It is now a Tuesday, March 13. I am at the Csaba railway station. The stationmaster knows me as a frequent traveler and treats me with the utmost respect and then the Soviet station manager escorts me on board to my seat in the officers' compartment. I am in the company of Soviet Officers who are very friendly and we chat. One is called Yenkief Elhem. I write down his name. He and his companion will only go as far as Szajol, which is as far as the train goes. They are very interested in Pest and would like to see it. I give them my address and promise to show them around. It was well into the night before the train finally left the station - and by that time we had all fallen asleep. We are at Pusztapó when I wake up - not far from Szajol. We say goodbye - "Daszvidanya". The train goes to Szolnok and my new travelling companion is a Cossack major...Then at Szolnok there are no passenger trains - only freight trains and I climb aboard. The end of the line is Kispest. Its not going to be easy to trudge downtown with my heavy knapsack. I don't remember how, but I ended up with a little cart and was able to load all my stuff on it. I made my way past Kőbánya reached Vörösmarty Street by five o'clock. What a sad sight it was seeing such pathetically frail people - my mother and sister were both sick. My grandmother was not willing to take the trip home to Csaba. My goal was to get everyone back as quickly as possible. I was feeling sick too. This has been too much for all of us.
I was amazed at the tremendous progress that has taken place in the month while I was gone. They have started clearing up the ruins. People are walking around with plates of glass for their windows. Here and there a store has opened its doors; at the entrances of buildings vendors trying to sell their wares; posters on walls with information and news...Zoltán Vas and his wife Sára are big news - just back from Moscow. The citizens of Budapest express their gratitude to Vas who has saved them from starvation while the city was under siege for so many weeks. Sára's name comes up in the matter of the country's health service. Life has begun!
Yet the Száasi Gang are still proclaiming "1945 is Ours"!
On March 15 the dream of the landless peasants is coming true. The provisional government has decreed land reform. Estates are expropriated.
I report to the Embassy next day and to my surprise I find that I was paid for February and March a total of one thousand six hundred pengős! Mother and I go to the City Hall, to the commissioner's office for resettlement authorization. Regulations stipulate that costs would not be covered...Dr. László Falk, the district judge, asks for our patience. He showed us the deluge of claims he has received during the past weeks.
Éva's birthday was the first day of spring. We always celebrated it with Beethoven's Appasionata - its beauty, its passion, the wealth in its harmony, meant so much to us. This was our favourite. I loved to hear Éva play it. Where is she, her friends, Joli Bacher her mother's dear friend, who became Éva's first piano teacher. Joli néni was so confident that the Légrády Károly apartment was a safe place especially with the air-raid shelter so close. Joli néni spent Christmas with the family of one of her students. The Christmas tree candles were blown out during an air attack and the five story apartment building was totally destroyed. Never again were we to see that kind-hearted Jolika. György Faragó, her last teacher is no more. Ernő Szegedi has not shown up at the Academy of Music. Magda Zoltán's father waits for her return - but in vain.
I looked up Klári Langer - she is a photographer - and her friend Mara Spitz. Éva used to live with them when she moved to Pest after her graduation. I took every opportunity to visit her in Pest in that congenial atmosphere.
Because of our health problems, it was important that I get to Csaba. I repeat my request to Dr. Falk about resettlement and it is that office I run into a familiar face - György Kucsera - we were boy scouts so many years ago. He was there with his young wife and their two-month-old baby - requesting resettlement.
I offered to help Falk and he happily accepted. I spent a whole day with the government's resettlement committee and I was able to make arrangements for transportation by freight car for my family and the Kucseras.
In two days we were at the Nyugati (West) Railway Station with settlement permits in hand and the freight wagon number to which were assigned to. György was to come for us with a cart and we would load up together and head for the nearby station. Next day - Sunday - still in Pest, but on March 26 on Monday, finally, we are off to Csaba.
Its very cold on that Sunday - there is an icy wind. We had run out of wood for the stove. Mother and I went along the railroad tracks looking for suitable kindling. We were all packed with our meagre possessions - ready to go.