Description
Object description
Hungarian Jewish schoolchild in Budapest, Hungary, 1944-1951; journalist in Budapest, Hungarian People's Republic, 1951-1956 including Hungarian Uprising, 10/1956-11/1956; escaped to GB via Austria, 1956
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Budapest, Hungary, 1937-1944: family; education. Recollections of period as schoolchild in Hungary, 1944-1945: persecution of his family, 1944-1945; how he and his sister were hidden; mother's attitude towards new regime after 1945; contact with German Army troops in village near Lake Balaton, 1944-1945; arrival of first Soviet Army troops, 1945; Soviet Army troops use of sheets for camouflage; train journey from Lake Balaton to Budapest; sight of damaged Budapest, 1945; behaviour of Soviet Army troops in Budapest, 1945. Recollections of period as schoolchild in Budapest, Hungary and Hungarian People's Republic, 1945-1951: start of schooling, 1945.
REEL 2 Continues: character of boarding school education; degree to which he accepted Communist indoctrination at school after 8/1949; opposition elements which gathered around his mother's literary magazine 'Valasz' prior to it's banning by Hungarian People's Republic regime; memories of his mother's first husband Zoltán Horváth and circumstances of his arrest by Hungarian People's Republic regime, 1950; how marking of schoolwork was affected by social class of pupil; mother's family background.
REEL 3 Continues: how his half-brother came to join Hungarian Army Choir; mother's literary magazine 'Valasz'; problems of organising opposition to regime; role of caretakers in state owned flats; arrest of British agent. Aspects of period as journalist in Budapest, Hungarian People's Republic, 1951-1956: universal listening to western radio; prison sentences for those spreading news gathered from western radio stations; signs of change after Joseph Stalin's death, 3/1953; obtaining work as journalist after education. Recollections of period as journalist during Hungarian Uprising in Budapest, Hungarian People's Republic, 10/1956-11/1956: how he was sent to cover demonstration, 23/10/1956; his presence at demonstration at Jozef Bem Statue, 23/10/1956.
REEL 4 Continues: call during demonstration at Jozef Bem Statue to go to Parliament Building and for Imre Nagy to speak; role of intelligentsia in precipitating demands; Imre Nagy's address to crowd in front of Parliament Building, 23/10/1956; miscalculation by Erno Gero in calling demonstrators 'fascists'; unorganised character of demonstration, 23/10/1956; call of students to got to Budapest Radio Station, 23/10/1956; expectations of western help and his opinion of prospect; witnessing events and start of shooting by State Protection Authority (AVH) secret police at Budapest Radio Station, 23/10/1956-24/10/1956.
REEL 5 Continues: spread of fires and barricades in Budapest, 24/10/1956; ineffective Soviet show of strength, 10/1956; origins of insurgents in Budapest; sources of arms for insurgents; character of Soviet Army conscripts; walking to work during uprising; cutting down of Joseph Stalin statue and how crowd were fired on by Soviet Army tanks; how his mother sheltered Major-General Béla Király and his role with insurgents; attempt by State Protection Authority (AVH) to assassinate Major-General Béla Király.
REEL 6 Continues: how Major-General Béla Király escaped to United States of America in 1956 and became member of Hungarian Parliament in 1990; his delivering of letters for Major-General Béla Király. Aspects of escape from Hungarian People's Republic to GB via Austria, 11/1956-12/1956: start of escape from Hungarian People's Republic, 28/11/1956; situation on Austrian border; escape from party of refugees arrested on border, 11/1956; evasion of Soviet Army patrol on border; initial impressions of capitalism in Austria; journey to GB.