Book Review
“This Face Behind I Hide” is a historical novel set in 1956 Hungary at the time of the Hungarian Revolution. For twelve days in October 1956, the hope of freedom blossomed in Hungary, only then crushed by Soviet tanks. As the tanks rolled through the streets of Budapest thousands of Hungarians fled, by the end of that short rebellion over two hundred thousand Hungarians had escaped to neighboring Austria. The author, Arpad Gergely and his wife Ilona were two of these Hungarian freedom fighters. The story is about Erika Molnar, a fictional character, not someone who lived at the time, but about someone who could have. The events are real and told with a cold passion and stark detail only possible for someone who survived the experience.
True to his background, the author uses a journalistic style from the prologue, where he sketches out the history behind the Hungarian revolution. Using short descriptive phrases he describes the restructuring of Europe to “benefit some and chastise others.” Hungary, at a geographic crossroads in Europe, was one of the nations chastised. In one paragraph, he describes 500 hundred years of domination and repression, with brief spare description. That strong economy of words continues throughout the book.
The story opens with gunfire. Erika Molnar rises and she prepares a sparse breakfast for her grandfather not realizing that he was the target of the shooting. In the course of describing her movements in the tiny apartment, he dispassionately provides details of the “massive, old buildings” that “soaked up most of the noise of the battle.” To bring home the general acceptance of the gentile poverty of the society he gives details such as the “phosphorous face of the ancient alarm clock” the tiny two-room apartment and the “makeshift wooden cot that also served a sitting bench during the day.” The small details of their days before the revolution begin with her grandfather, who doesn’t eat early opening his butcher shop. But by the time Erika who rose at 7am had “poor men’s coffee, a mix of dark roasted chicory and barley” and buttered rolls ready would be hungry. In those few phrases, he portrays a life that starts much earlier and far less lavishly than our 9 to 5 Starbucks existence. Ericka discovers her grandfather’s body, becomes the next target of Russian gunfire and flees back into the building, followed by the derisive laughter of the Russian soldiers. The spontaneous uprising that started on 23 October 1956 had claimed the life of the only family the fifteen-year-old schoolgirl had ever known, and almost took hers as well. Her grandfather lay dead on the sidewalk in front of his shop below the apartment. As she huddles alone she thinks first of cremating his body; then another plan develops. She had seen boys her age firebomb a tank and decides, “she wanted more than one man’s funeral.”
Numbly she works out every detail and succeeds. Now, she had to run. Her boyfriend, Frank Bartha son of the District Political Officer of the AVO helps, and dies in the escape. Even the great betrayal and death is portrayed not in bloody detail but with a factual cold passion that leaves the reader filling in with the worst of their own imagining. Near the border, the guides ask for payment as they are staying behind. The escapees “ remove their wristwatches, empty therir wallets and pockets, and take off their fur coats and felt hats, some even their so needed winter coats to give.” All this takes place in silence “They all knew that from now on their silence would be their lifesaver, the donations of their worldly possessions their utmost gratitude.” Gratitude that was misplaced for they were betrayed. Flares go off illuminating a line of solders “Startled in the open field, surrounded by their enemy, chaotic running and shouting ensued. Gunfire rattled into the center, cutting down those too stunned to dive down or not brave enough to run.” The Russian circle of solders closes around the “petrified herd” of escapees as they desperately search for a way to run, or crawl to safety. Gergely portrays Frank’s death with bloodless detail in “.. the grotesque twist of Frank’s face, the involuntary rise of his arm as he fell forward, and no more movement after that.” There is no description of wounds or blood, and yet no doubt of the agony of his death: all told with just the faintest rhythm of the author’s native Hungarian coming through so faintly as to be almost indiscernible. A small group survives the round up and, helped by workers from a nearby farm, shuffles towards freedom
“Only their eyes twinkled with gratitude to their kind helpers, there was nothing left to give. When the rattle of a machinegun burst over the flatland, the tempo of their exit turned into a desperate dash for their lives. They did not see that the farm workers were cut down next to their flatbed: they only saw the flapping of the red white red of the Austrian flag coming closer and closer.”
Erika makes it through to Austria. In the new land, a new set of problems, challenges and opportunities arise. Suddenly free, but only fifteen she is not prepared to cope with the adult intrigues and predators around her. All around her there are people reinventing themselves, creating new lives even as some revert to their old bad behavior. Most are good honest souls trying to make their way in a world of unaccustomed freedom. Some are good people, but with a past that they are leaving behind. Others are covering present intrigue in the confusion and chaos of the refugee camps.
Ken Williams, an American Red Cross worker helps, but Erika is caught up in a tangle of red tape, complicated by her age and the notoriety of ‘The Butcher of Duna Street.’ The confused schoolgirl refugee is now the target of the soviet agents in Austria: Agents who have established lives since the end of World War II and others who came across as “refugees.” Like refugees, the camp confusion provides the perfect cover. Now they are making lists, taking names, and seeking to return any children who are not with their family back to Hungary.
In the case of Erika, they have a double reason to seek her return, for she is not just another child; she is a revolutionary hero with a price on her head. Ken’s struggle to extricate her, is complicated by his growing love for her and by her notoriety as a Revolutionary Hero sure to face political persecution if returned to Hungary. This adds to the necessity of exposing the Soviet agents who infiltrated the camps and the agents who are long standing members of the Austrian community. Fortunately, in their eagerness to seize Erika the agents expose themselves. Once again, the chaos of the camps is in her favor and Ken Williams is able to see her off on her new road to America.
The Author, Arpad Gergely was a Hungarian native who escaped with his bride, the former Ilona Kazinczy-Nagy. They met while students at the University of Agriculture, in Hungary, escaped together, fluhtlings in Vienna, refugee Freedom Fighters in the United States. While in no way autobiographical, the book draws upon images he experienced supplemented by painstaking research.
In the course of his career, Arpad Gergely has achieved a fluency in American English that few Americans accomplish. The bio on his book lists the following writing credits: “news correspondent, photographer, publicity writer and editor to several local and regional publications. a book on publicity; wrote a script for an award winning educational slide and sound film and wrote and directed two musicals.” . He also served as the Public Relations Chair for the United Nations Second Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) Brownsville, TX Town Meeting in 1996. The ebb and flow of his writing style sometimes has a rhythm that, while not an accent is not totally American either.
References
City College of San Francisco. "1956 Hungarian Revolution." City College of San Francisco. http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~sgati/gatiproductions/starting_over/revolution.htm (accessed 02 02, 2012).
George Washington University. "The National Security Archive." George Washington University. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB76/ (accessed 02 02, 2012).
Gergely, Arpad. This Face Behind I Hide. Brownsville, Texas: Create Space , 2006.
The Institute for the History of the Hungarian Revoluton. "1956 Revolution History." The Institute for the History of the Hungarian Revoluton. http://www.rev.hu/history_of_56/naviga/index.htm (accessed 02 02, 2012).
