Review Article: The Vanished Ghosts in Two Hungarian Family Memoirs. Farkas, Charles. 2013. Vanished by the Danube: Peace, War, Revolution, and Flight to the West (Introduction by Margaret McMullan). Albany: Excelsior Editions, State University of New York Press. 472 pp. Illus; and Barlay, Nick. 2013. Scattered Ghosts: One Family's Survival through War, Holocaust and Revolution. London and New York: I.

Ruth G Biro

doi:10.5195/ahea.2014.142

Abstract

Recent personal documentary works about major historical events of the twentieth century, e.g., World War II, the Holocaust and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, offer their readers a rich and multifaceted narrative, or a history that is also "his story," "her story" and that of entire families, cohorts and communities. Often, these works are accompanied by visual artifacts such as photographs, family tress, maps etc., or supported by concise historical surveys. Thus these memoirs complete the work of historians with the lived experiences of the few that represent many. Such is the case with two 2013 books by Charles Farkas and Nick Barlay depicting their mid-twentieth century Hungarian families, one Christian and one Jewish, through two World Wars and the anti-communist uprising, culminating in their escape to the West and in the two authors looking back upon the Hungarian past of their families.

Highlights

Recent personal documentary works about major historical events of the twentieth century, e.g., World War II, the Holocaust and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, offer their readers a rich and multifaceted narrative, or a history that is "his story," "her story" and that of entire families, cohorts and communities
Such is the case with two 2013 books by Charles Farkas and Nick Barlay depicting their mid-twentieth century Hungarian families, one Christian and one Jewish, through two World Wars and the anti-communist uprising, culminating in their escape to the West and in the two authors looking back upon the Hungarian past of their families
The two books under discussion -- one by the Hungarian-American Charles (Károly) Farkas and the other by Nick Barlay, second-generation to Hungarian-Jewish refugees presently living in England -- recall four generations of their family histories

Summary

Introduction

Recent personal documentary works about major historical events of the twentieth century, e.g., World War II, the Holocaust and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, offer their readers a rich and multifaceted narrative, or a history that is "his story," "her story" and that of entire families, cohorts and communities. Such is the case with two 2013 books by Charles Farkas and Nick Barlay depicting their mid-twentieth century Hungarian families, one Christian and one Jewish, through two World Wars and the anti-communist uprising, culminating in their escape to the West and in the two authors looking back upon the Hungarian past of their families.

Results

Conclusion