William Penn Life, 2016 (51. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

2016-10-01 / 10. szám

Tibor's Take with Tibor Check, Jr.

FAITHFUL READERS of my Takes may recall "The Story of Csaba." It's a tale I've been telling over the past six years about a composite character based on the recollections of over a dozen people I interviewed, each of whom participated in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 to some degree, then escaped Hungary, took refuge in a foreign land and eventually settled in America.

In the most recent installment of the story two years ago, I updated the current whereabouts and accomplishments of each person, noting what each gained in their 55- plus years here in America, how each blossomed within their careers, got married, had children and ultimately retired.

Consider this month's Take is an addendum to "The Story of Csaba."

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Over 200,000 Hungarians fled Hungary in 1956. Most found new homelands and ended up staying and becoming citizens of their host nation. For some, their freedom from Communist oppression was only temporary as they would return to Hungary. Although specific numbers are lacking, it is safe to say that several thousand returned to the homeland within a decade of the revolt.

I was not fortunate enough to have interviewed anyone who actually returned to the land of the Hussars, but I did speak with relatives and friends — including some residents of Csőt — who had first-hand knowledge of such individuals. Some of these "lost boys of '56" stories ended on a happy note while a few ended sadly. I use the term "lost boys" because many of these Hungarians dropped out of the historical narrative — that is, were "lost" to history — and the recollections passed to me were about men, although I'm sure many women fled then returned to Hungary as well.

The inspiration for this fourth and final part to this saga comes from an actual relative of mine who escaped Hungary and worked at the Youngstown Sheet and Tube, only to return to Csőt in the early 1960s. The reasons behind his desire to go back home were never really clear, and, unfortunately, there are no relatives alive who could solve the mystery as to why he returned to Hungary.

Earlier this year, I received an email from Rhonda, a woman living just outside of Budapest who faithfully reads Willian Penn Life via the internet. A woman with a remarkable command of English, Rhonda, I learned, is an entrepreneur in the health and wellness industry. She asked me about a story I wrote mentioning Csőt and a particular 1956 refugee named Ronnie, who I had mentioned in a previous Take. She wanted to know if there was a connection between her father and my family.

Rhonda said she knew little about her father and the time he spent in America but knew he lived and worked in the Hungarian section of New Brunswick,

N.J. She doubted that there was any connection between

The Lost Boys of ’56

Ronnie (front, left),one of the "Lost Boys of’56," with members of the Check family: Endre Check (standing), Emmerencia Kadi Check and Tibor Check.

us as Ronnie resided hundreds of miles away from Youngstown.

I was ready to delete Rhonda's email when I decided to forward it to my father. A few days later, he wrote to Rhonda and asked for additional details about her and her father.

My dad learned that Rhonda was born in late December 1956, had two siblings born in 1968 and 1970, and spent her childhood in Csőt before moving to Budapest in the early 1970s. Her parents passed away in the 1980s. She said that her father never talked about the revolution or his years in America.

After months of occasional dialogue with Rhonda, my father discovered in our boxes of photos a yellowed portfolio from Gray's Drug Store containing several pictures of a man with my father, grandparents and and other members of the Cseh family. My dad had me scan and send a few of these photos to Rhonda. Almost immediately, she responded saying the man in the photos was her father. She said she had never seen him looking so vital, happy and strong and lamented that there were no photos of him from the early 1950s to mid 1960s.

My dad has since learned that Ronnie returned to Csőt in 1961 because he was homesick, and that his first child was born just a few weeks following the Revolution. He not only lived and worked in New Jersey but also spent several years working in Youngstown and New York City

6 0 October 2016 ° WILLIAM PENN LIFE