The Stolen Past

In the 20th century, Hungary suffered two great cataclysms: the Treaty of Trianon, which deprived the country of two-thirds of its territory and one-third of its population, and the Holocaust, during which approximately 570,000 Hungarian Jews, more than 70% of the community, were murdered. My father’s family lost their homeland, and 80% of their male members in the war, finding themselves in a foreign country, a colonial line, in their centuries-old home; and my mother’s family was almost completely exterminated during the Holocaust. After the horrors, my young, lonely parents found a second life together. Their lives prove that goodness and love ultimately overcome all hardships. Their story is just one of millions, yet it evokes the fate of an entire region.

I am a child of the Kádár era, which intended to “completely erase the past.” In my youth, my parents protected me from such dangerous concepts as lineage, ancestors, and roots. Later, I began to wonder what kind of cultural heritage I carry within me. My father is a Hungarian nobleman, my mother is the granddaughter of a chief rabbi. This dual origin is particularly exciting, since Hungarian nobility and Hungarian Jewry are integral parts of Hungarian history, culture, identity, and diversity. In my blood, I unite those who once could not meet: the nobleman and the Jew. They all live together in me. I have learned that identity is not a division, but a connection. If we know where we come from, we can learn to live together in peace and dignity.