My Escape – the story of eight young Hungarian refugees’ dramatic escape from Hungary during the Revolution of 1956.
These memoirs were written by the teenage author in 1956, right after her arrival in Vienna and translated from the original Hungarian document fifty years later. On the climactic night of the group’s attempt to cross the border into Austria, it was against all odds: local guides were no longer willing to risk their lives leading escapees along the westward route; the train back to Budapest had been blown up and all non-local residents were detained and taken away; during the night, Russian soldiers were searching village homes for potential escapees; five dead bodies were brought in from the border during the night and Radio Free Europe bemoaned: “Hardly any Hungarian refugees succeeded last night.”
