Outcasts (11 page)

Suddenly there were endless lines of people in front of the county clerk of Ugocsa - lines that wound their way around the building and snaked down Verboczy ut. Clutching original documents, individuals were desperate to obtain official papers that stated that, extending back to their grandparents, they were "of pure Christian background." It was a pitiful sight to witness some people leaving the county clerk's office clearly ecstatic at having obtained the necessary papers while others walked out in shock, devastated to discover that one of their parents or grandparents had been Jewish.

People watched and waited with trepidation. Then, the entire town was stunned when Lieutenant Jozsef Veress, an amazingly handsome officer stationed in Nagyszollos, committed suicide after learning that his grandmother had been Jewish. He had insisted on being the first at the front of the military lines when the Hungarian army reoccupied Nagyszollos in March of 1939.

One of Hedy's classmates, Eva Sik, was engaged to the handsome young lieutenant. When news of her fiancé's suicide became known, she quit school and left town. No one ever saw or heard of her again.

It seemed to Hedy that a fog had seeped into the very fabric of their little town - a fog that prevented people from seeing things clearly. She decided she had to stay focussed and obtain a higher education so she could pursue employment opportunities. She was grateful that she lived at a time when women were able to do just that.

After graduation, she would seek employment in an office and take her place as a productive member of society. It calmed her just knowing that she had a plan.

chapter 8 | Fall 1941

B
ELA HAD ALWAYS KNOWN
that he would some day follow in his father's family tradition and become a professional soldier. But when, at the age of twelve, his parents told him they were sending him off to cadet school, he felt in his heart that the day had come too soon. To make matters worse, his mother told him that the school - housed in a baroque castle in the town of Nagykaroly - had requested that parents not accompany their children on the five-hour train ride. Somehow, they believed the parting would be less painful if it did not take place in front of the gates of the school.

Bela didn't want to go. He had looked the town up in one of his atlases and found that it was in the part of the country that had been partitioned to Romania following the First World War and had just recently been returned to Hungary. It is so far away, he thought to himself as he ran his finger across the page. He would miss home and his family, particularly his older brother, Tibor.

Knowing that his little brother would be homesick and frightened, Tibor offered to accompany Bela on the train. That made the journey seem a little less daunting to Bela but, still, at the last minute, he secretly tucked a few of his favourite things into his suitcase without Anna neni or Mother finding out.

As he sat on his bed and waited, Bela looked up anxiously when Tibor opened the door. Tibor smiled at Bela and made his way across the room, looking curiously at the suitcase sitting neatly beside his little brother.

"Well,
Beluskam
(my Bela)," he said, "let's take a look at what you've packed."

Bela sat next to the suitcase looking sullen and hoped that his brother wouldn't discover the treasures he had hidden inside.

Tibor sat down on the bed next to the suitcase and ran his hand over the smooth leather. He didn't want Bela to think that he was searching his private things, but he knew his little brother and suspected there would be things in that suitcase that shouldn't be there. Almost as soon as his hand reached into the soft pile of clothing, Tibor felt something hard and pulled out a slingshot. Then, inside an undershirt, he found three perfect little round stones. Tibor pulled them out and looked at Bela.

"Dear brother of mine. You know that one of the things you will learn at military school is how to use far more sophisticated weapons than these."

"But this is my good-luck slingshot. I've had it since I was six," Bela countered.

"It's no good,
Beluskam,"
Tibor said shaking his head
.
"What if another boy finds it and takes it away from you? What if he injures someone with it? Guess who will be blamed if that happens?" Tibor spoke gently but tried to be firm.

Bela knew the answer and stared at his brother sheepishly. His brother did have a point. Then the answer came to him. "But I'll take good care of it. I won't let anyone near my stuff," he shot back.

"The one thing you will learn as soon as you set foot inside that military school is that there is no place to hide ‘your stuff,' as you call it," Tibor explained. "Your room captain and commanding officers will come into your room on a regular basis and empty your drawers whether they are perfectly in order or not. Some commanding officers will be fair and decent, but others will simply throw all the clothes in your dressers on the floor because they are having a bad day." Bela sat listening, his eyes becoming rounder as Tibor spoke. "And you will have to get used to that." Tibor waited a moment, watching his brother as he tried to take it all in. "And what if they find something - like a slingshot - that you are not supposed to have? You will be punished and your good luck charm will be taken away from you permanently." Bela choked back his tears and looked pleadingly at Tibor. "But," Tibor continued gently, "if you hide it here in your room, it will always be here when you come home for holidays and in the summertime." Bela looked down at his hands, pondering the alternative. Tibor handed the slingshot back to a pensive Bela.

Bela thought for a moment, then reached into a hidden part of the inner lining at the back of the suitcase and extricated a ten-inch hunting knife sheathed in a fine leather case. He held it lovingly in his hands and looked at the intricately carved handle. Tibor breathed in, trying to camouflage his surprise. He didn't ask his little brother where he had obtained the hunting knife but suspected that one of the many officers who visited their home regularly must have given the prize to Bela.

Bela placed the hunting knife, the slingshot, and the three little round stones in Tibor's hands. "Will you put these in a safe place for me?" he asked.

Tibor hugged his little brother, suddenly overcome by emotion. He knew how much Bela valued these treasures of his and appreciated the confidence the boy had placed in him. "Of course I will," he whispered in his ear.

B
ELA SAT ON THE
train, wearing a crisp, short-sleeved white shirt Anna neni had freshly ironed just before their departure and long cotton pants and polished brown shoes. He was restless and went to look out the window often, watching the rolling hills, towns, and forests pass by. It was a warm summer day and a bit of a breeze offered some relief but Bela was hot and didn't understand why he couldn't wear short pants on such a day. But Mother had insisted. This was a very good school, she had told him sternly. An elite school for children of officers and diplomats. He was going to school in excellent company and he should start his career there by arriving as a well-behaved and properly dressed young gentleman.

Tibor could sense the turmoil in his younger brother and assumed his thoughts were focussed on the conversation they had had earlier in his room. As Tibor watched him, his heart suddenly ached for his young brother. He was still such a child.

Tibor made no secret of the fact that he was a pacifist. He couldn't stand military life. He could barely stomach the basic training he had to complete to obtain the rank of corporal in the reserves for the sake of the family's reputation. After all, they were in the middle of a war, he kept telling himself. Fortunately for him, he was the only male member of the family of draft age who was allowed to remain at home in order to run the family business.

He fingered the picnic basket that sat beside him and motioned to Bela. "Should we see what Mother has sent for lunch?" Bela smiled and Tibor opened the latch. "Bread, cold duck, cheese, and apples." Tibor smiled broadly. "Let's eat!" The two brothers sat alone in their compartment, quietly sharing their lunch until the train screeched to halt.

As they disembarked the train, Tibor looked around. Horse-drawn carriages and drivers, alerted to the increase in passengers arriving by train that day, stood in line, waiting to whisk the cadets to the prestigious military school. Tibor motioned to one of the drivers to take them on the short ride to the institution.

When they arrived at the front gates of the massive castle, Tibor told the driver to wait as he and Bela got down. Tibor took the suitcase out of the carriage and put it down on the ground beside Bela. He stretched out his arms to the boy and hugged him close. "Do well, little brother. Don't let them get you down." He pulled away and looked into Bela's worried eyes. "You can write to me anytime, and I will come visit you if you get lonely, okay?" Bela nodded, not trusting his voice. With that, Tibor turned around and got back into the carriage. He told the driver to take him back to the train station and kept his eyes down as they drove away. He did not want to see Bela's wistful eyes.

When Tibor's carriage finally became a speck in the distance, Bela turned around and looked at his new school. He felt like he was looking at a castle from one of his childhood storybooks. The massive building had four turrets and a moat. The entrance to the castle was about one hundred metres in from the ornate, wrought-iron front gate that surrounded an enormous garden. Bela walked up the long, pebble driveway to the front gate of the castle and went inside to the grand atrium. It looked as if it had just been cleaned and smelled of lemon polish.

As he looked around, he was overwhelmed by the massive entranceway. He felt small and alone and desperately wished Tibor had come with him. The wide, gleaming, marble staircase that led to the second floor had steps that were eight feet wide and a hand-carved, highly polished, cherry-wood banister that was a foot wide. He had never seen such an elaborate staircase and it had at least two landings. At one point, it split into a Y-shape and you could go to the right or to the left. Large paintings of stern, important-looking people hung in elaborate frames on the walls.

The atrium was adorned by three massive marble fireplaces and he noticed what must have been the Karolyi family crest, a coat of arms, engraved into the marble wall above each fireplace. The same four words were written on each wall:
Fide Virtute Famam Querere
.

As Bela stood gawking, trying to decipher the words, a tall, important-looking officer in uniform walked briskly by. He had very short, perfectly combed hair and Bela noticed that, on his collar, he had a blue stripe. He later found out this distinctive rank meant he was a teaching officer. When the officer saw Bela staring at the words over the fireplaces with a puzzled look on his face, he slowed down and stopped beside him.

"That, young man, is the motto of this institution." Bela looked at him quizzically.

"It is written in Latin and the translation means ‘To Obtain Glory with Virtue and Loyalty.' Now, come along. Let's get you registered!"

They made their way down a long hallway, down a short flight of stairs, along another hallway and finally arrived at a large, low-ceilinged, well-lit room where tables upon tables were loaded with clothing. There were many other boys already there, all standing in line. At each table, they were handed three each of the different articles of clothing: underwear, shirts, uniform pants, dress shirts, and sleep wear.

Bela watched in awe as each boy received two sets of clothing that had their own special number attached inside each item. There was one brown outfit with britches and riding pants that was meant for all outdoor activities, including hiking and military exercises. They also got a blue dress uniform with pants that had a red stripe on each side extending from the hip all the way to the ankle. Each student also received a chrome belt buckle embossed with the coat of arms of the Kingdom of Hungary. Later, each boy would receive a bayonet to wear at his side.

Tibor Schroeder in Budapest, circa 1942.

The boy in front of Bela turned to him and introduced himself as Imre Laszlo. Imre had friendly, mischievous eyes and Bela felt an immediate affinity with him. The boys were the same height, although Bela was pudgier. Imre had arrived a bit earlier and already knew a few things about the place. He pointed to a blond boy walking a little ahead of them. "That's Laszlo Haller," he told Bela. "He comes from a famous aristocratic family in Erdely. His father is a baron." He had also found out the nickname of one of the sergeants handing out shoes. "The boys call him
Pacal
(Porker) because he has an enormous head and body," Imre whispered to Bela. The two boys snickered and then saw the boy in front of them handing Pacal back a pair of boots he had received.

"But sir, these aren't a pair," the boy complained.

Pacal looked at the boy and laughed. "That's okay, kid. If they aren't a pair, at least they like each other. Here's another." (
Ha, nem parja, cimboraja
.) When everyone laughed, Pacal put on a grim face. "What is everyone laughing at?" he scowled. "Let's move it. Move it! Move it!"