It was the week of November 22 when we set out to Királd. We headed in the direction of Bánréve where we arrived at noon. We checked in at the railroad station as required and picked up our rations. Our passes were stamped enabling us to proceed. We inquired about train departures and were informed that there was no scheduled train to Ózd. They suggested that we hurry and climb aboard the empty freight car heading toward that direction. The train had started rolling but we managed to jump on board the last wagon before the cabooses where the brakeman was unwinding the cable. He even helped us up and assured us that he would let us know where to get off.
We did the half-hour trip to Center on a beautiful spring-like day. Then we jumped off and cut through the tracks, reaching the foot of a very high mountain and the other side of the mountain was the miners' community. We had to make many stops during the steep climb. It was hard for Károly. He was out of breath in no time. We spent about an hour and a half at this egging each other on. I was enjoying it so much, as if we were on an excursion in the Bükk mountains. After we were over the mountain ridge, we sauntered down to Királd feeling great. We would be safe in this God-forsaken part of the world. No one would find us. We reached the other wide of the mountain and entered a forest - then on to a road with soldiers everywhere. They were resurfacing the road. A job for soldiers in sickbay. They did not bother us. We went by them as if we were on an important mission and pretended to ignore them. Only when we felt safe did we inquire about where the Czakós lived. They pointed to a little hill, where some of the retired miners lived. We had to cross the tracks again - the Eger-Putnok Linet - up some stairs and there we were. Károly recognized the Czakós and they were anxious to hear about their daughter, but Károly had not been back To Békés for some time and had no news. We were assigned the Czakó's tiny bedroom. Mr. Czakó moved to the couch in the corner of the little kitchen.
"Whatever we have, we share. There are plenty of potatoes and here is milk. In other words we will be alright. The battle lines are moving forward. Don't go any further. This damned war will be over very soon" according to Czakó bácsi.
His optimism was based on the fact that one of the neighbours is back. He was a sergeant, a Russian prisoner of war in Szarvas - just released. The Királd police took off about ten days ago. When Károly and I were alone, I said "this is great but we must not be a burden to our hosts...one or two days then onwards." Yes, but next day I could not even get up. I was still suffering from that fantastic feast that we consumed at the Lökös'. I lay flat on my back the whole day. Next day the sergeant who had been a prisoner of war dropped by. He confirmed everything that Mr. Czakó told us. Within a week or two the Russians should be here - then out with the Germans and Szálasi's party.
Czakó néni was feeling very sorry for me and trying to make me feel better with a concoction of rose-hip tea mixed with chocolate, cocoa and paprika! She made me drink this all day, but it did not help. The doctor from Királd visits the miners on Tuesdays and Fridays. This was Friday. I hope to be cured.
We set out - but first to the barbershop to be more presentable for the doctor. As we make our way across the train tracks, we see the gendarmes adorned in their rooster feathered hats bicycling down hill to the highway. The situation looks grim. "We must hurry straight to the doctor's office - it should be alright, you just got out of hospital. We have the stamp from the Bánrév Station and it was only two days ago when I got sick. He will understand. No problem."
This is how I tried to keep up our spirits and we changed our plans. Forget the barbershop - straight to the doctor's office, the check-up extension of permits and then to the barbershop. By the time we reached the doctor's office, the police were out of sight. In case they return, there will be plenty for them to do and they won't bother about us.
There was a tremendous line-up in the big waiting-room. We recognized the soldiers who were working on the road and a lot of other sick people. Rather than lining up, they chose to sit on the benches. We were the last ones. It will be hours before our turn will come. The line was moving very slowly. We were trying to see how many there were ahead of us. Well, some time our turn will come.
Suddenly a loud bang. The glass door to the outside bursts open and two policemen rush in. They head straight far us and start screaming. "You rotten stinking Jew. You think you are an officer? And you stupid peasant are you working for the Jews? Put down your gun! Stop fooling around. Show me your papers." My military pass makes matter worse.
"Aren't you ashamed, corporal, letting this Jew from the camp push you around?"
I tried to explain that I had been helping the corporal. I could have abandoned him and now we arc returning to our regiment. I show him the Bánrév's station's stamp. "He was discharged from the Putnok hospital the day before. Then I became ill and I am here to see the doctor. I need medicine so that we can keep going." They take the military passes and Károly's gun - which are never returned. They push us out and take us to the nearest gendarmerie. As we head out I wander how the gendarmes found us so quickly at the clinic. Someone must have squealed on us. Károly chatted at the Czakó's about me, his officer. The Czakó's certainiy could be trusted. Károly is their own flesh and blood.
The gendarme in charge was middle-aged - handsome. His name was Fekete. The officers escorting us had to report to him, and we were to be given a hearing. The formal interrogation was to take place later. We were taken into the next room which was separated by curtained glass doors. You could hear voices from the other room. We were not alone. There were eight others - we were all in the same boat. The chief offender was the gendarme-in-training, who had deserted. The gendarmes picked him up when they were coming back from Bóta. He was young. They told him if he had no valid excuse or an I.D. he can expect the worse - to be hanged from a tree by the road. These taken into custody were mostly members of the cadets and draft dodgers, some soldiers and a worker from Ózd - János Földes. The culprits were called in one by one to the other room. The staff officer began the proceedings. We could hear as he dictated the evidence...
Czakó néni's remedy was beginning to work!
While waiting for our turn at interrogation with officer Fekete, we were frisked. I was thinking that I should separate myself before from the guilty ones. The question was how? I had to do something fast before the Pesti Hírlap with the maps that I had "borrowed" from the Lökös' were discovered. That's all they would need to prove our plan to escape. We had time. A gendarme in the adjoining room would call the name as each person's turn came. I staggered to my feet asked to go to the washroom. An old gendarme appeared with his bayonet and led me to the outdoor toilet. Luckily he was discrete and permitted me to close the door. I checked through the crack and saw that his back was turned. I dropped the papers into the hole with a great sigh of relief. Back we vent, escorted by the gendarme with the bayonet.
Just then I could hear one of the patrol officers through the glass door. They could not locate one of the managers of the mining operation...No trace...In the meanwhile Károly and I discussed our strategy. Our stories are not to conflict. "Should I came first, listen carefully to what I say."
It was dark already, when Fekete, the officer in charge called me
"I understand in civilian life you are a lawyer. What you have done is serious. Now let's get down to details. Tell me have you broke away from you regiment?"
After this anything I said was recorded.
"What were you doing in Hét and Királd?"
"Well, lodging in one place, just following orders in the other. In Királd we visited relatives that we had not seen for a long time. I became sick. This is why we came here to go to the doctor, but we were caught by the police. He called us names and dragged us here. My intention is stated in the papers. I am to escort the corporal back to his regiment and report to the officer in charge."
"Again, I request to see the doctor. If the doctor confirms my illness, then I would not to disciplined, but would merit recognition of distinguished service for carrying out my duty, despite life threatening state of health, to enable the corporal to return to his regiment!"
Fekete listened and was quite sympathetic. I had hopes that he would be on my side, but no decision was made. Then Károly was called in and gave the same story.
The gendarme escorted us to Hatház, to the Czakós. Before we went inside, the gendarme said: "Get your things and pack up, don't talk to anyone in the house. "
The Czakós greeted us. Mrs. Czakó teary-eyed. Czakó bácsi, whispered that the gendarmes had been looking far the sergeant. That's why they came to the Czakós. They noticed our things piled up in the corner and questioned as to our whereabouts. The Czakós had no choice but to tell them the truth. Mrs. Czakó even offered them same tea, but the gendarmes were in a hurry.
We waited with our buddies, who were all lined up in the yard. We were twelve. Before we set out, the warning was: "Whoever tries to escape, will be shot!"
Two gendarmes in the front - two in the back. I had no idea where we were going in the dark. Soon we were in the woods. Not a soul around. According to our buddies who were from around here, we were heading toward Ózd and from the sound of rippling water we assumed that we were around the Sajó area. The gendarmes forbade us from speaking to each other. Though actually we did not much feel like it. As we approach the town named for its iron works, there is an ominous feeling in the air. Beside the main road, there is a school and we stop there. It has become the Gendarmes' County Barracks. They order us to stand two meters away from each other then "about turn, hands behind your neck". We are lined up in the corridor facing the wall. They call us all kinds of names, threatening us and warning that from now on the Nazis will be our commanders. Even the gendarme-in-training is given a hard time.
Károly was beside me, but keeping the distance ordered. We seemed to be standing in position forever. When I was certain that the gendarme was not too close, I told Károly that at the right moment we should move nearer to each other. I did not want to get into more trouble and I wanted out! There was the Putnok experience with the map, ant there was more evidence to be rid of - the other map which I had purchased, which could still be useful. Károly took the forbidden object, bless him! Should they find it on him, it would not be considered as serious an offense. He hid it in the lapel of his jacket. What happened next was a most horrible nightmare.
They bought us to one of the classrooms. The benches were all piled up in the back, only the teacher's deck was in place. The gendarmes were standing in front of the windows that looked out on the yard. Three others positioned themselves at the desk. They had sticks and they were in charge. Then they began to shout and scream: "deserters, traitors, communist scoundrels, stinking Jews, double crosses" - on and on. All hell broke loose. Next came the orders to strip and to take everything out of our knapsacks. We had to undo our shoelaces. Those who would not cooperate could expect to be beaten. We were stark naked. Eight gendarmes rushed in and made a circle around the desk. Then the "sacrificial lambs" were called forth. We were mad to stand within the gendarmes' circle. They were having a great time kicking and throwing us about. Very soon my turn came. We were exhausted in the "leap frog" exercises and crawling on all fours. What will be next on their agenda? I cringed in horror at the thought.
Mercifully I fell asleep.
It was still dark, when the wake-up call startled me early in the morning, as I was sound asleep on the floor. Every part of me ached. We dreaded the thought of more of this agony. I did not think I could take any more in my condition. I called in sick at the gendarme's office.
"Don't bug me, or you'll get it. The gendarmerie is not a sanatorium. There are no sick people here". We were brought back to the hallway - to the open gate, where two gendarmes on horseback blocked the way.