TIBOR SCHROEDER PASSED AWAY in January 1982 in Toronto at the age of sixty-three from cancer. He was married twice in Canada. His only daughter, Judy, converted and married a Jewish man, Martin Chasson, in 1997.
Hedy Weisz lives in New York City. After her husband, Emil Hosek, passed away in 1966, she decided that she didn’t want to marry again. Friends persisted, trying to arrange dates for her. It was only after friends informed her that they had set up a special date with a man called Tibor that she agreed to meet the man. She married Tibor Pivko in 1977.
Hedy’s daughter is Chaviva Hosek, who at the time of the publication of this book is the president of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. During the prime ministership of Jean Chretien, she headed the Office of Research for the Canadian government. Chaviva married a Christian man — Alan Pearson — in 1979.
Bela Aykler built a real estate firm in Toronto, specializing in residential development and property management. He still works with his two sons and grandsons in running the business. In 1988 he married his second wife, Susan. Together, in 1994, they initiated the Students Without Boundaries program, which brings together 135 students who live in minority status in east-central Europe with students from Canada. In 2008, the program celebrated its fifteenth year — over two thousand students from five different countries, including Canada, have taken part.
Yitzhak Livnat, together with his brother, Bandi, built a successful transportation, shipping, and logistics business. His sons have branched out to run their own enterprises. Today, he spends his time travelling the world with his wife, Ilana, scouring archives, gathering the pieces of his family’s lost past.
Yitzhak Livnat first came to the closing ceremony of the Students Without Boundaries program in 1997 after hearing of the program from his sister, Hedy. Since that time he has become an ardent supporter of the program and sponsors many of the students from Karpatalja. Each year, all of the participants are told what he went through when he was fourteen. He is a member of the board of directors of the Rakoczi Foundation of Canada, which is the sponsoring organization of Students Without Boundaries.
Bela Aykler and Yitzhak Livnat have both been granted the Officer’s Cross of Merit from the Republic of Hungary for their outstanding business accomplishments. Neither has been acknowledged for their support of the education of Hungarian youth worldwide.
In addition to the citizenship from their adopted countries, Aykler and Livnat have requested the return of their Hungarian citizenship. Both applications have been denied.