Book Review:

DANGEROUS LIVING IN POST-WAR STALINIST HUNGARY

Enemies of the People: My Familys Journey to America By Kati Marton Simon and Schuster, 2009 A recent thrift-store book was a great find. Its title is Enemies of the People: My Familys Journey to America, written by Kati Marton. The book attracted my interest because it promised the story of a family living in Budapest in the late 1940s and first part of the 1950s who ran afoul of the Hungarian communist authorities, led by a nasty Stalinist named Rakoski. The story is told by the youngest daughter of Ilona and Endre Marton, who, as Jews, barely escaped the German Nazis and Hungarian fascists during WWII only to run afoul of the new communist regime. The daughter who wrote this book, Kati Marton, was a young girl at the time her parents were under great threat from the Hungarian regime, and the book tells her memories of that, plus the results of her later search of the archives and interviews of people who were part of the story she remembers. In short, Endre Marton was a smart, well-educated man (Ph.D. economics), fluent in many languages, who became a journalist in Budapest after the end of World War II. His wife, Ilona (Ph.D. history), also took up the pen as a journalist, but was less engaged in the profession than was her husband. Endre Marton was hired by the Associated Press (AP) after the war as its representative in Hungary. Ilona was hired to represent the United Press International (UPI). Their jobs became increasingly difficult as Hungary moved further behind the Iron Curtain and was more dominated by the Soviet Union. By the early 1950s, almost all foreign correspondents had left Hungary, either because they were forced to or because they could not function in the Stalinist state. Nevertheless, even as the country became more and more closed, the two Martons continued their work as reporters for the Western press services. The couple lived an unusual lifestyle for the time -- one that made them highly visible to the government and its secret services. Endre Marton bought a big, white Studebaker convertible from a departing American diplomat and drove it around drab Budapest. Also, the two of them had frequent contact with Americans at the U.S. embassy, both professionally and socially. They enjoyed the finer things of life at a time when such tastes were unwelcome in a proletariat state.

The Martons were kept under close watch by the Hungarian authorities who viewed them with deep suspicion. State security files later obtained by Kati Marton showed that her parents were surrounded by informers (many of whom were friends) and were subject to almost constant surveillance. They were suspected of being American spies; at the least, they were viewed as traitors to the values of the state.

Picture of Kati Marton (smaller girl on the right) and her sister in Budapest in the early 1950s

Somehow Endre and Ilona Marton managed to hang on to their jobs and remain out of jail for many years, but both were finally arrested in 1955, he in February and she in June. He was subjected to long, painful interrogation sessions over many months. Because none of their friends would take their children (and throw suspicion on themselves), Kati and her older sister were placed in foster care with an unknown family on the edge of Budapest. Endre and Ilona were tried in January 1956, and he was given a prison sentence of six years for espionage and she was sentenced three years.

Press photo for stories about their arrest

The Western press reported extensively on their trials and treatment -- after all, they were reporters for U.S. press services. Also, the U.S. government exerted pressure on Hungary, including a ban on travel to Hungary and sharp diplomatic notes, to free the two reporters. The pressure succeeded. Ilona Marton was given amnesty in April 1956. About that time, the hated 2

ruler Rakosi was ousted by post-Stalinist Moscow, who was displeased with his rigidity at a time that it was attacking Stalinism. In August, 1956, the father was released. They both returned to their jobs as reporters.

In late October 1956, the tragic Hungarian Revolution briefly raised hopes that the country would regain its independence and freedom. The revolution was covered for AP by Endre and for UPI by Ilona. However, when the Russian troops entered Budapest to put down the revolution, the couple went into hiding. The family was given refuge in the American Embassy during the worst turmoil. Soon after that, the Martons, with support of the American Embassy and their employers, immigrated to the U.S. with their two daughters. He continued to work for AP, and was for many years its correspondent at the State Department. Kati, the daughter telling the story, found evidence in the Hungarian secret files of efforts to lure her father back to Hungary to entice him to be an agent. She also reviewed her fathers FBI file and found that he had been suspected as a possible spy and had been interviewed by the FBI as well as investigated over the years. When I finished the book, I was surprised to realize that the precocious child who lived through this experience to write this book, Kati Marton, is actually widely known. She was still a child when the family came to the U.S. and she adapted well. She became a journalist and was a reporter for NPR and NBC news. In 1995, she married Richard Holbrooke, the famous diplomat who died last year. She provides us with well-written book that captures the stresses of the life that the author, her sister, and her parents had lived in Budapest during a difficult time. It presents both the heroic aspects of her parent's life, and some more regrettable episodes. It tells from a childs memory what it was like to have her parents hauled away to prison, and, rejected by friends of her parents, to be placed in foster care. In all it is a fascinating story, nicely told. 3