Enemies of the People: My Family's Journey to America

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Enemies of the People: My Family's Journey to America

by Kati Marton

3.65 · rating details · 298 ratings · 110 reviews

Renowned author Kati Marton tells how her journalist parents survived the Nazis in Budapest and were imprisoned by the Soviets.

Hardcover, 368 pages

Published October 20th 2009 by Simon & Schuster (first published September 30th 2009)

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Feb 03, 2012

Nancy Kennedy rated it

For those of us raised in a Western democracy, this story of Kati Marton's family is almost unimaginable. The last journalists reporting from behind the Iron Curtain in 1950s Hungary, Endre and Ilona Marton lived in and worked amidst the intrigues, the betrayals, the paranoia and the terror of daily life in a Communist regime.

Kati Marton goes in search of her family's history, interviewing those who knew her parents and gaining access to the files of the Hungarian secret police. Even...moreFor those of us raised in a Western democracy, this story of Kati Marton's family is almost unimaginable. The last journalists reporting from behind the Iron Curtain in 1950s Hungary, Endre and Ilona Marton lived in and worked amidst the intrigues, the betrayals, the paranoia and the terror of daily life in a Communist regime.

Kati Marton goes in search of her family's history, interviewing those who knew her parents and gaining access to the files of the Hungarian secret police. Even knowing as much as she does about Communism, she is astounded at what she finds. "You are opening a Pandora's box," says the historian who hands her the thick stack of documents and photos.

Her family's life, down to the smallest moments, was recorded in these files. Police agents spied on them, and almost everyone they knew -- neighbors, friends, nannies -- reported on them. Even after her parents' arrest and imprisonment and their release and move to America, government agents spied on them with the expressed intent of turning them into spies.

I think that's what astonished me most. Ms. Marton amply documents the mindless black-and-white thinking of people within a Communist system. The kind of relationships the Martons had with Westerners and with diplomats and journalists were inconceivable in such a system. You were either loyal to your country or an enemy and a spy; because the Martons worked among Westerners, and within a profession such as journalism, they were spies. And, of course, their Jewish ancestry didn't do anything to endear them to authorities with minds such as this.

Ms. Marton speculates as to the reason her parents took such risks -- that they were naive, that they were young and full of life, that because of their American ties they felt protected. Whatever the reason, her parents certainly ended up on the losing side in what she calls "the Age of Fanatical Utopias." As a child, she was protected by innocence from the full knowledge of the wrongs perpetrated against her family. As an adult, she has to come to grips with it. In this memoir, she takes us along on her fascinating journey of discovery. (less)

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Oct 31, 2011

Keith rated it

A fascinating memoir of the politics of the cold war era written by Kati Marton, a former journalist and ABC and PBS news correspondent. She was born into and grew up in a somewhat privileged Jewish Hungarian family where her parents were journalists for the American wire services during the communist era and during the Hungarian revolution in 1956. Although this is a time of mayhem and political intrigue in Europe, little of this undercurrent is conveyed. Yes, her parents are both arrested ...more

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Jan 18, 2011

Jane rated it

Kati Marton takes the reader on an exciting journey through her parents' lives behind the Iron Curtain in Hungary--in essentially a memoir format, which mostly works. Marton's educated, worldy parents are writers for AP and UP who speak several languages and had enjoyed mostly privileged upbringings before World War II and their Jewish backgrounds made the world much more difficult for them. They served in the Hungarian resistance during WWII, and later are targeted by the Communist leaders of...more

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Dec 07, 2010

anieva rated it

Reading some of the comments on the three-starred and fewer-starred reviews here is surprising. One claim is that it is badly written. In what universe? I can agree there is perhaps a bit of dryness, but that's it. The story's substance more than makes up for this.

Another criticism, that Marton is repetitive. Not so much, actually. What Marton does is periodically reflect on her parents given the new info she has learned.

At least one person seemed surprised it was a memoir....moreReading some of the comments on the three-starred and fewer-starred reviews here is surprising. One claim is that it is badly written. In what universe? I can agree there is perhaps a bit of dryness, but that's it. The story's substance more than makes up for this.

Another criticism, that Marton is repetitive. Not so much, actually. What Marton does is periodically reflect on her parents given the new info she has learned.

At least one person seemed surprised it was a memoir. Another wanted more info about life in Communist Hungary. Exactly how much info can one book (that's not a textbook) give? This book gives a detailed account of one family's, and many individual persons', lives in Hungary. This is not a census in narrative form.

Meanwhile, no one has seemed to understand the point of how very complicated all the persons in the book were. Secret Police harassing the parents and the parents later giving shelter to one of those very secret police, for example. U.S. diplomats who befriended the Martons and kept in mind, nonetheless, the idea that they might be spies for Hungary. The status of the Martons in the U.S. It wasn't an all-encompassing embrace by their new country: both the FBI and Hungary's Secret Police spied on them for years. These are complexities that shed light on what it means to be a person who does more than go to work and shop for groceries and watch soccer or football games. We can learn from it, but instead we're writing these limited reviews and comments. Some of the most important stuff here has flown over the heads of a great many - if not most - of the people who say they've read the book.

Of course, there are problems. As a reader, I felt Marton frustratingly gives a pass to her father on his treatment of his wife. But, hey, he's her father; she has a right to her viewpoint; and, I don't know everything about their family relationships. So, it's a point of gossip rather than a way to evaluate the book. One commenter felt Marton hasn't worked out her issues with her parents. So she shouldn't write a book? We're readers, not Marton's therapists.

Secondly, there were two or three translations that were inaccurate, which is curious since she is a native speaker. Thirdly, Marton does not use diacritical marks on her many Hungarian words and names. This is unfortunate and, to a Hungarian speaker, very obviously missing. If the book is going to exhibit the language, particularly one that so few speak, it should accurately depict it. It's puzzling why Marton failed to do this.

Overall, I found this book absorbing and a valuable insight on this bit of history and on human nature.
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Mar 13, 2010

Judy rated it

At the beginning of this book, Kati Marton comments that we never really know our parents--this was never more true than in her case. Marton's parents came to the U.S. after fleeing Hungary following the 1956 uprising and as many questions as their two daughters asked, there were few answers. Both parents wanted to leave their past behind them in Europe. After the death of her parents, Kati applied for and received her parent's files from the AVO (the Hungarian Secret Police) and was able to ...moreAt the beginning of this book, Kati Marton comments that we never really know our parents--this was never more true than in her case. Marton's parents came to the U.S. after fleeing Hungary following the 1956 uprising and as many questions as their two daughters asked, there were few answers. Both parents wanted to leave their past behind them in Europe. After the death of her parents, Kati applied for and received her parent's files from the AVO (the Hungarian Secret Police) and was able to flesh out the bare outlines of her parents lives during World War II to 1956 before leaving for the Unites States. Both of her parents grew up in Jewish families that were prosperous before World War II and both narrowly escaped the death camps. After the Soviet take over of Hungary in the early days of the Cold War, her mother and father worked as stringers for American wire services. Those contacts with American diplomats and American journalists served them well after they were arrested and each convicted of being "enemies of the people." Their two daughters were sent to live with a foster family for the year that both parents were imprisoned and it was only because of international attention that Marton's parents were set free. Even knowing that agents of the AVO were constantly watching them, both Martons sent out information during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution--which was encouraged by the U.S. government and then that same government refused to help. Eventually the family fled Hungary and Kati Marton and her sister were raised in Bethesda, Maryland where her mother taught French and her father was a journalist covering the State Department. Marton comments that her parents, because of their extremely private personalities, would not have been happy with this book. But their story is an extremely important one highlighting conditions behind the Iron Curtain in the post World War II period. More importantly, Kati's investigation into the lives of her parents allowed her to have a fuller understanding and appreciation of them both. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the politics of the post World War II period in Europe and in the Cold War.(less)

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Feb 22, 2010

Colleen rated it

Shelves: reviewed

Kati Marton's parents were Hungarian journalists working for Western news outlets behind the Iron Curtain, a courageous choice that became reason enough for them to be declared enemies of the people by the Communists in Hungary. The story of their lives as revealed through personal memories and their secret police files makes for an engrossing read on many levels.

The book does a masterful job of peeling back the bare facts that are public knowledge about the Martons to reveal the dee...more

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Feb 03, 2012

Karyl rated it

Shelves: library-reads

I'm a bit too young to have felt the fear that ran through the Cold War years. Yes, in my childhood we still had the USSR, and we still had stories of defections, but I didn't get the same sense of sheer terror that the Marton family must have lived under behind the Iron Curtain in the 1950s. I cannot even imagine being imprisoned and interrogated just for being a journalist with close ties to American diplomats, but that is exactly what happened to both of Kati Marton's parents. It's shockin...more

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Feb 14, 2010

Stephanie rated it

Shelves: biography

This is a retrospective biography written by a woman who lived in communist Hungary as a child and was forced to board with a family of strangers when both of her parents were arrested by the Hungarian Secret Police (AVI). Marton's parents spoke little about their time in custody to her after the family emigrated to the United States and much of her biography is drawn from the files of the AVI which she accessed after the fall of the communist regime.

The process of relearning your c...more

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Apr 12, 2011

Pamela rated it

The first of the book--about 80 pages or so--was very difficult reading because there was no chronology, just background, impressions, and overview, without clear sequence or purpose...just a lot of info. It read like the rambling remembrances of an obviously adoring daughter, so it was extremely biased (someone said that children are never the best biographers of their parents). Plus, her writing was a bit verbose in places. However, the last half of the book was really worthwhile; this sec...more

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Feb 17, 2010

Alicia rated it

I need to stop reading all these cold-war books! I didn't mean to follow up Mountain of Crumbs with this book, but it just happened that way. But this book was just as interesting and informative. It tells the story of the Marton Family who grew up in Hungary and who were actively spied on by their own government. For nearly 10 years, they tried to find some dirt on this family and finally they "found" enough information to convict them of spying for the Americans. (The "trial"...moreI need to stop reading all these cold-war books! I didn't mean to follow up Mountain of Crumbs with this book, but it just happened that way. But this book was just as interesting and informative. It tells the story of the Marton Family who grew up in Hungary and who were actively spied on by their own government. For nearly 10 years, they tried to find some dirt on this family and finally they "found" enough information to convict them of spying for the Americans. (The "trial" was really a sham. There were no witnesses, no evidence, and no jury. They were just presented with the charges, allowed to make a plea and then their sentence was given. Some kind of justice, right?)

The author of this book talks about how writing this and looking in the now available AVO (Hungarian Secret Police) files taught her many things about her parents and her family. Memories she had forgotten were spied on a written down for the files. Family ski trips, outings with her father, a favorite sweater. Good things she's glad she remembers. But also things she didn't know and maybe was better off not knowing. The infidelity of both her parents, the betrayal of those closest to her, and the broken promises of those who vowed to care for her and her sister.

Again, much like Mountain of Crumbs this book does not focus on the atrocities of that time. We know that they were going on. People were starving, being killed and even tortured by their own government all because of the perceived threat of America far far away. But this book doesn't talk about that. It talks about how her family did everything right and still were found guilty by their own country.

This is a quote from the book talking about that very thing: "One common superstition of totalitarian governments is that people will be more contented if they don't know the unpleasant things that are going on and that a regime will be admired in the outside world if it conceals its sins and stupidities. . . Espionage in such a a country is what the Government says it is." So just the fact that her parents were journalists reporting the news about Hungary made them spies in her countries eyes. (The author's mother's charges included talking about the price of eggs and bread to foreigners. I'm not kidding about that) They didn't want the outside world knowing anything, for fear the people inside the country would realize how they were truly living.

The other part that hit me was this: "My initial 'How could they!' has been supplanted by another question. How would I survive under such a system? What price would I pay to preserve my own freedom and my children's future?"

I think that's something that we all have to think about, especially when we judge others that have gone through systems like this. Things that I would never think about doing before I would consider now because of my daughter. You just survive.

Ultimately, I think that the author does a great job of telling her amazing and almost unbelievable story.(less)

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Apr 08, 2010

Esther Bradley-detally rated it

Loved it. Fascinating account of Kati Marton (author of The Great Escape)relating her eyewitness account of her mother and father's areests in Cold War Budapest, terrible separations, their prison stories. She writes well, clearly and keeps the reader's eyes on the page as she recounts everyone, including their nannies, spying upoon them. As children, she and her sister were unaware.

What emerges is a portrait of incredibly brave people - they were journaists for American press and ...more

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Oct 09, 2011

Florence Primrose rated it

This the true story of the childhood of Kati Marton, a former NPR and ABC news correspondent. Kati was born in Budapest, the daughter of Hungarian foreign correspondents working for AP and UPI. Her parents favored the Western life and were friends of American diplomats. The Hungarians, assuming they were spies constantly watched the family as events were changing rapidly in Hungary during the Nazi and Communist periods. Her parents were imprisoned in the mid-50s before eventually being free...more

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Oct 15, 2010

Bobbi rated it

Shelves: i-gave-this-book-away

Because all 4 of my grandparents were born in Hungary - and I am old enough to remember the 1956 Revolution this was very interesting... My cousin bought it - my older sister read it and now after I read it is my pleasure to pass it to one of my other cousins. As I read this and looked at the author's photo I kept thinking that she looked familiar as did her name... So when eading the Epologue I realized that I did indeed know of her she was once married to Peter Jennings and had two of his c...more

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May 18, 2011

Olga rated it

It is a very interesting and touching story about a scary time in Hungarian history. The authors' parents were defiant anti-communists, mixing with American diplomats and openly expressing pro-western sentiment in an era where people were taken away for much less, yet - perhaps due to their high on the radar status being reporters for AP and UP - they escaped unscathed for a long while. By the time they were arrested, the political landscape was changing and they ended up released a few months l...more

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Jun 05, 2010

Julia rated it

A totally absorbing read. First of all, Marton could never have written this book without the records contained in the Hungarian Secret Police Archives, and without the assist of the archivist there. So, as an archivist, it makes me proud. But certainly there is more to the value of this story, which I talked about with anyone who would listen. Marton, an excellent writer tells the story of her parents' arrests in Cold War Budapest from two perspectives: from her childhood memories and her re...more

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Apr 22, 2010

Susan rated it

I learned from this book that parent-child relationships can be so simple (love, security, etc) and so very complicated (who are these people?)...specifically as we become adults and parents ourselves, do I like the people my parents are?
The book is full of history, politics, intrigue and a dynamic family story...somewhat sluggish and often overwrought with political espionage...it was a bit tedious to get through, but Ms. Marton's memoir revealed a basic question about the importance of ...more

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Nov 05, 2011

Susan Henn rated it

Shelves: memoirs-bios

11/11 Kati Marton's parents were Hungarian journalists in Budapest during the Cold War, the revolution, and the Soviet’s crush of that revolution. Both worked for Western press agencies. They were watched constantly by the AVO and for a time, both were imprisoned as spies – suspected of spying for the US. The family finally escaped to Austria and later to the US. The story is told through Kati Mortan’s eyes as a young girl and also from the vantage of the present day Kati Marton after her p...more

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Jan 28, 2010

Holly rated it

This was an incredible story. The only thing that keeps it from being an equally incredible book is the in the presentation. It's the story of Marton's parents and how she learned more about them from the AVO, Hungarian Secret Police, records after their deaths than from them while they lived. The material is both shocking and riveting but the story is told in a very "matter-of-fact" way that doesn't allow it to come alive. It's more like reading a history book than to have a wonde...more

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Nov 12, 2009

Sharon rated it

Journalist Kati Marton's latest book is an excellent biography of her parents, with some autobiographical content as she writes about her own observations. Marton's parents were Associated Press journalists in Hungary, surviving Nazis, the AVO (Hungarian secret police, who imprisoned both of Marton's parents) and the October Revolution of 1956.

Marton obtained the AVO and FBI files on her parents after their deaths and uses the official documents to fill in the gaps of her childhood ...more

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Aug 03, 2011

Liz Tucker rated it

I found this book eye-opening. I was a born in the early 60s, so there is so much from that time period that I need to learn about. I sometimes comment to my students to be thankful for the 'accident of birth' that made them Americans, that despite difficult times, we really have it good. This book drives that point home - few of us live in constant fear, or have to worry about whether or not our neighbor is an enemy. Not sure we would have the fortitude to withstand some of the things this ...more

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Jul 11, 2011

Wendy rated it

Shelves: non-fiction, wwii, 2011, memoir

I enjoyed reading this memoir by a daughter about her parents' rather remarkable lives. They managed to stay a step ahead of Eichmann during WWII and then worked as AP and UP correspondents during the Cold War when relations between the U.S. and Stalinist Hungary were extremely tense and strained. I have not read much about the Cold War era, so it was fascinating to learn in more depth about the machinations of the police state. Mr. & Mrs. Marton were extremely brave and courageous individula...more

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Mar 23, 2010

Melinda rated it

This memoir is a tribute by Kati Marton to her parents, who were journalists in cold war Hungary. The Martons led fascinating lives. They managed to evade the Nazi's during WWII, even though they were both Jewish. Then, when the communists took over Hungary, they defied tradition by associating with American and British diplomats. They boldly wrote damaging reports about the govenment for western newspapers. They were ultimately imprisoned by the community government. A fascinating and tou...more

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Apr 29, 2010

Miss Karen Jean Martinson rated it

Marton provides a very interesting look into the workings of a totalitarianism that she can only glean through the personal narrative of her parents told through the impersonal records of a banally evil state. Wow. I can only imagine how strange and horrifying it was to read shopping carts' worth of information about her parents (and herself) dutifully recorded by spies and agents all using the official language, the official ideology, and the official narrative of Communist Hungary.

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Jan 01, 2010

Carl rated it

I found the story of the difficulties faced by the author's parents before and during the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 to be very compelling and heart-wrenching. As reporting, the book is good reading; as memoir, the book is confusing. I say this because I think the author has conflicted feelings about both her parents after learning the intimate details of her parent's lives. I don't think she has quite forgiven her father or her mother for the lives they lead while she was avery young child.

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Feb 26, 2010

Jonathan rated it

Shelves: biography, history, nonfiction

Marton's story is an incredible one, of courage in the face of tyranny, of personal discovery, of her parents. In Enemies of the People, Marton tells two stories: first of her childhood in communist Hungary as the daughter of the last two independent journalists in the country; second, the story of rediscovering her childhood through documents in that country's secret police archives. Marton is an excellent writer, and this book is remarkable in its careful documentation of totalitarian oppressi...more

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Jun 08, 2010

Anna L. added it

Kati Marton writes about her parents life in Hungary as AP and UP wire journalists during the Cold War. After their death she obtains the records of the secret service in Hungary and in FBI in U.. S. and puts their story together. They were accused, assumed spies by both the Hungarians and the Americans, but were, in fact, practicing what they considered good journalism.

Katie was divorced from Peter Jennings. Her two daughters were from that marriage.

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Apr 26, 2010

Lynne rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: biography-memoir, audiobooks

It's a fascinating story, but the writing is a bit dry. Imagine learning the story of your childhood through secret police files! In some ways, the most interesting part of the story occurs once the family has moved to the United States and continue to be pawns in the cold war.

I seem to be on a Red Scare (or its opposite) kick at the moment. I just finished watching Heir to an Execution, a documentary about the Rosenbergs. The similiarities between the two experiences were striki...more

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Dec 15, 2009

Jeanne rated it

A fascinating story of a famous Hungarian couple who were caught up in the politics of terror and paranoia that were the reality of Communist Hungary from just after World War II until the family was finally able to leave the country in 1957... The author's parents were subsequently arrested by the Hungarian totalitarian regime, tried and sentenced for alleged espionage activates for the United States during the course of their employment as journalists.
the authors own memories enhance t...more

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May 22, 2011

Kathy Sarlog rated it

While the book was interesting from a historical perspective in allowing a personal view of post World War II Hungary under the communists and the ensuing Hungarian Revolution, I didn't find myself sympathizing as much as I should have with the plight of her parents. The emotional distance I felt was probably due to the writing, and I think that Kati Marton, being so integrally a part of the story, was unable to draw me in as an outsider because she was so much an insider. Also, while living u...more

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Jan 26, 2011

Erin rated it

Shelves: biography-memoir

What a story! I felt like I was the author's side-kick on an intense investigative journalist piece. The writing is definitely journalism -- not fluffy. Facts and memories corroborated and backed-up with evidence. Sometimes the proof interrupted the flow of the story, but I appreciated it. So often I read books -- and some news articles -- where I am expected to take the author's word for it. And that drives me crazy.

The story was all the more intense because it is about the author a...more

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About Kati Marton

Kati Marton is an American author and journalist. Her career has included reporting for ABC News as a foreign correspondent and National Public Radio as well as print journalism and writing a number of books. - Wikipedia.

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