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

Kati Marton

Discussion: 2010-Jan-Feb-Mar

Why we're reading this: January 25, 2010
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2010-Jan-Feb-Mar

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* March 2010
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 11 views

last updated Feb 25, 2011 02:42PM

* February 2010
By Tiffany , WristStrong · 1 post · 6 views

last updated Feb 25, 2011 12:57PM

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Mar 13, 2010 Judy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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 fle 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 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. ...more

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