It was December 1957 just before Christmas, and the entire country was on Soviet lockdown following the riots and military strikes. I remember a final meal of Makos Teszta, poppy seed noodles and gravy, after just turning 4-years old. It would be the last that I would see my parents for many years. The day of reckoning finally arrived after careful planning. Nicholas Ambrus and his wife Maria Toth left me in the care of my grandmother, Nagy Mama, in the apartment they were about to abandon forever. My grandfather had passed away from TB years earlier at age 40. Kalmar Laszlo, my godfather, would play a role in my parentless care.
Grandmother was an entrepreneur, who once sold cooking supplies door-to-door. She would be my sole strength in the years to come, filling me with hope that someday we would all be back together as a family. I once had a pet chicken that quickly turned into dinner. We bought the staples of bread and noodles from the local vendors.
There would be no turning back for the six departing dissidents. My folks were joined by Bela and Emmi Nagy, their closest friends, and two other brave souls, prepared for a long journey to wherever destiny would take them. Bela worked for the company that owned a dump truck that he frequently drove from Budapest on the highways leading to the Austrian border. On this day, the plan was to abandon this about to be stolen truck and somehow bribe their way into Vienna. None of them knew really what to expect.
They left that fateful day with only the clothes on their back and a satchel-full of food. Perhaps the women hid in the bed of the truck under warm blankets while the men distracted the checkpoint guards. Bela was familiar with some of them because this was part of his regular route. He was the driving force of their escape plan, and they all trusted his convincing, story-telling skills.
My mother and father fell in love at a Danube River Club where they would kayak and swim. Niki, as many called him, worked odd jobs to include being a chauffeur, although he never owned a car. Soon he and Maria were married in Budapest where she did factory work. They lived in an apartment on the “Pest” side of town. It’s the eastern, mostly flat side of Budapest, comprising about two-thirds of the city’s territory. It was separated from Buda and Obuda, the two western sections of town, by the Danube River. Buda was definitely the classier, more residential side of the city of Budapest, population of 9,854,129 back in 1956. It was about to get six people smaller.
They loaded up the dump truck and hid what they could. There were several checkpoints along the way that Bela charmed his way through, telling tales and handing out food stuff. There were also reports of mine fields to stop any illegal border crossing, so this path to freedom was also filled with explosive danger. The final obstacle was the electric fence, search lights, and machine gun towers that marked the infamous Iron Curtain, separating East from West. This is where they abandoned the truck and walked into Austria. How they did it remains a mystery, but gregarious Bela had the gift of gab and continued to lead the way.
Even common mortals are capable of super-human feats regardless of their size or strength, like lifting a car off a accident victim. Nicholas stood a slender 5’8” and Maria was 2” shorter. She was a beautiful woman. I strongly feel that escaping from life-threatening circumstances falls into that category. Weighing those possibilities takes strength and cunning. Most children, like me at the time, couldn’t possibly envision their parents in that situation when adrenaline supersedes logic. Imagine the sleepless nights before and the guts it took to go through this together. Especially having to leave me and my grandmother behind for years. That must have been heart wrenching. This is why I’m particularly proud of my mother and father. Could I have done it myself? Could you?
Secretly discussing their plans with friends and relatives required nerves of steel, knowing they would need discretion and support. The Secret Police were undoubtedly a nasty concern, as well as fear of informants. Adverse conversations about leaving Hungary had to be kept on the hush-hush. After all, they were risking the rest of their young lives stuck in a filthy gulag, separated from everyone they loved. All those dreams of freedom could quickly turn into nightmares with the wrong words to these guards.
How could they be certain that life would be better outside their native land, so far from home? After all, none of them had ever been outside of Budapest. They might be on the run for years, homeless and scared, maybe a worse situation than prison. What if they got separated? Where would they get food and water? Plus, who could they trust after finally getting on foreign soil? Soviet propaganda had kept them in line their whole lives.
It’s also quite likely the secret police found the abandoned dump truck and went back to question Bela’s employers about their role in this escape. Torture might even have been applied for answers and fines imposed. They would have been shocked by his disappearance and disloyalty to both country and company. Or, they could have even secretly applauded his rebellious actions.
In this moment, they were six scared people joined in a common quest for freedom, about to face their destiny. Would everything go as planned? Butterflies were all that filled their stomachs since food was scarce and they would need what they had to appease the greedy guards with their hands out. At last, welcome to Austria. Now what?
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