Run and Pray E-Book

Tibor Gyorffy

• Herausgeber: Proisle Publishing Services
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Seitenzahl: 68

Beschreibung

Run and Pray

Leseprobe

Run and Pray

Tibor “Ted” Gyorffy

Run and Pray

Copyright © 2022 by Tibor “Ted” Gyorffy

ISBN: 978-1-959449-01-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher disclaims any responsibility for them.

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Proisle Publishing Services LLC

1177 6th Ave 5th Floor

New York, NY 10036, USA

Phone: [phone])

[email protected]

Photo from Life Magazine

Photo from Life Magazine

Photo from Life Magazine

Photo from Life Magazine

Photo from Life Magazine

Photo from Life Magazine

Photo from Life Magazine

Photo from Life Magazine

Tibor’s Childhood Church

Tibor’s highschool

Tibor’s childhood home

Dedication

I would like to thankfully acknowledge the following people for their help in typing and editing this book: my wife, Judy, my children, Steve, Lisa, Mike, and three of my grandchildren, Collin, Emily, and Nathan. My good friend, John Davis, encouraged me to write this book and helped me with formatting it’s contents.

I would like to dedicate it to my wife, children, grandchildren, my family in Hungary, and my church friends for all their prayer and encouragement.

Quotation

“Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”

-Patrick Henry

Foreword

This book is an attempt to answer the many questions voiced by my children, grandchildren, and friends about who I am and why I am here in the U.S.A.

As a child and teenager, I experienced the Soviet Russian Communist oppression on my country and family. The Hungarian people wanted to be free of Russian occupation and live with freedom as an independent country! Obviously the Soviet Union did not allow that to happen And used every possible dictatorial means to discourage The Hungarians. This is the reason why the 1956 Hungarian revolution happened. And this is the reason why my friend and I took a chance and escaped from Hungary in December 1956.

That experience changed my life. At age 19, I knew that my life would be different. I knew that it would be impossible to go back to life as it was before. In this book, the readers will see why that was the case. Everyone knows that no one wants to go back to living under tyranny. But at the same time, it is extremely difficult to leave a stable and loving family behind and face an unfamiliar life. At 19, you need a lot of support and direction! Also, facing a different language and culture in your surroundings is difficult.

Life in free Hungary

It was July 2, 1937.

There was an excitement in the Gyorffy household. Their third child, a little boy, was born around noontime joining a sister and a brother. The father was the principle in the local elementary and Junior high school. The newborn boy was named Tibor. The father Joseph Gyorffy, besides being principle in the local school, was an organist in the Reform (Presbyterian) church. He also directed the choir.

At this time, as over centuries, the people In Hungary enjoyed freedom and independence. Life in Hungary was good for our family. Our family was active in the church and in the community.

Currently Europe was in turmoil. Germany had elected an aggressive chancellor, Adolf Hitler. He was openly building up the German army and was hostile toward many other European countries. At the same time Hungary was independent and democratic.

Unfortunately, that would soon change. Germany decided on September 1,1939, to attack some European countries. That started the Second World War in Europe.

I was only two years old when this happened!

Spring 1942

The winter had been very cold. But Spring in Hungary is long and beautiful. I could hear my Dad and Mom, talking about how they were looking forward to Spring and, also, about the war. Even though I was only five years old, I heard the anxiety in their voices. They would lower their voices a little when they talked about the war. “It's here. The soldiers are here” It was true. There were German and Hungarian soldiers everywhere. They were going east to the Russian frontline. The fear of the war coming to our city had been upon us for months. And with the war and the soldiers came hardship.

Life was hard, even for a five year-old boy. Food was scarce and sometimes I was hungry. Every evening my father, mother, brothers, and sister prayed and asked God to bring us food for the next day. God never failed to provide us with daily bread.

While the second front, led by the US. and English armies, opened late in western Europe, the Germans were losing to the Russians on the eastern front. In the latter part of 1940, the Germans were retreating and the Russians were advancing. The Germans and Russians were fighting intensely in Hungary. The intense fighting in the cities caused the Hungarian civilian population to suffer greatly. By 1945, the Russians had defeated the Germans and Hungary was occupied by the Russians.

Yellow Star of David

While the war was raging on the Russian front, the Nazis weregathering the Jews in Hungary to send them to the concentration camps. We had several Jewish families in our neighborhood. Each member of those families had to wear a yellow Star of David, indicating he or she was Jewish.

My friend, Albert, had a yellow Star and I asked him if I could wear it because I didn't have one, He reluctantly gave it to me, saying I could wear it for one or two days. When I showed it to my mother, she became very upset. "Where did you get that Star?” Before I could answer, she said “Give it back to its owner at once.” Being five, I didn't know that the Jewish people had to wear the Star so the Nazis could identify them and take them to the concentration camps.

One day, the Nazis came and took Albert and his family away. We never heard from them again.

The Russians Occupy Hungary

We thought the German occupation of Hungary was bad but the Russians were worse. Their occupation was merciless. They brought rape, robbery, and death to the Hungarian people. Young girls and women of all ages were raped. Homes were robbed by the Russian soldiers every day. Our neighbor's son was seventeen years old when Russian soldiers raped his mother. When he tried to stop the soldiers from raping her, one of the Russian soldiers shot and killed him with a machine gun.

One night, six or seven Russian soldiers knocked on our door. We suspected they had come to rob us. We let them in and they seemed surprisingly respectful. One of them noticed the piano in the living room and asked who played it. My father said he did. One of the soldiers then sat down and tried to play it himself. My father saw what was happening and moved quickly to the seat in front of the piano where the soldier was sitting. "Wait", my father said," I will play a song for you."

My father's playing brought smiles to their faces. He knew some Russian songs and played for the soldiers. Soon the soldiers were singing along. The atmosphere in the house changed from fear to fellowship. The soldiers stopped looking for things to steal and kept singing as my father played. The soldiers came back every evening for a week or more. They brought food for us. By being there, they