Magyar News, 1998. szeptember-1999. augusztus (9. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1998-10-01 / 2. szám
A personal liisáoi? to remember by Tamás Kókai de Kun Boarding plane at München Airport in October 1959 In general an intelligent person remembers in full detail the most important events of his life. For the many years while I have been away from my country it never occurred to me to sit down and write the story of my escape. It could hiave been the end of October or the first of November when coming from Pest where we were hunting down Secret Service people in the dawn around the Margaret Avenue. At the comer I noticed a car with an Austrian marker and next to it two gentleman studying a map. I approached them, introduced myself and inquired of what help I could render to them. Since I knew the area, that's where I live, I could be of some help to them. One gentleman spoke good Hungarian. Originally he was from Kismárton, and during the war he served in the German army as an assistant physiciaa His father was manager of the Eszterházy estate. After a short conversation it turned out that an uncle of mine and the gentleman's father used to hunt together. After this discovery they had full trust in me and gave me the address of their destination Before saying goodbye, the gentleman, Doctor M. István told me that they came for Prince Paul Eszterházy', who was freed from prison a few days ago by a detail of freedom fighters. When the doctor gave me his a card he asked me if I would join them on their way back to Austria. I felt a bit apprehensive and 1 told them that at this time there is a need for every able body Hungarian. I also promised that in peaceful time I will pay them a visit. We hugged each other and as a farewell, the doctors said, if we have to escape, his home is open to us. At that time it didn't cross my mind that two w eeks later I will be calling on him having him jump up from his dinner table. On Nov. 4 and fifth, we survived a Russian attack. As I arrived home I found everybody hiding in the cellar. For some unknown reason the Russians were bombarding the Szabadsághegy from Pest even though there were no Hungarian military forces there. After a long time everything turned silent. As the result of some Communist stupidity the telephone service functioned properly throughout the revolution. This made it possible to exchange reports of the Russian and Secret Service movements. Since my situation and also my families became unmanageable, because I participated in the fighting, I had to make arrangements to be able to get to the border. The wife of a good friend knew a truck driver whose two sisters were also planning to leave the country. And in the meantime my friend who is the husband of the lady finding us a ride, called me on the phone from Prague where he was conducting some black market business and asked me to take his wife along on the trip. He will follow of us on the same road. The whole organizing was completed in a few hours. On November 14, at two o’clock in the afternoon, the truck arrived to the office of my friends wife and picked up the five women, one of them was my one year old little girl. Also a "leader", that was me. to make the group complete and with that, we were ready to take off. We head a very authentic looking open pass and, according to that, we were traveling to Győr to pickup medicine and medical supplies. On the way in many places the freedom fighters were controlling the roads and this meant no problem for us at all. Just before we reached the city Győr we ran into some Russians soldiers who checked our truck. Our driver spoke Russian, and to add to the distrac-Enjoying life on the Austrian side fér zee*/ eum\. 1957 spring, Communists repairing the “Iron Curtain Page 6
