Choices: The True Story of One Family’s Daring Escape to Freedom by J.E. Laufer; Little Egg Publishing Co; (c) 2017; ISBN 9781881-669067; 102 pages plus 3 pages of photographs.
By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO — The story may be true, but the book officially is classified as fiction because it imagines conversations that the author was not of an age to hear directly or in such detail. Choices is a well-written tale of how Kati and Adolf Egett and their children Gyorgy and Judit (the author) escaped from Hungary after Soviet troops crushed the pro-democracy Hungarian Revolution in 1956.
Grown up to become the married writer, J.E. Laufer, Judit explains that she titled her book Choices because all along the road to freedom, the Egett family had to make choices, any one of which could have changed the course of their lives.
The first big choice, of course, was to find a way to leave Hungary without coming under suspicion. This meant leaving their apartment in pristine condition, and taking only light luggage for what they described to neighbors as a short visit to another city in Hungary to visit an ailing relative.
Next, they had to say goodbye to Adolf’s mother, nearly breaking her heart in the process. But Mother Egett needed to know, of course, what her son, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren were about to do. Imagine how shocked she’d be if they had just turned up missing–having left no clue of their intentions!
And then, there was the route the Egetts had to take to Austria. Numerous towns lay along the Austria-Hungary border, but which one to embark to? As it turned out, an attempt from one town was unsuccessful, though they paid their “guide,” a lot of money.
Ordered by the police to return to Budapest, they had to decide whether to obey, or to try again from another city. That involved another choice: whether to pay a different guide even more money than they had paid the first to find a safe place to cross the border, from what was then called an “Iron Curtain” country into the West.
For Kati, surreptitious border crossings and the ever-present fear that authorities might discover and shoot them were all too reminiscent of the Holocaust in which she had suffered the loss of her maiden Krausz family.
A large portion of the escape route to Austria was on foot, requiring Kati and Adolf to carry the children in their arms. At times, there were other hard choices to be made: to rest or to keep going.
After the Egett family reached Austria, there were still more choices. Should they stay in a Displaced Persons camp, or make their way to Vienna? And if Vienna, where would they stay?
Later came the question of immigration to North America. Should they wait for a possible invitation to the United States, or should they go to Canada? And regardless of which country they chose, where should they live?
Choices, choices. That’s what you can expect to get when your goal is freedom!
*
Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com