Additional information
by Esther Kando Odescalchi (Author)
The story of eight young refugees' dramatic escape from Hungary after Russian tanks defeated the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Together, they faced the dangers of the escape: Soviet tanks, secret police and border guards and together they suffered the cold, the rain, the thick mud, the cruel reeds and the hopelessness of being lost in the swamp not knowing whether or not they would end up in the free world or face the menacing arms of Soviet guards. In spite of all the misery, they also experienced the best manifestations of humanity: compassion, love, sacrifice and nobility. These are the memoirs of a teenager in 1956 written right after her escape to Vienna and translated from the original Hungarian document fifty years later without altering a word of the teen's diary. To enable the reader to better understand the sequence of events and see the distances covered during the escape, the writer added pictures and maps.
Author Biography
Esther Kandó Odescalchi escaped from Hungary during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution that was crushed by Russian tanks. She wrote these memoirs as a teenager in her native Hungarian immediately after her escape and translated them to English 50 years later. She arrived to the United States as a refugee in 1957 and completed her education in the United States, earning a MS in li-brary science and a Ph.D. in communications. After a career as a librarian, she joined IBM and worked in executive communications. She is author of numerous technical and non-technical articles, three chil-dren's books and a play. She lectures and conducts workshops at colleges, universities, national and international organizations in the United States and abroad. Odescalchi is also a professional ballroom dancer with a Dance Master's Certificate. She teaches, choreographs and performs. The author is grateful to be in the land of opportunities, the United States, where hard work has its rewards. No other country provides the opportuni-ties this land of liberty does. But, she also loves her native country, the now free democratic Hungary, for its culture, its unique language, its warm loving and patriotic people and, last but not least, for its "European touch."
