Back in December, 2014, I looked at my grandmother’s village of Debrőd/Debrad’, Slovakia. I was struck by the beauty of a picture posted by someone with my great grandmother’s surname, Szemán. My husband thought he could be a relative and my immediate reaction was “fat chance.” Long story short: yes, he is. My great great grandmother/grandfather and his great great great grandmother/grandfather are the same. That’s how we got started making plans to visit grandma’s home town. I now like to call it “our ancestral village in Slovakia.”
Flash back to 1956 and the Hungarian Revolution. When the immagrants started flowing across the border into Austria seeking a life outside Hungary, my grandfather, born János Börczi, (we called him “John Borczi”) was a blind widower and the eldest of 10 children–all boys! My mom read and responded to any correspondence, bills, etc. sent to Grandpa. I do not know the form she received but we got word that a niece of Grandpa’s was seeking asylum in the US. I think this was when the relative (and her husband) were both in Austria or if they were in the US. All I recall is that we were getting some of the Hungarians who had fought to regain their country. I knew them to be Kalman and Monika Keszei. It was pretty heady stuff for an 8 year old.
The Revolution began on Oct. 23, 1956, and several people were posting memories and memorials on the Facebook Group, Hungary Exchange. I posted a picture of my mom holding my brother at a luncheon given in St. Stephen’s Hungarian Church in St. Louis the day after our St. Louis Hungarians arrived. I identified the refugees we sponsored, Kalman and Monika Keszei. As soon as I typed Monika’s name, it offered a member’s name; so, I said, “mother of this group’s Monika Keszei.” Kalman and Monika had a daughter, Monika, who came out a few years after their escape. I wondered if I had “found” her.
Well, the next day I received a Facebook notification that Monika Keszei had responded to my post. Sure enough, that was our Monika! I did know that both Kalman and Monika have died but I didn’t know what happened to “little Monika.” The last I had heard, in 1993, was that she had returned to Hungary as an accountant and was doing quite well. I saw something about her once when I Googled her to try to find her. One of her relatives in Nemesládony said that she was on “the other side of Hungary.” I left it at that because I sure didn’t know where she was!
I now know that all grown up Monika is alive and well and is living in St. Louis. We exchanged messages and promised to talk sometime today. So, I am reunited with yet another member of my extensive Hungarian family.
And it all began with a picture.
37 Hungarian Refugees Shed Tears For Homeland, Begin New Life Here
Note: There were 35 refugees. My mother and brother were counted as refugees but they were there with Kalman and Monika.
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