Budapest, 1944: John Hajdu MBE's father is incarcerated in a labour camp. His mother is taken to Mauthausen camp. John & his aunt are moved into the ghetto:

In each flat it was about 20 of us squeezed in. The area was guarded by the Arrow Cross Party: fascist & brutal. Hardly any food: bread & drippings & water. We couldn’t go out. In fact, you didn’t want to go out because on the streets were shot at for no reason whatsoever & you saw people dying on the street from dysentery & all kinds of other diseases. So you stayed in the flat.

We stayed in this flat for quite some time until the Soviet Air Force was approaching Hungary. They’d already liberated Romania, now they were approaching Budapest. They started bombing. We had to go down into the cellar often. Part of our block was bombed & collapsed. We were extremely fortunate not to have been entombed or killed by the falling masonry & bricks & the roof. 

We stayed in this terrible situation for some time until the Soviet Air Force & the Soviet Army surrounded Budapest. The whole ghetto was mined by the Nazis in order to blow everybody up. Imagine: 900 blocks of flats, 100s of 1000s of people. But they couldn't blow us up because they had to escape as quickly as possible from the Soviet Army. They didn’t have time to do it. So we were saved by the quick action of the Soviet Army.

Then we came out & found Budapest in flames. Houses were demolished or hardly anything left, people wandering aimlessly. Nobody knew what to do. A bombsite. The bridges had gone. 

In one way it was freedom. It was life. We'd escaped death. So obviously, there was relief. It was freedom, it was happiness. When you then looked at what you have seen around you – Yeah. As a young boy, it was almost impossible to comprehend. 

The question was, what happens next? My mother wasn’t there. My aunt & I had to find somewhere to live & start a new life.

We decided to go to Romania. Why Romania? Because Romania was freed by the Soviets before Hungary & that is where my father escaped. Getting to Romania was a hell of a journey. My father & uncle had started a little shop & they were living a reasonable life.

I went back to school there & we lived a reasonable life there. Always at the back of your mind was, what happened to our belongings, to our flat in Budapest & above all what happened to my mother? 

I found out later that she was taken to Mauthausen concentration camp. She was beaten, her hair fell out, her teeth fell out, her back suffered. If she found some snails to eat she was lucky. People all around her died but somehow, she survived until the American troops freed her. 

She then was taken in a terrible state to a hospital. After some weeks she recovered enough to allow her out. She went back to Budapest. She didn’t know where the family was, she was not allowed back into our flat by the occupier. She was not given back any of her belongings & was simply told to go. Just back from Mauthausen.

Homeless, she searched for us in Budapest, which was in ruins. Eventually a friend told her that we were in Romania. Somehow she managed to trace us & arrived at our doorstep. 

The feeling of suddenly confronted by your mother in front of you when you thought that she was lost. We couldn’t believe what we’re seeing. A miracle. A wonderful thing to happen. 

But by this time my father, who thought obviously that my mother is not coming back, had started a relationship with a local woman. I can’t blame him for that because that’s life. 

My mother after a few hours found out my father had another woman. She immediately turned round & took me back to Budapest. So another part of my life had to start all over again in the ruined town of Budapest where my mother had to find somewhere to live & some work.