TIBOR SAT ON THE train as it chugged its way toward Budapest on its slow, tortuous journey. Because of the frequent nightly bombing raids in the countryside, the train engineer and conductors had to slow down, stop, and inspect each spot on the line where possible damage had been reported. Tibor’s nerves grated each time the train slowed and came to a screeching halt and he was having trouble focusing his mind on the purpose of this trip: the meetings he had scheduled with a group of engineers at the firm of Weiss-Manfred.
To take his mind off the interminable trip, he concentrated on the dinner he would be having with his family on Sunday. He was looking forward to spending time with his mother, his sister, Picke, and their father, Domokos. He hadn’t seen Picke for a while because she had spent the last year in Budapest attending a finishing school for young women. His father also hadn’t been home in some time and he had specifically chosen this get-together to announce to his parents that he had asked Hedy Weisz to be his bride and that she had accepted. He very much would have wanted to bring Hedy with him on this trip but he realized that was impossible to do at the moment. But the war would be over soon — he was sure of it — and its end would herald a new beginning for both of them. He smiled as he remembered the meeting he had already had with his older brother, Istvan, and Istvan’s wife, Eva. They were both thrilled at his news. Tibor had sworn them to secrecy, at least until he could announce the news to the rest of the family, but he had had to tell someone that he was engaged.
Both Hedy and Tibor were counting on the war being over soon, but the dismal state of affairs all around them just seemed to be getting worse. Once the Americans entered the war, everyone, even the loud-mouthed politicians, realized that Germany and its allies would eventually be defeated. Rumour had it that the Hungarian government had already tried to surrender to the Allies but had been thwarted by the Germans. Tibor closed his eyes and concentrated on Hedy’s face. The Russians continue to make gains on the eastern front, he told himself. It is only a matter of time.
Tibor sat on the train daydreaming, his mind obsessed with plans of emigrating to some faraway place with Hedy once the war was over. He shook his head as he remembered his last meeting with their family doctor, Daniel Szabo. In the middle of dinner at a nice little café in town, Dani had announced that he had a brilliant scheme for getting to America at almost no cost. Intrigued, Tibor asked for details.
Daniel Szabo put down his glass and wiped his moustache on the back of his hand. “All right,” he said looking around to see if anyone was listening. “Let’s volunteer for the western front, surrender to the Americans, and then be transported to the United States for absolutely no charge.”
They chuckled and Tibor looked at Dani with affection. “Everyone should be so lucky,” Tibor said as he waved Szabo’s scheme away. What fond memories he had of the good doctor. Unfortunately, Dr. Szabo was never able to follow his own advice. He had been shipped off to the eastern front as a military physician and had never returned from the catastrophe on the Don.
Finally, the train came to a stop at the station in Budapest and Tibor gathered his things together. He was always amazed at the atmosphere in this city. People continued to flock to restaurants, to shop, to eat and drink well, and to carry on business as usual. It was as if they were completely oblivious to the war thundering all around them. As head of the press corps, Colonel Aykler had been assigned an apartment on Kiraly-hago ut, on the Buda side, and Tibor stayed there whenever he went to Budapest. He settled in and got ready for his meetings. He would get them over with and looked forward to an evening out with his friends the next night.
Tibor was out late on Saturday night with his friends and they all had a bit too much to drink. On Sunday morning he was still asleep when he heard knocking at the door. Reaching for his dressing gown he stumbled to open the door and found Picke standing there.
“What are you doing here?” Tibor asked, still in a daze.
“Have you seen what’s going on outside?” she asked, glancing at his dishevelled state. “Obviously, you haven’t been out yet.”
She pushed him aside gently as she walked into the narrow, long hallway of the apartment and Tibor closed the door behind her. “Get dressed and shave. You look terrible. Where were you last night?” She stood with her hands on her hips and frowned at him. “There are German tanks everywhere, they’ve invaded the city,” she continued in an excited tone.
“Calm down, my dear sister,” Tibor said, stopping her in mid-sentence. “If you don’t slow down and calmly tell me what is going on, my head will explode. What are you talking about, German tanks?”
“They’re everywhere. I walked over from school and I saw German tanks on every major street corner. After two blocks, I was so intimidated by them I started taking side streets.”
Tibor walked over to the short wave radio and flicked it on. Classical music came wafting through the airwaves into the room. He tried another station. “More Mozart. Great!” he sighed, and he padded off to the kitchen to make coffee. “There are hundreds of hours a week of information about the war but, when something drastic happens right here in the capital, there is nothing about it on the radio.” As he took a shower and dressed, he tried to make sense of it.
Nazi Germany invading Hungary? Their ally? It didn’t make any sense. It was true that the Horthy regime had tried to surrender to the British, but Hitler’s spies had found out about it and quashed the attempt. If it was truly an invasion, then what was the purpose?
As they headed down into the streets, Tibor soon realized that what Picke had witnessed was in fact true. German army tanks lined all the major thoroughfares of the city. They stopped at a newspaper kiosk and Tibor asked for the most recent edition of the Magyar Hirlap.