My Father the Prince...My Father the Freedom Fighter.

Once in a while, the workers were allowed to go back to Sap from the factory in Debrecen and visit with their family members. My father looked forward to those days and the chats he could have with his mother over dinner. During one such dinner my father found out that Stalin had died and that the new Soviet leadership had executed Stalin's KGB chief, Beriya. Dare he hope that things would start to change for the better? It would be too soon to tell. During another weekend in Sap with his mother, he was woken early in the morning by to hear the news delivered by a kindhearted postal employee (who was one of the only people in town with access to a radio), that Rakosi was gone and Imre Nagy would be the new prime minister.

They both hoped beyond hope that soon Hungary would go back to being what it once was. At 5 o'clock that evening, they joined the postman at his home and they gathered around the radio to hear the news and Imre Nagy's speech. He gave a 30 minute speech in which he told everyone that he had taken over Rakosi's post, that he abhorred the injustices that had taken place and that he wanted to restore law and order. He commanded that all forced labor camps and illegal internment camps be shut down. My father was flooded with relief, and my grandmother cried tears of joy at this news. This meant they would be able to leave their forced labor camps in Debrecen and Sap and finally be reunited with my grandfather after five long years.

Gradually, the camps were shut down and the prisoners/forced labor workers were released. My father and grandmother found themselves back in Budapest after three arduously long years, yet they were only given permission to stay there for three days to sort out their affairs. My father's sister and brother-in-law found them a small house in the outskirts of Budapest in a town called Dunaharaszti where they were soon joined by my grandfather. My father found employment with a Geodetic Surveyors Group as an assistant to a surveyor who needed help with some outdoor projects.

After a while working in the outdoors, my father was given a position working in the Geodetic Surveyors' offices. My father was happy to accept more responsibility and be able to work indoors....that is until the day he found out that the company he was working for was making maps for the Red Army. He felt that by working with this group of people, he was collaborating with the enemy. Guilty by association. My father had to make a decision and battled with himself...should he quit? Should he stay and continue to make some money to help his family? Finding another job would be practically impossible, and going back to the University would not be allowed as he was blacklisted as an ex-deportee. In the end, he decided to stay put, but his conscience would not allow him to stay "silent". With extreme caution, my father was able to make copies of the new military road maps and every Saturday would forward them to the US Air Force Attache. In this way, my father started his lone freedom fight against the Communist military. He was following in the footsteps of his ancestors who since 1301 always did whatever they could to fight for Hungary's independence and freedom. He was only 25 years old.