Outcasts (9 page)
W
ITHIN TWO MONTHS
, the government of Hungary appointed five parliamentarians, including Karoly Hokky, who had formerly represented the region in the Prague parliament, and they were invested and welcomed into the parliament in Budapest. Baron Zsigmond Perenyi was appointed governor of the region. The Weisz family was particularly proud when they learned the news.
Karola Aykler felt as if she were living in a state of euphoria. For so many years they had been living in perpetual fear of and intimidation by the authorities. Now she could finally breathe. The timing of the political changes was a godsend for the family economically. They had mortgaged the house, the businesses, and the vineyards to stay afloat and if they had remained part of Czechoslovakia, they would have eventually lost everything. Now, new markets were opening up for Hungary. The distillery was working in two shifts to keep up with the new demand for pear, peach, and plum brandy. Wine merchants came in a steady stream to taste and order wine from Nagyszollos; for most, the Spolarich-Aykler winery was the first stop on their visit.
Because they were an influential family that had obviously suffered as ethnic Hungarians under the Czech regime, they were rewarded for their loyalty in economic benefits. The family received lucrative state contracts and concessions. In addition, the Hungarians needed reliable local individuals to keep critical businesses working well. Both Istvan and Tibor, who now had engineering degrees, were awarded businesses.
Istvan and his partner, Bela Friedmann Farago, were appointed managers of Futura, the largest grain wholesaler and distribution centre in the region.
Tibor and his partner, Jaszli Berliner, operated another state-controlled business in town. It was basically an administrative centre where the paperwork was filled out for residents wishing to requisition radio parts, rubber products, and yeast products. Once the administrative paperwork was completed and approved, the purchased items were delivered from distribution centres off-site.
Tibor and Istvan were very close. In Tibor's eyes, Istvan was worldly. In addition to politics and history, Tibor felt he could discuss anything with his older brother. He often spoke to Istvan about the gentleman's code of ethics, behaviour, and dress. Most importantly, his older brother coached him on how to court women. When Tibor graduated, Istvan took him to Kassa and introduced him to a voluptuous blonde named Mancika, who taught Tibor the secrets of making love to a woman. Tibor had never seen such sexy long legs. He was mesmerized by her perfectly sculpted breasts, overwhelmed by her sexual prowess, and simply wanted to stay in her arms forever. Tibor returned several more times without telling his brother. Istvan finally enlightened him as to what a prostitute does and explained to Tibor that making a habit of visiting a brothel is not something that a gentleman should cultivate.
Still, Tibor was eternally grateful to Istvan for enlightening him about the realities of life. His experience with Mancika gave him a real self-confidence around women and he realized he enjoyed their company to a much greater degree than the company of men. Now that Istvan was married and both brothers had steady incomes, Tibor accompanied Istvan to Budapest as often as they could on business and shopping trips. They set up meetings with prospective business clients and found time to visit the finest tailor shops where they ordered stylish custom-made suits and shirts. Tibor made it a habit to get his hair cut and styled at a barber in Budapest. He had begun to notice that the barbers in Nagyszollos provided the same uniform haircut for everyone. He even treated himself to the luxury of a manicure.
As his experience of the world grew, Tibor cultivated a real passion for music. There were so many enthralling sounds of jazz and big-band swing coming out of the United States: Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller. He absolutely had to have the newest recordings by singers such as Bing Crosby and such sultry female vocalists as Ella Fitzgerald and Marlene Dietrich. With each trip to Budapest, he expanded his record collection. In school, he had been taught the basic steps of ballroom dancing and now, as an adult, Tibor hired a dance instructor to help him become adept at dancing to big-band swing, the tango, and the cha-cha.
The cafés of Budapest were overflowing with patrons eager to eat and drink until the small hours of the morning. Music and laughter spilled out onto the corso of the Danube that was lined with cafés and restaurants night after night. The citizens were apparently oblivious or didn't want to hear about the war that seemed to be just beyond Hungary's borders.
For Tibor, such outings to Budapest meant the ultimate escape and each time he returned to their sleepy provincial town, he became determined to bring back a bit of the sophistication and culture of the capital. He joined a cultural group that regularly invited visiting acting troupes to Karpatalja, insisting that these tours include Nagyszollos and providing the financial incentives to make this happen. Following performances at the Casino, Tibor would invite the troupe back to the house up in the vineyard for late-night parties. Eventually, Tibor Schroeder earned a reputation as an incredibly attentive and generous host to the visiting artists. He, in turn, prided himself on his friendship with some of the more famous actors and actresses of the time.
To Istvan and Tibor, it was inconsequential that their business partners were Jewish. Istvan and Bela Farago Friedmann had served together in the Rongyos Garda and Istvan could think of no one else who would be a better partner than his friend and comrade-in-arms. Jaszli was Tibor's friend and an integral part of the business. But events that affected Karpatalja were taking place at an incredible pace - faster than most residents could absorb. When the second anti-Jewish legislation was enacted in May, 1939 limiting Jewish ownership of businesses, nothing changed in the day-to-day operations, profit distribution, or ownership of their businesses. But, just in case proof of the non-Jewish ownership of the business was required, all the necessary superficial documents were prepared and ready.
The reintegration of the region into Hungary also brought many other changes. Hungary now shared a common border with Poland, a cause for celebration as Hungarians had always cherished their close relationship with the Polish people. Throughout history, Poles and Hungarians had, at times, shared common kings and queens and they had been on the same side through many tumultuous upheavals and wars. The celebrations of this mutual border were widespread and heartfelt since many of the region's families had Polish ancestry and relatives.
Yet in September 1939, only a few months after Karpatalja became part of Hungary again, the German blitzkrieg invaded Poland from the west while the Russians invaded from the east, crushing the army of the country and scattering its people. Over one hundred thousand Poles fled south into Hungary. Some loaded themselves onto horse-drawn carriages while others came in trucks. But most of them came on foot, often carrying nothing but the children in their arms or on their backs, many of them still in shock caused by the brutality of the invasion they had witnessed. Starved and parched from days of walking, the devastated stragglers came to the door with empty stares.
In many regions of Karpatalja, the residents lined the streets in sympathy, hoping to offer solace through demonstrating solidarity, offering bread, water, and whatever they could. The procession of dazed refugees continued for weeks. It was seemingly never-ending. The municipal governments of the main cities in Karpatalja (Ungvar, Kassa, and Nagyszollos) voted to set aside resources for the accommodation and food for the refugees. Karola ordered cartfuls of grapes and freshly baked bread to be sent to the road leading through town. She sent the overseer and her own young children, Picke and Bela, to distribute the food to the refugees as they walked by. Many other residents offered similar acts of kindness. The Poles slept by the roadside and continued their journey aimlessly south, trying to get as far away from the fighting as possible.
At the same time, the refugees raised thorny questions that Hungarians were not prepared to deal with. How could a regime that had promised to undo the injustices of the Treaty of Trianon destroy the homeland of their best-loved neighbour? Hungary hadn't yet declared war on anyone, yet the consequences of war were thrusting themselves upon the consciousness of the Hungarian people.
It broke Tibor's heart to watch the Polish refugees as they came through Nagyszollos. He felt it was an ominous sign of things to come. Although he came from a family with a strong military tradition, his feelings toward all things military and to war itself secretly filled him with dread. The only person with whom he could share these feelings was his older brother, Istvan.
Istvan had served in the Czech army and presented a view of the Czechs that was completely different from what the local populace knew of them. Istvan believed that the Czechs were more adept administrators and much more clever at the game of politics than the Hungarians were.
"We lived in a democracy in Czechoslovakia," asserted Istvan. "They had to listen to our grievances in Prague, whether they liked us or not. I'm not so sure they will be listening to us in Budapest now that we are part of Hungary again."
Following the invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany. Still the German victories spread. They took Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and the Netherlands in May. By June 1940, German troops were marching down the Champs-Elysées. Paris had fallen.
As these unbelievable events occurred, Tibor looked to his older brother for direction and guidance. They spent hours discussing the news of the day, the disastrous war just beyond their borders, the poverty of the hard-working Rusyns in their community, and the increasing number of discriminatory laws against their Jewish neighbours. In general, their homeland was in a sad state of affairs.
In August 1940, the Second Vienna Award resulted in more territorial revision. Northern Transylvania (Erdely) and the Szekely region were regained from Romania. The newsreels showed the wildly joyous welcoming crowds who offered the soldiers flowers with tears of joy and celebrated for days in the villages and towns of northern Transylvania.
The celebrations were short-lived. On June 22, 1941, Germany launched its attack on the Soviet Union. A few days later, on June 26, unmarked planes bombed the city of Kassa. Hungary reacted by declaring war on the Soviet Union, officially joining the war.
S
UTI HAD BECOME WHOLLY
focussed on the little bee that had somehow wound its way into the classroom. Every once in a while, a stern buzzing noise emanated from the creature's tiny wings as it pushed itself away from the wall only to bounce back a short distance later. With each attempt to find an exit to freedom, the circles it made became smaller in length and shorter in distance and its buzzing noise diminished. Suti watched it anxiously, realizing that it had probably been trapped inside for some time now.
He was mesmerized by the bee's struggle despite the fact that his beloved teacher, Victor Ortutay, was telling them a tale - "The Legend of the White Stag" - that never failed to fascinate him. Suti's mother had read the story of how the Magyar tribes arrived at the Carpathian Basin to him many times and he knew it by heart. He listened with one ear as his teacher told the class that, while hunting, the two brothers, Hunor and Magyar, had come across a rare white stag so majestic and stunning that they became determined to follow it. Taking their wives, families, and their entire tribe with them, they followed the amazing stag for days that stretched into weeks. Each time they got close enough to shoot it with their bows and arrows, the stag mysteriously melted away into the forest. Finally, after weeks of pursuit, the stag led them to a land of plenty where the forests were full of wildlife and game and the crystal-pure waterfalls and rivers teemed with fish.
Suti had just turned eleven a month earlier or, as he preferred to say, had recently "stepped into his twelfth year." Now that he was older, he felt he understood the world so much better and, this afternoon, the story seemed secondary. He simply couldn't take his eyes off the little bee caught in what he viewed as a life and death struggle to find his way to freedom.
His daydreams on this particularly warm day in April were interrupted by the principal, who bounded through the door quite suddenly. He spoke a few quiet words with his teacher, turned, and scanned the classroom.
"Sandor Weisz," he said loudly. Suddenly shaken back into reality, Suti felt as if the little bee was buzzing right inside his head. He stood up. He was embarrassed at being singled out and was painfully aware of the blood rushing to his neck as he followed the principal out the door.
But as he sat across the desk from the principal in his office, his fears quickly abated. The principal, no doubt with some advice from his teacher, had chosen Suti to help in the town's library. The chief librarian had signed up for military service, the principal told him, and it was the school's responsibility to keep the library operating with the help of young volunteers. About half a dozen students had been recruited to work a few hours after school every other day in rotating shifts, and Suti was among them. There had only been one requirement: all the students had to share in the love of books. Suti realized that it was a great privilege to be chosen. He felt there was no place of greater importance than the local library, where he was surrounded by so many stories about faraway places and fascinating individuals.
Hedy noticed changes in her little brother as soon as he started working in the library. He would arrive home and talk incessantly and proudly about his after-school job. Suti was her cream-faced, darling younger brother who was unabashedly loyal to his sisters and older brother. She dearly loved the way his deep brown eyes became rounder and more pronounced when he launched into one of his stories.
