictures to buy potatoes? I always have those with me. About this time a truck arrived, full with university students from Budapest. They had rifles, and when their truck was stopped, they raised the rifles. You are our Hungarian brothers -they said- you wouldn't want to stop us now would you? I don't think the border guard wanted to fight with them, he just yelled, "menjetek, de gyorsan" Go very fast! and than he looked us: well, why don't you follow them? Joska gave him a bottle of rum. When we reached Kormend, our driver stopped on a street. He said this is as far as I can take you. He was a great and courageou guy, we thanked him and paid him, he deserved it. The taxi left and we started to walk on the street. What should we do now? All of a sudden, a gate opened and a farmer lady asked, would you like to have breakfast with us? O yes, thank you. Well, come in than. We got hot tea, fresh bread. The farmer came to the kitchen: would you like to cross the border tonight? Of course! Do you have money to pay a guy who knows his way? Yes. Would we have enough money to pay for two university students who are in the village for two days, but are penniless. Yes, we will pay for them. He will be back in a few minute with the guy and he will tell us the price. We agreed 2500 forint per person so it was l0.000 forint, the last of our money. We stayed with the farmer family all day, even had a little sleep before we started our journey around 6PM. The guide came with the other two students, who were lovely young men. The guide said, there are searchlights once in a while, when we see them, lie down where you are, if there is a bush, go under. There are no mines on the ground, but the earth is freshly plowed and frozen, and it is difficult to walk. He certainly was right on that warning! Just keep walking, don't speak and watch your step. It was pitch dark, we could not see anything 1 metre away. All of a sudden, there was some sound, some movement. We did not dare to talk, just stopped. It was quiet first, than movement, there was definitely somebody close by. Than we heard a whisper: are you also students? Yes. Is it o.k. if we join you? Yes. There came about 10 kids, girls and boys. Left Budapest 3 days ago, walking for 2 days, but have no idea where they are, they are completely lost. We have a guide, so stay with us. They took our alcohol and shopping bag with bread, they wanted to help to carry it. We walked for about 45 minutes (according to the guard, the whole trip will take not much longer than one hour) I heard a girl whisper to her friend those two carried the food: I wish to get some bread from this bag, we did not eat for 3 days. They did not say that to us, willingly helped us to carry it. They were the students, the Kadar regime called fascist, hooligans, thieves. I told the girl, take the bread, and share it with everybody. They just tore the bread to pieces, it was gone in a minute. After about l hour walk, the guide stopped. Do you see this little creek? Just follow it and in 10 minutes you crossed the border. He asked Joska for his money. Joska put his hand in his jacket pocket and gave him the pre-counted 10 thousand forint, it was wrapped in some toilet paper. He thanked us, turned around and left. We were very excited, tried to walk a little faster, we are almost there! After l0 minutes walk, the creek had two branches, one north one south, we knew, we have to go west to reach Austria. I can't tell how we felt, the guide betrayed us, and there is nothing we could do about it. So what should we do? Some wanted to go north, some south to follow the creek, maybe we will reach Austria after all. We could not agree, so the students went one directions, and us, the original 4, chose the other. It was a difficult walk, and it became bitter cold. Joska helped me and took my luggage too. We were very thirsty, but had no water. Joska said, he will drink some vodka, there is nothing else. Minutes after he drank it, he fainted. He got better, but was extremely weak. He said, leave me here, and go with the two boys. Of course I said no to that, either we both go or none of us. I will stay here with him until he can walk again. We told the boys, to leave us, and go! They said no to that. We left Joska's suitcase there and the rest of the alcohol. The two boys carried Joska for a while. In about l5 minutes he felt better, the boys made him a walking stick from a tree-branch, and he was able to walk, but we could not go fast. Around 4AM we could see the lights of a small village. We walked into the cemetery, and saw, we were still in Hungary. One of the boy said, he will go down to the village, and try to get some information where we are, and what "road" will take us to Austria. We could sit down and rest a while. He came back with a happy face. First he had some water, and a farmer drew us a good map, where we are, and how to get to our destination. We followed his instruction and could see a fence in a bad shape, and we could crawl under. Was that the border fence? Did we make it? We still walked very cautiously until we saw a drainage pipe on the field. We bent down to see if there was any company name in it? There was, a German name!!!! We crossed the border, we were in Austria, we are FREE!!!!!!!!!Thank God!! I just hoped, that Anyu and Jancsi are somewhere close by! I will write now Anyu, Jancsi and Gabi's border crossing story. About the time they arrived at the station in Fehervar a train departed to Gyor. This was the right direction, they had enough money to buy tickets. 80% of the passengers on that train had the same purpose, the train came from Budapest, but many people joined in Fehervar. First people were cautious, did not dare to speak to strangers, but eventually they loosened up and discussed different plans. Of course nobody knew what to do and how? The train arrived at Gyor, that was the final destination. People got off and did not know what to do. Gabi disappeared, after an hour came back, he got a train, taking everybody to the border who wants to come. The engineer wants money, all those who wants to come, please pay. He got a nice amount. Once in his life he was not lying, because not much later a train arrived and Gabi sat on the engine. The passengers got on and the train left the station. It turned south beside the border and stopped close to a railway bridge. It was not a real bridge, just train tracks crossing the river. On the Austrian side, Austrian police and civilians stood, yelling to Anyu's group, come, it is possible to cross the bridge. Just be careful, every day many people crossed here already. Gabi and Jancsi were willing to go and so were most of the people, but Anyu was terrified, couldn't walk on the track, and deep under was the river. She said the same thing Joska said to me, go, and leave me here! Well, they were not willing to do that. Told Anyu to sit down and slide on the track. Gabi was in front of her and Jancsi behind, each holding one of her hands. They could not take any of their luggage this way, but after some minutes, they got across. It was the 20th of November l956. Before they abandoned the luggage, photographs, documents, jewellery went into somebody's pocket, so the most important people, and belongings did reach Austria. James Michener wrote a book about the bridge at Andau, that was the bridge Anyu, Jancsi, and Gabi crossed.
We crossed the border to Austria! Our nightmare was over, We will face many difficulties in the near future, but none as horrible as the last 11 hours were. The 4 of us who left Kormend last night at 6PM were still together, next morning at 5.30AM. We could see the light of a village ahead of us. No longer afraid of lights, we were heading straight towards the village.We found the church, tried to open the door, but it was locked. It was still dark, November 24 l956. There was a door open in a small building close to the church, we went in, there were some benches we could even lie down, we were too exhausted to flick a light, we were asleep as soon as we closed our eyes. We woke a couple of hours later, two village policeman were in the room." Don't worry, - were their first word,- we are going through the village to pick up refugees at the places we always find you people. Last night was a good one, we have about 20 new persons." We looked around the room and didn't know if we should laugh or scream: we all lay in the morgue, luckily there were no dead people to accompany us. We left the place in a hurry, and walked to the Village Inn with the constables. Interestingly, my high school German came back, I could converse if I really had to, even Joska spoke enough german to get by. There were about 25 of us, tables were set for breakfast, and we had hot coffee, and hot food! Joska had to go to the bathroom and came back with an expression on his face, I will never forget: look, I have the 10.000 forint, I gave that gangster of a guide what he deserved, a package of toilet-paper!! In the pitch dark, he mixed up the two packages! God shows His Face in many interesting ways! The constables told us, we will stay with farmer families in the village for one or two days, until a bus full of people will be here. Than a bus will come to pick us up and take us to a larger gathering place in Eisenstadt. I said right-away, we want to go to Vienna, to meet my family. We could go there from Eisenstadt, but nobody could leave the village. Also in Eisenstadt the Red Cross is represented, they have a list of all the newcomers. A farmer took us in his home, we had our own room, but it was very cold, unheated. The bed had eiderdown, nice and cosy, it was warm during the night, just uncomfortable to wake up in the morning. We ate with the family or in the Inn. We spent most of our time in the Inn with our fellow Hungarians. We always heard of coca-cola in Hungary, because it was associated with America, we thought it was a drink from heaven. Some people had a few shillings and bought a bottle of coke, and shared it with us. Most of us spit out, it tasted like soapy water, who wants to drink that! We stayed in the village of Maschendorf for two nights, and the bus took us to Eisenstadt. It was a huge military camp from the Second World War. It had well built 3-4 story buildings and a fence around it. Our name was taken in the camp-office and we were given a small room for the two of us. We also received gifts, soap, toothpaste and brush, towels, combs, plastic raincoats and booths, change of linen. There was a camp kitchen, the food was o.k. There were buses in the yard with large signs: London, Paris, Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Israel. We were allowed to get on any of those buses and could stay in those countries or we could apply from there where ever we wanted to emigrate. There was a bus to go to Salzburg, but none to Vienna. We were absolutely sure, we did not want to go to Israel, we did not even go near to that bus! The only place I wanted to go was Vienna. The camp office promised to have an interview with us in the near future, but we had to wait patiently until than. The Red Cross Office was my "official residence" but there was no sign of anybody we knew.I hoped to find the name of Anyu, Jancsi, the Gathys or Nadors. The day after our arrival to Eisenstadt we meet our next room neighbours, Imre and Gabi Gonda. They were lovely people from Budapest, a little younger than Anyu. They were full of life, specially Gabi. Her first words to us were:" well children, how long do you plan to vegetate here?" Every day here is a waste of time, we should have an ocean between us and the Russians. Gabi gave the order: keep your eyes open and we will find our way to escape. We discussed the possibilities: take one of the buses, or wait for our interview. There was a third option: There were cars coming to the camp daily, relatives, looking for their loved ones and if they found each other, those families were free to go. We were standing around the camp office all day long, because that was the first place the relatives were inquiring. We needed a person who was alone in the car, so he could take the four of us out. We were three or four days in Eisenstadt, when Gabi found our guy. Gabi approached him before he walked into the office, and asked him, in case he would not find the people he is looking for, would he be willing to choose us instead? She promised, we would not be a burden, as soon as we arrived to Vienna, he could leave us anywhere and won't see us again. He was willing to do that, and took our name. This was in the morning, early afternoon Gabi was running to tell us, get ready in 5 minutes and we will go to Vienna! It was not too difficult to say goodbye to Eisenstadt, and by tomorrow, I will find Anyu and Jancsi! Our driver did more than to leave us anywhere, he took us to the Jewish Community Center and told us, we will get help there. It was almost closing time, we had to go back next morning to register, but we got the address of an old hotel, Hotel Kolbeck, where we could stay and it will be paid by HIAS the American Jewish Help Agency. We also got enough money to have a moderate supper, the four of us were in seventh heaven! We were also given a grey card, if we showed it to the streetcar driver, we won't have to pay the fare. This was a gift from the city of Vienna to the Hungarian refugees. Of course next morning we were back in the HIAS office before it opened. When the doors were unlocked, I tried to open one door, but had difficulty, because somebody pushed on the other side. When we finally confronted each other, we could not stop laughing, he was rabbi Farkas, the man who married us. It was specially lucky, because the HIAS tested everybody with a Jewish custom or prayer to prove that the person was really Jewish, we would passed that test, but was unnecessary when our rabbi vouched for us. We received a voucher for the hotel for the rest of the time we stayed in Vienna, and we had to go in every third day to get food money. We were also told, all the foreign embassies are taking Hungarian refugees, these embassies will pay for our traveling expenses, but in a couple of years, that money should be repayed by us. For the jews, HIAS will pay the full amount, and we would not have to repay it. The only requirement is, registration. From now on, we should visit the embassies we would like to emigrate, sooner or later we will be successful. There was a Red Cross Jewish list at the Community Center, and a larger one at the Austrian Red Cross. We visited these places daily, but could not find my family's name. We were looking for the Gathys and the Nadors too. Soon we found out, if we visit the Embassies when the streetcars were operating, there were 4-5 hour line ups. The second day, Gabi knocked on our room at 2AM. Get up lazy bones, lets walk to our destination, otherwise we will get old age pension in Vienna. We had a good map of the city and the addresses of the Embassies. We had our name registered for England and Australia, we were planning next day for USA and Canada. We decided, before we go to those countries, we should register at the HIAS. So we were standing in line before the HIAS opened their office, and thanks to Gabi, we were at the very front. All of a sudden a guy came from the office, and started to yell: We just got a call from the Embassy of Canada. they opened their gates, accepting anybody who gets there fast, and they will pay for traveling expenses, so who goes there, wont need HIAS. Gabi grabbed our hands, lets run to the nearest streetcar stop and we will go to Canada! We were one of the first ones arriving. There was a huge room and tables were set up in a horseshoe shape. As soon as we arrived, somebody at the door asked us, if we have any permanent sickness, we could tell them truthfully, because everybody is allowed to enter Canada, but the sick ones will have treatment sooner. We won't have any physical exam now, but will have as soon as we will arrive. After that announcement, we gave our Hungarian personal identification book (we all had that) to the first clerk, and at the end of the last table in the horseshoe, we had our entry visa stamped on one of the pages. The last question was do we want to leave Vienna on December 8th or l2th? Imre and Gabi decided on the 8th, I wanted to stay longer to find Anyu. The day, all that happened was December 4th l956. We were not homeless anymore, we have a generous new Country, called Canada! We will meet our fellow Hungarian traveling companions on December 12th, 8AM at the West Bahnhoff (Railroad Station) beside the flowerpot! There are three stories I would like to mention. When we were standing in line at the early morning in front of the English Embassy, we saw a classroom of schoolchildren approaching us, they all had a brown paper bag in their hands. They came, to give us their lunch, we must be much hungrier than they were! One time, when we picked up our food money at the Community Center, I run into Keller Gyuri, who came of course for the same reason. He, his wife Vera and three year old daughter Zsuzsi were also in a hotel room in the city. We had lunch in a small restaurant nearby, it was so nice to find somebody we knew finally. We planned to visit them in Vienna, but there was no time, but we promised to be in touch in Canada. They knew that their destination will be Montreal, Canada. It was interesting to note, that the first familiar face I met in l945 and l956 was Gyuri. Well, here is the third story: Vienna had a huge black market exchanging Hungarian forint to Viennese shilling. The official exchange rate before the revolution was 1=1. There were some speculators, who bought up millions of forints for half price, and when the economy stabilized in the following years, became millionaires. In l956 we were laughing at them, in our opinion the forint was worthless. Still. we had l0.000 thanks to our "guide" and we could use any shilling we could get for it. The black market place was the Coffee Europe, and people at the different line ups were talking about how easy it is to exchange money. In Hungary, Joska was a "maszek" (person who owns private business) and businesses were always under surveillance, we were always afraid, when will the police catch him for something "against the law(, but he was never caught. Now we lived in the land of the free, and what happened?! Joska left the hotel on a Saturday, early in the morning, he will be home for lunch, he will visit Coffee Europe. When he did not get home by 4PM, I started to be worried. He came home around 6PM, he was caught in the Coffee Europa by the police, brought to the Police Station, but because he still had the forint and no shilling, he was released! It was not funny at the time, but when our nerves calmed down, Gabi, Imre and us, could not stop laughing! He managed to exchange the money at an other time, and it was really useful. Before we left Vienna for Canada, we exchanged the shillings for dollars, we received $100.00, it was good money at the time! We had our Canadian visa, will leave for Canada in a week, we had to find out what happened to Anyu and Jancsi. I had two ideas. One, I wrote a letter to Gyuri in Fehervar, telling him, we are O.K. and asking if they heard from the rest of the family My German was enough to get by, but to write a letter was a lot more difficult. Anyu had a nanny, named Ida Althans, who stayed with the family many years. She was there, when my real Grandmother died, and stayed longer, so Anyu and Ili neni had a loved, familiar face around them. Anyu always wrote letters to her, after the war, she sent parcels to us. All I knew, that she was a teacher in a girls high school in Halle, Germany. I wrote her a letter, explaining who I was, and asking her, did she hear from Anyu? I mailed the letter on a Monday morning addressed to fräulein Ida Althans, Girls High school, Halle. Wednesday afternoon I received a telegram from her: Deine Mutti ist in Salzburg, Hotel Meran. (Your Mother is in Salzburg, in Hotel Meran). We called the hotel right away, but telephone communication was not the same as it is now, and we could not get through. We tried again from early morning on Thursday, and finally we could speak to a clerk in the afternoon. Indeed, the Salzers (Gabi's name was Salzer) were in the hotel with son Janos, but they received their visa to go to the USA, and the group left on Wednesday to Linz, they will fly to America from there. We said good by to the Gondas, and took the morning train to Linz. We arrived early afternoon and took a cab to the Jewish Community Center. Because it was Friday, the Center closed early, and we could not go in. The next thought was to ask a policeman, if he would know where are the Hungarians who will go to the States. He knew one hotel, full with Hungarians, why don't we go there and look around. A taxi took us to that hotel, walked in, wasn't anybody around the desk, the place was deserted. We walked down the corridor and knocked on one door. It was opened by a nice man, and invited us in. He was about the same old as Anyu, came with his wife and the wife's teenaged son. They don't know Anyu, but everybody in this hotel will go to Canada. Where did we come from? They are from Gyor. When they heard, we are from Fehervar, happily said, there are two families here from there, the Nadors and the Sterns. He came to show us the Nador's room, and imagine their surprise, when we walked in!! At least we found one of the families we were looking for. Klari knew where the people are who will go to the States: In Horsching, it is a former lager in the outskirts of Linz. There are busses going to Horsching, the Nador family came along to show us where the bus station was. We had to promise to come back for the night. The bus came, and we arrived to Horsching around 4.30 in the afternoon, it started to get dark. The bus stop was at the Inn. We asked directions to the camp, and started to walk. It was not very far from the Inn. The place was so huge, like a small city, full with barracks, people were lying on the floor on mattresses. We tried to find the camp office, but to no avail, there was no such a place. People were bought here, and stayed until an aircraft arrived with their name on their list. Those people flew away, but nobody in the camp knew their name and nobody knew when will their name appear on a list. It is absolutely impossible to find anybody here, it is a waste of our time. Well, I told everybody, I am looking for my Mother and Brother, and I will find them. We walked for tyree hours from barrack to barrack without any success. It was dark, the road muddy, people were getting ready to go to bed. Joska said, lets go back to the Inn, we will take a room for the night, and start to look when it is light tomorrow morning. That was a sensible plan. We walked back to the inn, but they informed us, that all the rooms are taken. We could stay in the restaurant and put our head on the table, to sleep. There were no more busses to Linz, we had no choice. We had a bite to eat, had warm tea, and were very tried. Joska never liked cigarette smoke, and it was very heavy in the room, so Joska said, why don't we go for a little walk, the night will be very long anyway. So we started to walk, and it became the third miracle of our life. The first was June l4, l944 the Fehervar brick factory, the second Dec. 20, l944 Szentendre, when Anyu met the Hungarian soldier who saved her life and found us and the third one on that evening, about December 8 l956. We walked on the road to the camp. It was dark and empty, nobody else, but us. All of a sudden, we could see three people walking towards us, a couple and their teenage daughter. We heard, they talked Hungarian. We stopped when we met, greeted them. I asked if they came from the camp? Yes, was the answer. Did they stay there long? No, nobody stays there longer than a couple of days, then people fly away. Actually, they will fly early tomorrow morning, they were on the last plane’s list, but there was a clerical error, and there were three places less, so they stayed, but will be the first ones to go tomorrow morning. I told them, I am looking for my Mother and Brother, we were in the camp already, and will go back tomorrow morning. They said, it is a waste of time, there is such chaos in that camp, and nobody knows anybody else, except maybe the people who sleep beside them. My answer was, I will never gave up finding them, I am doing that from the day we crossed the border, and now that we came so close, I have to find them before we leave for Canada. The girl asked my family name. When I said it, the three of them stared at us, stopped moving. looked like statues, and from the lady’s eyes, tears started to ran down, than she touched my coat, and whispered: Your name is Vera, and he is Joska. I looked them, my heart knocking so hard, I thought people in the inn could hear it. I have a letter in my purse from your Mother, said the lady. You asked about your Mother and Brother, but there were three people in that family, there was her husband Gabi. Lets go to the inn and talk. Where will you sleep tonight? In the Inn's restaurant. No you won't, we have a room in that inn, we came here to cancel it, because we have to sleep in the camp, we don't know when our plane will arrive, and have to be around. You can have our room, lets go there and talk. As soon as we arrived, she gave me a letter with Anyu's handwriting. When they crossed the Andau bridge, there was a bus waiting for the refugees, and it took them to Salzburg. Anyu wanted to go to Vienna, but the authorities did not let her go. Gabi kept calming her down, she will find us sooner or later. This family and ours were together since that bus trip, had rooms side by side in the Hotel Meran. From day one, Gabi was in his element, went to the American Embassy to apply for a visa. This family had a sponsor in the States, the man's brother. Gabi got the visa sooner for Anyu, Jancsi and him, than this family got it with their sponsor. While Gabi was running around to get all the papers, Anyu did not leave the hotel entrance, waiting for us. Buses after buses came (some from Eisenstadt) but we were not on them, and nobody heard from us. The only time she was not at the entrance, when she visited the Red Cross and the Jewish Community information office, looking for our name on the lists. She never found us, just like I didn't find them in Vienna. She was 46 years old, and in a couple of weeks her hair became white. She wrote letters to Gyuri in Fehervar, and to Ida in Halle. When it was time to leave Salzburg for Linz, she was not willing to go. Gabi could go, Jancsi too if he wanted to, but she will stay until she will hear from us. Gabi and Jancsi forced her on the bus, she cried all the way. When they arrived to Horsching, she wrote the letter and gave it to her friend, "When (not if!) You will meet Vera, gave it to her" She had Kenez Peter's uncle's address in New Jersey, she said in the letter, I should write to him, and he will know where Anyu and Jancsi will be. The aircraft arrived with their name on the Thursday morning list and this family’s name was also on. The Salzers were already sitting on the plane, when the announcement came, that the plane was three seats short, so Anyu jumped up, saying they should stay instead of the other family. Gabi knew what a struggle it was to put her on the plane once, did not wanted to go through with it again, so the family we met, stayed and the Salzers left. Anyu went to the door and yelled to the lady, "Please, don't forget to give my letter to Vera". Now we were sitting in that room, and could not found a possible explanation for such a miracle. There were a few more people who knew them from Hotel Meran, but everyone of them left on that morning plane. The only people in Austria who knew them and their whereabouts, were this family, and they will fly away next morning!!! Of course I wrote Anyu a letter and as soon as we have an address in Canada, we will write to Peter's uncle. The lady took my letter, and they stayed as long as they could, wanted to know all about our escape, and told us theirs. As I heard from Anyu later, she met every plane in Camp David, which was the place where all the Hungarian newcomers were processed. The lady could see Anyu as soon as the plane landed, she was the first off the plane, yelling to her, "I have a letter from Vera"! The next day we went back to Linz, visited the Nadors with our unbelievable tale! We also met the man who showed us the Nador’s room. four years later he divorced his wife in Montreal. Anyu divorced Gabi in l958. Nador Klari's mother, Nemes Teri neni introduced the man to Anyu, and she became Mrs. Endre Kollar in l962. I met him first on that miracle day! On that same day, we went back to Vienna. It was such happiness to get ready to our big journey into a new life! Now that we did not have to worry about Anyu and Jancsi anymore every day was a gift! I wrote a thank you note to Ida and Gyuri. I received a letter from him too, with the Hotel Meran address. My first letter to Ida was addressed to Madchen Gymnasium (Girls High school) Halle, and it arrived. Everything about finding my family was a miracle! In a book store I found a Hungarian-German dictionary and also a German-English one. Also a German-English language book, so I started to study English. It was not easy with a double dictionary, but it was a start. Our second wedding anniversary was on Dec. 11th, and we were supposed to leave Vienna on the morning of the l2th. I always wanted to see a performance in the Vienna State Opera. On the llth they played Carmen. We saved enough money to buy 2 tickets on the top balcony at the side in the last row, in an other word, the cheapest available ticket. We could not see very much, but we could hear it! We also were not "dressed" for a night in the Opera, the only clothes we had, we crossed the border in, but it did not matter, we were so happy and proud just to be there! I was extra happy, because I knew, that Joska was not so interested in the Opera, he just came, because of me. I did not know at the time, how many years will go by, before I will see an other Opera! The day before we saw the opera, we saw "Gone with the wind" in a matinee performance. We read the book, heard about the film, but it was too expensive for a Hungarian movie theater to buy. Because we knew the story, we had no trouble to understand the German dialogue. On December 12 in Vienna at 8AM we went to the railroad station and found "the flower pot." We also found about 100 Hungarians there, all very excited. Mostly young people, about our age, a few Anyu's age with teenage children, and one family of four, the children about 1 1/2 and 3 years old. We tried to spot Jewish people but could not indentify anybody on the spot. Our train arrived and we got on. We had one emigration officer with us, to organize the trip. We were one of the first groups to take a train across Europe, our destination was Ostende, from there we took a boat to cross the English Channel to Dover, train to London and Liverpool, large Ocean Liner, Canadian Pacific's Empress of France to St.John New Brunswick. The first part of the trip was to Ostende. Every station on the route had a marching band to greet us, we were the great Hungarian freedom fighters! I am sure, all the other passengers on the train had lots of fun just to watch. Salvation Army people boarded our train, gave bibles to all of us and sandwiches. We had quite a pile of bibles when we arrived to Ostende, left most of them on the train. We had so much food and drinks, we could not eat them all. We changed from the train to the Channel Crossing boat, which looked huge to us. All of us were standing on the top floor of the boat, and said goodbye to good old Europe with mixed feeling. Who knows, when will we see it again! We became friends with two young couples, Kolmann Laci and his wife Evi, and I don't remember the other couples surname, I remember only Marika and Pista. Both couples left Hungary as engaged couples and got married in Austria. The English Channel is very choppy, first we had a good time on the top floor of the boat, 15 minutes later all three of us girls became seasick. Interestingly, the boys were o.k. They nursed us all the way through until we could stand on the good old earth in Dover. It really is amazing, as soon as we landed, the seasickness stopped. The train to London was during the night, we were so tired, all of us fell asleep. Arrived during the night to London, A bus took us to another station, the next train took us to Liverpool on the next morning. An other bus trip, and there was our beautiful large ship. We were not very happy to get on a ship after the Channel crossing, but this was sooooo big, we could not be seasick on this one!? We got on the ship, and the lord-mayor of Liverpool greeted us (in English, only five of the 100 spoke the language) and gave every person one English pound. It was a paper money, and we felt very rich! He wished all of us a safe voyage and good luck in our new life. After he left the ship, all of us were assigned to our cabin. We were extremely impressed, families stayed together, couples had their own cabin. All of us had the cabins on the bottom of the boat, under us were the boilers, motors etc. The rooms were nice, we had bunk-beds, table, chairs, cabinets to hang our clothes and shelves, sink with hot and cold water, mirror. The toilets were close to the room. We were really impressed! We did not notice at once, that our cabin was the last one on the corridor, the very back of the ship. We unpacked and went upstairs to our dining-room. Our accommodation was the cheapest on the ship, but all the common rooms (dining, living, bar) were beautiful, comfortable furnished, and the service could not be better. In the dining room our table seated l0 persons and we had two stewards to serve us. We had three regular meals, served in the dining-room, and coffee, tea and cookies, crackers were available in the living-room all day long. On the first day for lunch the ship was still in the harbour, and supper time the tugs pulled us into the deep water, so the ship was as stable as a house. In the dining-room we got menus, we could choose what we wanted to eat, our only trouble was, we did not understand a word on the menu, so we decided, 2 persons choose the first item, the next two the second and so on. When the food arrived, we exchanged plates so everybody got what they liked. The stewards could see what a fun trip this will be, but they were good sports and went along with the game. The food was excellent, we loved the attention, and happily looked forward the one week journey. The next morning we went up the deck, sat along the deck chairs, planned our future. There were also game-rooms, we could play card, chess, we had a good time. Once we reached the real ocean, we could feel the ship's rocking motion, but it was not too bad, we got used to it. We also learned, that the motion was much better upstairs on the deck, or in the common rooms. At the bottom floor where our cabins were it was much more noticeable, and at the very back of the corridor, where our cabin was, well, it started to worry us, and the noise from the boiler-rooms right under us did not help a bit! The first 3-4 days we got use to the motion and noises of the ship, We had good food, friends, we had fun. I continued to do the language lesson I started in Vienna. Around the 5th day, after supper we got together in the living-room with friends. The room had cosy chesterfields, armchairs, tables, lamps. The water was more choppy than the days before. From one second to the next, the room started to rock, chairs and chesterfields slid from one end of the room to the other. The stewards run in and chained all the furnitures, lamps to the floor. It was a very scary experience. We stayed in the room for a while, than decided we should lie down in our cabin. We didn't know at the time that we will stay in that cabin for a good while. We did not sleep very much during that night, both of us were very sick with seasickness. Joska tried to go upstairs and eat some breakfast and bring something to me, maybe with some food in us we will feel better. The dining room was almost empty. Our ship was in a big winter storm, and it can last for days. There were some young men having breakfast, they said, eating raw onion is the cure. We were even sicker just to think of raw onion. The ship doctor came to our cabin, gave us some needle, but it did not help. The ship's timetable was six days to reach St.John, it took us nine days. The explanation was: with all the motors running full power, we went backwards for l 1/2 days, the storm was so bad. The last full day on the sea was quiet, we gathered to our first meal after three days of sickness, and we all looked the way we felt. The day was December 22, just before Christmas, and the crew prepared a big party for supper. We all needed it to cheer us up. During our sickness, we tried to drink soft drinks, and we had to pay for that. We had the pound we received in Liverpool, so we spent it. We thought is was very funny, every time we paid (gave all our available money to the cashier and asked him to take as much as it was needed); we had a larger change back. The pound was paper money, the shilling was change but not very large the pennies were larger. Somebody mentioned, we should leave some tip for our stewards, so we left all the change we had in the room when we left. Those guys did not get rich after serving us. I did not mention, we had a few Irish immigrant families with us on our floor. We heard, the winter is always stormy on the Atlantic, but the worst storms were around December. The tickets to sail to the new world were probably the most reasonable at that time, that must be the explanation so many people were on the Ship. We Hungarians had plenty of company. The people around our table and in the living-room spoke of politics very often. As usual, some were fascist, and mentioned, all the jews left Hungary to bring out their millions. Joska said very nicely: all the real brave Hungarians stayed home, because they are loyal to their fatherland! We slept well on that night, but woke up early next morning, went up to the deck, and watched as our new home, Canada, came closer and closer, more and more visible. Our ship docked around 7AM on December 23. l956 in St.John New Brunswick. The Hungarian immigrants were the last ones to leave the ship. We were escorted into the immigration building. A group of ladies from a nearby church cooked lunch for us. I am sure it was the first time in their life they looked at aHungarian cook book. They made beef gulyas, but we only found this out when they explained what it was. Of course the thought counts, and they were sweet and enthusiastic. After lunch we had to go through a medical examination. A doctor examined us and sent us for X-rays and blood test. While we were waiting for the result, the immigration officer divided our group, about 75 of us were sent to Toronto and about 25 to Ottawa. Some people had relatives in Montreal, those were sent to Ottawa, because Montreal is closer. We were reassured, everybody could go anywhere they want to after we arrived to our first destination. Most people were divided in ABC order, K was supposed to go to Toronto. Our medical file did not get through yet, so our name missed Toronto and we were registered to go to Ottawa. The immigration officer welcomed us to Canada (we had a translator) and gave every person $l0.00. We were already rich in Canada! It was a beautiful winter afternoon, two days before X-mas. All the houses were decorated. We took a bus from the harbour to the railroad station. The city looked like a place in a fairy-tale. We never saw Xmas lights like this! All of a sudden there was happy laughter on the back of the bus. What is so funny, we asked: Look, said the young single men in our group (and most people belonged in that group): Every house has a red light, the hole city is red light district!! To see the railroad cars was a wonderful surprise. How spacious and comfortable, we could not compare it to the European cars. The seats could be tilted, and we could sleep in the night! In the morning the train crossed the land and we were told we will sleep one more night on the train before we arrive to Ottawa. We also received meals on the train. We arrived to Ottawa Union Station next morning the 24th of December. The Station was still in the old place, in the middle of the City, opposite the Chateau Laurier. Mr. St.Laurent was the prime-minister at the time he personally greeted the freedom fighter heroes of Hungary. People waved and smiled all around us. We entered a bus and our face was glued to the windows, we wanted to see our new City. The bus took us to the Upland Military Airport. A building was assigned to us. Families received a room, young men and women shared rooms men with men and women with women. We all received gift packages, soap, towels, toothbrushes, toothpastes, deodorants (we did not know what that was for), men got shaving equipment. We settled in our rooms, and after were escorted into a huge room, filled with food, tables and chairs. I never forget the sight of the food! Our generation had never seen so much food in one place in our life. We lived through the war, the lean years after the war, communism, the revolution, life in the camps in Austria, we were happy with a piece of bread and extremely happy if there was butter on that bread! We found ourselves in the officers mess during the Night before Christmas. We had to take a tray, and could take anything we wanted. I can not describe the faces of the people, and their trays. I don't remember what Joska and I ate, but I remember, that it was soooo good! After supper, we gathered around a Christmas tree, and sang the traditionally Hungarian songs. We went to bed so optimistic, we came to a beautiful country, where people are good, and we will have a chance to build ourselves a true home.
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