The Biggest Hole in the Iron Curtain: The Batizy Story

By Levente Batizy

The Batizy family was Eastern European nobility during the thirteenth to twentieth centuries and continued to lead comfortable lives even as the importance of aristocracy faded. Then, the unimaginable happened. These centuries of happy, committed citizenship would all seemingly fade away in an instant as communism took over. Driven from their home after the 1956 Hungarian revolution against communist rule failed, the Batizys found themselves starting over, seeking and creating a new dream: the American dream. "The Biggest Hole in the Iron Curtain: The Batizy Story" is Levente Batizy's sweeping yet intimate immigration story. Starting with the story of the Batizy patriarch, the architect of the family's great escape, and following the sacrifices that the Batizy's mother and stepmother made during the resettlement. "The Biggest Hole in the Iron Curtain" also includes recollections from Batizy and his thirteen siblings following the fiftieth anniversary of the revolt.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Release date: Jul 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9781977215338

Levente Batizy

Dr. Levente G. Batizy, fifth oldest out of fourteen children, tells the story from his perspective. He is only ten years of age when he's torn from his birth mother and grandmother to escape with his family from their native land during the 1956 Hungarian Communist revolution. The blended family finally arrives in America and begins the momentous adjustments and trials that will eventually yield success. Then, fifty years later, celebrate with Levente as he and his son return to Budapest to celebrate Hungary's freedom.

Book preview

The Biggest Hole in the Iron Curtain

The Batizy Story

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2019 Levente Batizy

v5.0

The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Outskirts Press, Inc.

http://www.outskirtspress.com

ISBN: 978-1-9772-1533-8

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019901399

Cover Photo © 2019 Levente Batizy. All rights reserved - used with permission.

Outskirts Press and the OP logo are trademarks belonging to Outskirts Press, Inc.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Table of Contents

Preface

Introduction

The Batizy Story, offered by Levente Batizy

In the beginning: The Year 1241

A Celebration: Hungary’s Freedom!

Julia, an important name in my life

Mrs. Julia (Jutkanéni)

Julianna, my daughter

My Dream: Celebrate Hungary’s Freedom

Patsy Angel

The Dream Trip Begins

Hungary, October 1956

That Fateful Day: October 23, 1956

My Father’s Role

Escape Opportunity Closing Quickly

Austria

We are headed to the United States of America!

Fall 1961: The start of my high school career

Spring 1963

Family Moves

Medical school or U.S. Army?

The Reunion

My Medical Profession Begins

Family changes

Botond’s Eulogy to Apu (father)

The Story Continues

Tünde

Csaba (offered by Levente)

Gyöngyvér (Gwen)

Gábor (as told by Botond)

Csilla

Botond

Zsolt

Arpád

Hungary

America

Swimming

North Chicago, Illinois, 1965 (actually, Downey, Illinois: VA Psychiatric Hospital)

Nashville, Tennessee, Autumn 1965

San Antonio, Texas, February 1966

Akron, Ohio, July 1966

1969 - College years

Summer 1971

Budapest (aka Medical University), 1971

Strange world, strange people, strange language. Different culture.

The Dreams

Dream #1

Dream #2

Dream #3

The rest is history

Szabolcs

Csanád

Tass

Lehel

Hajna

The Challenge

Dedication

Preface

by Levente Batizy

THROUGH THE YEARS, I have repeated the story of my family’s great escape from communist Hungary to a number of audiences in schools, churches, and family get-togethers. After each occasion, l was encouraged to write a book to share this incredible story with others. With each passing decade, I am reminded by my wife and kids that the story will fade away if I don’t take time to put pen to paper.

With refugees fleeing their worn-torn countries, we are constantly reminded of the risk and benefits that refugees pose to the host nation. As our family escaped war-torn Hungary and the oppression of communism in 1956, the western nations were sympathetic to our plight. However, the members of the U.S. Congress and the American people feared that, with the influx of the Hungarian refugees, Communist infiltrators would threaten their homeland.

Of the two 200,000 Hungarian refugees who escaped during the aftermath of the 1956 Hungarian revolution against the occupying Russian forces, the U.S. accepted only 25,000. My family defied the odds and was given chance at achieving the American dream. This is their story—the story that has been named The Biggest Hole in the Iron Curtain.

Introduction

GUSZTÁV AND JULIANNA arrived in the U.S. without a penny, but with eleven children and a dream. Only a Mad Hungarian would go through with such an insane endeavor. This book chronicles the 1956 Hungarian revolt, our daring escape, our capture at the border, and our final escape to Austria. It follows the family from refugee camp to refugee camp and the beginning of a long road of assimilation to the American way of life.

The reader is given a glimpse into the Batizy family as they move from poverty to financial independence and from the East Coast to the Midwest, the Deep South and, finally, to northeast Ohio. Each member of the family reveals his or her struggles as they find their place in the blended family, their new country, and their new way of life.

As refugees, the Batizy family learned to assimilate. We became a classic story of the American dream. Lessons for the future generation of Batizys, and anyone else who enjoys reading this book, are simple: With hard work and a never-give-up attitude, anyone can overcome adversity and achieve the American dream.

The Batizy Story, offered by Levente Batizy

In the beginning: The Year 1241

Being named a family of nobility—a true honor giving us an elite birthright—meant wealth, education, and opportunity for the entire family for many lifetimes.

Or so it seemed.

IT WAS A decisive victory that spring day in 1241. The Mongols viewed Hungary as a rival, and caught the country in the midst of political turmoil. At the Battle of Mohi (now Muhi) on April 11, 1241, the Mongols defeated the Hungarians, leaving the area in ruins. The Mongols suffered heavy casualties; however, the Hungarians lost almost their entire force.

But one man among many—the son of Márkus and Batizfalvi, named Batyz—fought heroically during the battle. As a reward for his service, Hungarian King Béla IV gave a territory of land to him and to the entire Batyz family, thus establishing the village of Batiz in northeast Hungary. He gave to Batyz the title of Baron, a true title of nobility. The honor was not only for him, but also for all in the Batyz family. Later, in the 1700s, King Francis II Rákóczi strengthened the family’s title of nobility.

Through the decades, the Batizy family (formerly Batyz, Batiz, Batizi) has been recognized as a strong, creative, educated people. In fact, in the 1500s, András Batizi served as a preacher and composer of religious songs, as well as a teacher in northern Hungary. In 1540, he studied at the University of Wittenberg, later accepting a position as Lutheran minister in Tokaj. Fifteen of his songs, composed between 1530 and 1546, still survive and are sung in churches. András also authored biblical stories and is regarded as a pioneer among the psalm writers of the Hungarian Reformation.

Unfortunately, when communism came into power in Hungary after World War II, anyone with a Hungarian title of nobility, or who was wealthy, automatically was blacklisted by the Soviets. Thus, the events of 1241 had a huge impact on the Batizy family, as the story below will show.

THE FAMILY MATRIARCH, TÜNDE, SURROUNDED BY HER SON AND DAUGHTER-IN-LAW NICOLE, VISITING THE ORIGINAL BATIZFALVI CHURCH BUILT BY MARKUSFALVI MARK’S SON BATYZ 1265.

A Celebration: Hungary’s Freedom!

Let me introduce myself. I am Levente Batizy, one of eleven Batizy children who escaped Hungary with our parents during the Soviet occupation of our country in 1956. This is my family’s story, an accounting of a powerful and emotional time for me and for all of us.

I want to start by jumping ahead fifty years, to a beautiful, fall morning in 2006. The leaves already are turning and the colors are picturesque—some yellow, some orange, and, yes, even some red. The crisp air and the changing colors remind me of a perfect, picture postcard. In this case, it is of Sagamore Hills, Ohio.

THE AUTHOR: DR.LEVENTE BATIZY, 5TH OLDEST OF THE BATIZY CHILDREN

It is hard to believe that another year has passed. It seems just yesterday that we had our last family reunion, an event that has been our effort to hold the family together since the death of Julianna (Jutkanéni), my stepmother.

Julia, an important name in my life

Julia. This is a name that has been part of my life forever. First, there was my mother Julianna Kristóf, a soft-spoken, petite woman with beautiful blue eyes; flawless, pure white skin, and a smile that befriended all who met her. She was born in Gödöllő, Hungary, a small farming community near Budapest, Hungary. The younger of two children, she was married at age sixteen to a man much older than her in order to escape the family’s poverty. Their son died in infancy. She never talked of the marriage that produced that son, but she visited the infant’s grave in Gödöllő until well into her eighties.

Soon after the infant’s death, that marriage ended in a divorce. It was then that she elected to return to school. Her family could not afford to pay for her tuition, but she had excelled in school through the mandatory first eight grades. Because of this, she was offered free tuition in exchange for tutoring other students. She continued to excel in school and was accepted to a prestigious medical school—the school at which she met my father, Dr. Gusztáv Batizy. My mother Julianna was forced to drop out of medical school after marrying my father and becoming pregnant several times as a medical student.

What a contrast to her past life! My father was a member of the Marcus and Batizfalvi Batizy family, a family of wealth, aristocracy, and nobility. An only child, Gusztáv was worshiped and doted on by his mother, my grandmother Valeria (Valika) Batizy. His father, my grandfather, was chief counsel for the Budapest Police Department. Gusztáv was only fourteen years old when my grandfather died, yet he later paid dearly for his elite birthright.

DR GUSZTÁV BATIZY AND VALÉRIA GUBEC (VALIKA): OUR GRANDFATHER AND GRANDMOTHER (1889-1933) (1896-1965)

MRS. JULIA (JUTKANÉNI)

JULIANNA POLGÁR

The second Julia in my life was Julianna Polgár, my father’s second wife. I called her Jutkanéni. Her life was a classic story of survival. She was born into a Hungarian family in a region that now is part of Slovakia. During the latter years of World War II, this young, single mother moved to Budapest to find work. It is there that she met my father, who, at the time, was the father of five. To my father, she represented good times. No question, though that she also was a very attractive woman. She had placed her young son, Gábor, in a boy’s home until she could find work and care for herself and her young son.

JULIANNA, MY DAUGHTER

The third Julianna is Julianna Batizy, my daughter. If I had to script a perfect daughter, it would be hard to find much to change in Julianna: intense, internally driven by self-doubt, and eager to please. Early on, she declared her intention to follow in her grandfather’s footsteps to become a doctor. But, like her grandfather, she wanted even more. She had to prove herself by graduating number one in her medical school class!

PROUD FATHER AT JULIANNA’S MEDICAL SCHOOL GRADUATION

My Dream: Celebrate Hungary’s Freedom

Now, back to this moment. It is a beautiful, gorgeous morning in October 2006. I am feeling guilty and excited at the same time. I am excited about my trip to Hungary, a trip to witness the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the revolt against Soviet control. The event has been promoted as a worldwide celebration. Foreign dignitaries from all over the world will be there.

I have dreamed of this trip for forty-three years. I was a sophomore at the University of Alabama when I was lucky enough to get a ticket to hear the Budapest Children’s Choir when it visited my university. It was that night, at the concert, that I decided I would return to Hungary to celebrate her freedom—if that ever occurred.

The night of the concert, I was anxious for the evening performance. I was excited and a little scared. It had been eight years since my family had escaped Communist Hungary in 1956. I had tears in my eyes that night as I listened to the most angelic sound one can possibly imagine. My mind was filled with memories of a lost childhood, of another fall day, and a Christmas that never came.

Now, on this day in 2006, as I drive to give a lecture to my Emergency Medicine residents, I think of how I can change my travel plans to somehow include my father and my wife on the trip. But what would I say to my son? He is waiting for me at home. He has flown from Phoenix to accompany me on my dream journey. I had promised my son that this would be the trip of a lifetime. We had been to Hungary before, but only as tourists. Today, we are flying there to be a part of history, to join in