In 1945 my dad was an 18-year-old regular in the Hungarian Army when the Red Army rolled in. . Istvan Toth /1926-1982/ was convicted by the 40th Red Army Court in his own country on the basis of Soviet civil law. . My father's sentence was 25 years at corrective hard labor in the Soviet Gulag-in a gold mine of the infamous Kolyma region which became a synonym of brutality, violence and trampled destinies. . He toiled here for 11 years before finally being released. Even though his rehabilitation document contains no evidence of any crime, my father was forced to live as "war criminal" under police supervision in a communist Hungary. He did not bring any riches from the gold mines where millions perished, just sickness and a shattered nervous system.
He died without official "rehabilitation", unable to even talk about his suffering and injustice.
But now I am able to pay homage to my father, and to many others, who suffered so much under communism. Perhaps he is able to gaze down and take some consolation at my effort... |