Escape: One Refugee’s Journey
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That night Nick went to bed early, but was startled awake around one o’clock in the morning. One of his roommates was sauntering from cot to cot honing two huge dagger-like knives. It was the older gentleman who had been living at the camp for five years, the one nicknamed Uncle. He stopped to lean over the head of the still sleeping Charles, all the while mumbling to himself in a menacing voice, "Comrade Kadar’s spoiled little brats, I’ll show you who the master of this room is!”
“Charlie! Look out!” Nick screamed, waking his friend and alerting him to the madman hovering over him with the daggers. His eyes popped open, and he rolled over off the other side of the bed. The thud he made on hitting the ground must have snapped Uncle to his senses. He suddenly stood up straight and looked down at the knives in his hands with a deserted look on his face before he returned to his bed as though nothing had happened.
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About the Book
This is a fact-based account taken from a journal kept by a refugee during his flight from behind the iron curtain. In 1980, at the age of twenty, Nick decided to flee from his Soviet-occupied homeland, Hungary. A desperate desire to escape the restraints of communist totalitarianism and find political freedom fueled his journey. The story chronicles his determination to succeed despite the dangers he faced and the hardships he endured. A target of abduction attempts and larceny, Nick manages to find work and make friends as he awaits his fate while in residence at the refugee camp in Traiskirchen, Austria.
About the Author
Miklos (Nick) Szollosi was born in Nyíregyháza, a city in northeastern Hungary. He arrived in Canada in December 1980. Nick has longed wished to have his journal published and now with the assistance and support of his wife Kathryn, who transcribed his story, has succeeded in attaining yet another dream.