Caption: This photo was taken during the short period after the populace rose up & overthrew the Communist Regime in October and the Soviet Union sent in soldiers to brutally end the rebellion in November.
Edie is a personal friend of mine. With Gen Zers demanding Communist rule, even going so far as to vote in Communist mayors in Seattle and New York City, it is time they learn on-the-ground facts of what it is like for ordinary residents to suffer through such oppression. Communism only “works” by executing opponents & freethinkers, in order to terrorize the populace. I asked Edie to put her memories to pen for America-First Re-Ignited.
I, Edie Kazy-Deghy, was born in Budapest, Hungary on November 6, 1940. The first thing I remember are the bombs falling all around the city and the quick descent into our cellar for safety. I remember the Christmas tree in our living room and my grandparents putting out the candles on the tree. That was before the days of the pretty twinkling light that we now enjoy. The bombs were bad enough, we didn’t want a fire as well.
FEAR & HUNGER
Fear and more fear and hunger. We lived on beans and potatoes and the occasional piece of horsemeat, if we were lucky. My grandmother and mother walked to the farms outside the city to trade jewelry, oriental rugs, and furs for food.
What we feared most were the Russian troops who were circling the city. Hungary was on the side of Germany during the war. There was no love for Hitler nor for the relocation of the Jews to labor camps & death; but, we were part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, which was like a sibling to Germany. Eventually, a bomb hit our house, and collapsed on top of us. It took days to get us dug out from under the rubble.
RUSSIAN SOLDIERS ARRIVE
Then the Russians came, robbing and raping their way from the border until hitting the capital city. They were the hated ones, and for a good reason. They were barbarians from east of Moscow known for their evil and cruel ways. They had no concept of civilized countries and people, and would shoot at anything or anyone in their way. One time, they brought in a fish, and ordered my grandmother to cook it for them. They had probably never seen a proper toilet and tried to wash it there, but then hit the flush, and the fish disappeared. So they shot the toilet up.
My grandmother was hiding a badly injured young soldier from Germany, who couldn’t have been more than 18, but the Russians found him and executed him in the courtyard while we watched. They left him there like trash. After the Russians moved on, my grandparents buried him.
RETURNING TO NORMAL, SORT OF
By about April of 1945, things had quietened down, schools reopened and the Russian troops were left there to keep peace. I was able to go to school for awhile at a Catholic school until the government decided to shut it down.
Everything that was available to buy was rationed, and you had to stand in line for everything. No supermarkets, only the bakery, the butcher, the dairy store and there was no guarantee that there would be some left by the time you reached the head of the line.
At the government school it was normal practice for the teachers to try to bribe students with good grades if they told if the parents listened to Voice of America. This kind of bribery went on no matter where you went. My Dad was a corporate attorney but was not allowed to return to his previous position. He was only able to get a job driving a truck, which eventually saved us.
STALIN’S THUGS CAME AT NIGHT
The AVO,^ Hungary’s version of the CIA, showed up one night and confiscated all my Dad’s law books. They always worked in the dark. For example, my Aunt had a lovely apartment overlooking the Danube River and some high member of the party decided that he wanted it. The AVO showed up after 10 pm, gave her 1 hour to pack 2 suitcases and she was taken out to the country to live with strangers. The farmer wasn’t happy and my aunt wasn’t happy, but this is the way it was ordered and there was nothing you could do about it. To this day, if someone knocks on my door after dark, I feel the same fear that I felt then.
Government control and new regulations continued under Stalin, and so many died in the camps. My dad was arrested by the AVO for who knows what excuse, the real reason was that he was educated and had the title of Baron. He was kept in their dungeons for weeks and beaten for some unknown secrets he allegedly possessed.
Then 1956 came and the students started to march against the communist government and everyone followed them. A great book on the Hungarian Revolution was written by James Mitchener entitled “The Bridge At Andau.” The most interesting part during this time was that the Russian troops who had been in Hungary for years by then and liked the Hungarian people, turned their guns over to the people to help them fight against the communists. People actually hunted down some of the AVO head people and executed them, leaving them hanging on lamp posts. Within days the government fled and the Hungarians started to organize a new, free government. My Dad was one of the people very involved. Then after about 10 days new troops came from the Soviet Union to crush the rebellion. We knew that we had to leave due to Dad’s involvement.
The communists were rounding up all the people and executing them for their involvement and we were afraid Dad would be captured. So, with the trucks he drove and followed by others from the company who hated the communists just as we did, they decided to caravan to the Austrian border, supposedly to bring milk back to Budapest. No suitcases were allowed in case we were stopped and questioned. When we got to the border, the guards were friendly. We gave all our cash to them to weave us through the land mines and fences. The money was useless in the west, anyway. You couldn’t exchange it for anything. Now that I think back, it was a huge step, since we didn’t know if they would turn us in after taking all the cash or would they really let us go across to Austria.
FREEDOM AT LAST!
We ended up in a refugee camp with hundreds of others. Different countries were offering to take so many people but since my Mother was living in England (she left Hungary during the war) the Red Cross sent Dad and I to a military installation in Dover that had already been emptied of troops. This was during the Suez Canal crisis. From there Dad and I were turned over to my mother in England. He didn’t stay, choosing to go to Canada, while I stayed with my mother. She eventually put me into a Catholic boarding school, primarily to learn to speak proper English, and to finish school.
I was not happy there, so I followed my Dad to Canada within approx 18 months, to North Vancouver BC. Dad lived out his life in Vancouver, where he passed away in December 1968.
BECOMING AN AMERICAN, POLICE OFFICER
By 1968, I was a widow with a small child. I came down to San Diego on a whim to visit a Canadian girlfriend and met my second husband through her. The marriage did not last, no kids, and we divorced. I became a US citizen in May 1970.
Then, I attempted to join the military but they did not want me, for three reasons: I was too old (32) with a dependent, no other family and came from a communist country. So I did the next best thing and I became a police officer in Oceanside, California. I had to find a way to pay back everything this wonderful country gave me. I retired on a medical pension about 10 years later due to a broken neck caused by a fight.
While I was a police officer, I went back to university and ended up with a MBA in business. I joined the San Diego Savings and Loan after the police department, and worked there for 10 plus years.
I met Dwight, a career Marine officer with a Purple Heart, through another police officer, and we were married in 1996. We both hated what California had become so we moved to Washington, and eventually built our house overlooking the Astoria/Megler bridge connecting Astoria, Oregon with Long Beach, Washington.
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Democrat Party leaders have been committed to destroying capitalism for a long time; however, they have been slowly sneaking it in through the back door, hoping We The People won’t notice until it is too late. THAT is why many of them are running from the Communist-loving immigrant, Zohran Kwame Mamdani. He says it flat out: Our goal is to confiscate al…
^AVO stood for Allam Vedelmi Osztay or, in English, State Protection Department. This was a secret police organization that operated during the late 40’s and early 50’s. It was known for political repression during the early communist era. A much hated agency.
The author, Diane L. Gruber, is a First Amendment advocate who writes for Substack. She calls her Substack newsletter America First Re-Ignited. Follow me on X @DianeLGruber.
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