Jozsef Pesti

We had been in Hajdúböszörmény for two or three days when John started saying, “I wish I could find an old Hungarian who could speak English so I could talk to him about the Soviet times.”

I thought this was a little pie in the sky to say the least, as when I hesitantly went shopping for something to help my ‘rebar wrist’, I found helpful people but no English speakers.

As it turned out, the answer came in the form of Jozsef Pesti.

We were in Debrecen, a beautiful city and the second largest in Hungary, when Jozsef approached us. Hungarians love their country (and rightly so) and already that morning an unknown elderly gentleman had proudly spoken to us about his beloved city in Hungarian, but Pisti, (the site manager as distinct from Pisti the homeowner - Pisti means Steve), was with us and could translate.


This time, while admiring the beautiful architecture of the town square, Jozsef came up to me and started speaking in Hungarian, I apologized saying I couldn’t understand, then he asked if I was English. I told him, Australian, and then the conversation started - he had lived in the United States for nearly forty years after escaping in 1956 and spoke perfect English.

He happened to be giving out leaflets about a gathering he would be speaking at, remembering the 1956 revolution, and John immediately asked if we could buy him lunch.

Four others from the team decided to join us and over delicious goulash and cabbage rolls, John had his much longed-for conversation.
Briefly, here is his story …

Jozsef Pesti is/was a poet of the revolution. His poetry was being read, anonymously, on the underground radio “Free Europe” and in 1956 at the gathering in front of the parliament in Budapest, he read his poems to the crowds numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

He spoke of those days and then told us of his escape - it was due to a broken leg and some journalists who knew of him via the radio, that he was able to flee Hungary later that year. He spoke of his adventures and how he obtained a passport and ended up living in the U.S, teaching Geography and Political Studies in Virginia. He married an American lady and only returned victorious to his country in 1992.

It was an unexpected, amazing lunch - a real treat - and one we will remember for a very long time - thanks Joe!


* Jozsef Pesti had a book published in 1966 - “On the edge of the volcano”.