Escapes from behind the Iron Curtain
In the labor camp...
While I was down with the fever, my roommates in the sick room told me that some of those that started their service the same time we did were already getting out, discharged based on their medical problems.
“I really hate being in the military,” a blond guy on the bed next to mine said indignantly. “I had just engaged my fiancée, and what did I get in the mail the next day? I got the draft. This is total bullshit! They take my freedom away for two years… for two darn long years.”
He leaned out of bed and extended his hand to me.
“Hey, my name is Bela… Nice to meet you,” he said after we shook hands. “I am from the thirteenth district. Are you also from Budapest?”
“No, I am from Borsod county,” I said.
“It does not matter, you look like a great guy,” he continued. “I guess you hate being here just like I do. I don’t mean here in the sick room, I mean being drafted to do forced labor for two long years.”
“Forced labor?” I replied in surprise.
“You mean you did not know? Wow! Everyone knows this is no military service. You are here because you have done something against this darn regime, or you are here because your father has done something, or your brother, or your friend, or… you name it. You are here because you are to be punished, to be broken in, and to be converted into a stupid communist. Mainly, you are here to do free labor, to build this shitty system they call socialism. We’ll do about six weeks of this circus with our fake guns, marching up and down in frozen mud, and then as soon as the weather improves in March, we’ll be out in the streets of Budapest digging deep trenches for postal cables six days of the week. And don’t even think about trying to get discharged because you end up court marshaled. I know someone who came out after three years in the military prison. The guy is a potato. They drove him crazy. He’ll never recover.” He took a deep breath before going on. “Then there are some slick assholes, sons of the elite, who serve two weeks and then go home. They have official papers from doctors showing that they suffer from stomach ulcers, heart problems or who knows what… and they get discharged. Of course, they are healthier than you or me… Gosh, I am really pissed.”
.........
When my punishment got switched into higher gear, not only I did not have a single moment for myself but I now had to spend half of my nights in the kitchen helping with the preparation of food for the following day. Every night there were a lot of potatoes to be peeled and diced. If not potatoes, then it was green beans, onions, garlic, and other vegetables. The alarm sounded at 9:00 pm; that was the time everyone had to go to bed so that they could sleep eight hours and get up rested for next day’s labor. It was not the same for me. At about midnight, when the food preparation in the kitchen was complete, when even the two or three others who had to be punished that day were allowed to go to sleep, I was forced to finish up in the wash room, cleaning all the large containers that were used to transport the meals during the day. I always tried to do a very thorough job because if the officer found a speck of grease on any of the containers, he would order me to do it all over again. Of course, these inspections often found something where there was nothing.
As I remember, for more than a month, there was not a single night when I was allowed to go to bed before two in the morning. Often I was not even able to fall asleep. I just lay there in my bed, feeling some tingling in my brain, aware of every passing moment, knowing that the siren at five would knock me out of bed and the same hell would continue repeating. By the end of April, I felt like a zombie. The labor out in the streets was my relaxation and some regeneration for my brain.
Even some of the second year soldiers began to feel sorry for me.
Bela tried to help me when once I almost collapsed during the daily labor. One day, as we were eating our lunch together sitting under a tree, he said:
“Hey, you must have done something real serious against the regime. The way you are being punished is much more severe than what these second year petty officers would normally use. It seems like they have been instructed from above to destroy you. I wish I could help you but I have no idea of what you should do. Obviously, escaping is not an option. You would be arrested within a couple of hours. Even if you could manage to reach the border it would not do you any good; surely not on the Austrian border where you would be blown into pieces by the first mine. Crossing anywhere else you would still be in the communist block. Once they catch you, it’s minimum five years in the military prison.”
I began to realize, with whatever brain capacity I still had, that continued obedience, the routine of punishment, would really destroy me. I realized I had to do something. One morning, as I was washing the corridor, I saw one of our high ranking officers arriving. He was an older man, a two-star general, a man of soft voice. I threw down the wet rag and followed the man to a section of the building I had never entered before because it was off limit to soldiers, even to petty officers without permission. The general entered his office without noticing me. I stopped for a second in front of his door to see the sign on it. ‘Human Resource Officer’, the sign read. Without hesitation, I opened the door. The man was already sitting behind his desk. He was totally surprised to see me there. He wanted to say something but I got ahead of him. As loudly as I could, I started shouting:
“Look at me! I am at the end of my rope. Your petty officers are killing me. They have not let me sleep more than a couple of hours every night for more than a month. My brain is fried. I can not do this any longer. I came to let you know that from here on I am not responsible for my actions. Whatever I might do is on their account…”
The old man raised his hand so I stopped shouting.
“You know you could be court marshaled for what you have just done,” he started quietly. “I know… you are out of your mind. That, of course, would not be an excuse.
Swimming to freedom from Yugoslavia to Italy during the night of August 3, 1973...
It was getting more and more difficult to move my arms. My whole body was getting kind of stiff. Swimming faster did not seem to be any good anymore because recovering from the exhaustion that followed by resting took much longer, and that in turn just got my muscles more frozen.
I managed to struggle on for another while. However, by the time I had about three quarters of the distance behind me, I began to think that I would not be able to make it. My thoughts were getting more and more negative.
When I was about ready to give up and stop moving my arms, an interesting thought formed in my mind. It was about being on a tropical island where I was sunbathing stretched out in the hot sand. I began to see the glowing sun and at the same time I felt the sand burning my skin. As I did not let go of this vision, I kept seeing palm trees and people playing volley ball on a beach.
Was I actually asleep and dreaming? I do not know. The fact is that by the time I was back into reality, I was pretty close to the shore, probably no more than three hundred feet. I clearly saw the individual sailboats under powerful light bulbs. At the same time, close to the harbor on the left, I saw a building surrounded by a stone or brick wall, and on top of that wall, under a light, someone was standing there looking in my direction, probably through binoculars.
I was so numb in my whole body that I did not even feel the cold anymore. Fortunately, I could still move my arms.
I figured the man watching me could be of the coast guard so I changed direction and swam straight towards him. I did not want him to shoot at me in case he thought I was a smuggler who wanted to avoid him.
When I finally reached the edge of the water, I bumped into a stone wall. The top of the wall, the street level, was about three feet from the surface of the water. I tried to reach up but I did not have that kind of strength left in my arms. At the same time my toes could not find bottom which made me panic briefly. ‘How am I going to get out of the water?’ I wondered. ‘Am I going to drown just when I made it?’
Fortunately, after I swam about ten feet to the right, I found an opening in the wall, steps where I could crawl out of the water. First, I was not able to stand on my feet because my whole body started shaking. My teeth chattered so violently, I almost bit my tongue.
The swamp that could have swallowed me...
‘Wow! This must be the border,’ I thought.
Without hesitation, I turned around and walked through the strip backwards.
‘In case they inspect it in the morning, let them think someone escaped into Hungary,’ I thought with a big smile on my face.
After I stepped out of that plowed and finely harrowed strip, I stopped for a moment and wondered: ‘Is that all?’
Well, today I wonder whether I was just extremely lucky in case there were wires in the strip to trigger warnings or even a mine that could have blown me to pieces.
Leaving the border behind, I had to make my way to Horgos, the first Yugoslav village on the main highway less than a mile from the border. I had a pretty good idea of the direction I had to take as I could clearly see the lights of the crossing station.
As I walked on, a hill to the left began to block the lights. The moon disappeared and I was in darkness again. I could not see what lay ahead of me but I could tell that I was going slightly down on a slope.
The ground became wet and soon my shoes dipped into deep mud.
Today I am wondering why I did not change direction, why I did not try to find dry ground. I am wondering because continuing straight on I walked into a swamp that almost ended my adventure. First I had to fight my way through thick reed in the total darkness. Once the reed thinned out, I was already in muddy water knee deep. It was getting more and more difficult for me to pull my feet out of the ever deepening mud on the bottom. When I was already in water that reached up to my waist, I thought I would sink because there was no more solid ground under my feet. I could not even attempt swimming because both my legs were stuck in thick mud. While trying to free one of my legs, the other one just kept sinking.
I had some very scary minutes until finally the bottom began to firm up again.
I also had a headache, probably from all the gas that bubbled up to the surface from the rotting mud.
The water was getting shallower and finally I was out of the swamp.
I smelled awful from all that mud on my legs.
Just in time, it started raining. What started as a light rain, soon turned into a heavy downpour, exactly what I needed to wash the mud off my legs after I threw away my jeans and my tennis shoes. I had to put on the dressing shoes and the dressing pants I had in my knapsack which I wanted to save for later on.
Reign of the Chroms
Someone was knocking on the thick, heavy, wooden door. They heard a man shouting Dorug’s name over and over again.
“Come quickly!” the man said when Dorug opened the door. “Your daughter is here.”
The woman put her palms together. “My God!” she cried out loud. “Zea, my daughter... Where is she?”
“There.” The man pointed at the gate. “Right there, outside.”
Dorug and Bria ran as fast as they could.
When they opened the gate, they saw Zea lying there on the ground, bleeding from wounds on her legs, on her arms, even on her face. The rags she wore hardly covered her from her bulging breasts down to her thighs.
........
Frugo could not finish his last sentence. A few young boys stormed into the house, shouting at the top of their lungs:
“They’re coming! They’re coming! The Korvags are coming!”
A bit later, several scary looking soldiers entered the house. One of them had a thick leather cap on his head, only his face was not covered. He raised the heavy stone ax in his hand and began to speak in a rough voice: “I’m Zurda. Nezir sent us.” The tone of his voice was enough to frighten everyone.
“Nezir wants Zea returned!” the soldier continued. He waved to a soldier behind him who stepped to the bunk and lifted Zea.
The girl passed out.
“Stop,” Dorug shouted. “You can’t do this to us!”
“Shut your mouth!” Zurda thundered. “Not another word!”
“I won’t let you take my daughter!”
“The consequence of your rebellion is death.”
Before Dorug had a chance to move aside, Zurda hit his head with the blade of the ax. Dorug’s skull split open, and the man collapsed. He was dead.
“Oh, no,” Bria shrieked.
.........
The people of Tolup were in a good mood all day. Work was put on hold as everyone celebrated.
Zuppo later arrived at Frugo’s house where he found Nezir in the company of five of the elders. The Korvag chief was tied down on top of a long table with the elders sitting around him.
“You will die!” the Korvag barked at Zuppo. “All of you! You will all die!”
“I’m afraid you’re no longer in the position to decide our fate,” Zuppo answered calmly.
“He won’t speak to us,” Frugo informed Zuppo. “He just keeps shouting all sorts of abominations and threats.”
Zuppo turned back to Nezir. “Surely, you’ll tell us where your men hide the rest of the Chrom girls. If not...” He could not continue his sentence because the Korvag chief broke into a roaring laugh.
“What did you call those whores, the Chrom girls?” Nezir’s laugh changed to coughing as he was choking on the grass that remained in his mouth. He spat out a bunch of muddy grass and then he closed his eyes.
“Getting exhausted... Finally,” noted one of the elders.
“Well, if he doesn’t want to talk, it’s okay,” Zuppo said. “We’ll keep him tied down until he changes his mind. I’m sure he’ll ask for water and food later. We’ll quench his thirst after he tells us what we want to know.”
Nezir made an attempt to sit up but the ropes were holding him down firmly. “Listen to me, you bastard!” he shouted at Zuppo. “My soldiers will come as soon as my people discover I’m missing. They’ll eat all of you alive. You’d do much better letting me go. Perhaps I’d have mercy on you then. Otherwise, you won’t see another day. You have my words on that.”
“Your soldiers already have come,” Zuppo replied quietly. “Those who made it across the swamp are dead.” He stepped out of the house and returned with the head of a Korvag soldier. “Open your eyes Nezir! Look here! I bet you recognize one of your own.” He held the head close to Nezir’s face.
A few drops of blood landed on Nezir’s forehead.
“Zurda!” the Korvag yelled out. That’s all he was able to say. His facial expression took a very grotesque appearance as he closed his eyes again.
“The rest of your men were wise enough to stay over on the other side,” Zuppo continued. “We don’t expect to see them again anytime soon.”
“You’re the devil!” Nezir said with his huge teeth clenched.
“You can call me anything you want,” Zuppo replied. “It won’t change the fact that your men killed my father.” He tossed the bloody head onto the table and squeezed it against Nezir’s face.
“Eh!” the Korvag moaned in disgust and turned his head as much as he could.
“What? Don’t you like your own kind?” Zuppo lifted the head and held it over Nezir’s face again.
“Take... this away!” Nezir shouted. “Then... I’ll speak.”
Zuppo took the head outside.
“The girls are scattered around in the villages,” the Korvag started. “I doubt you’d find them on your own... Besides, another raid would certainly fail. My men would be waiting for you... Let me go and I’ll send your girls home.”
“Sounds so simple,” Zuppo said. “The problem is I don’t believe a word you say. Why would you keep your promise?”
“You have no alternative. You’ll never be able to free them without my help.”
..........
“What happens to the horses?” Zea asked her husband after the inspection.
“We’ll just have to let them run wild,” Bodor said. “They’ll survive.”
The couple stood on one of the rafts, holding hands, gazing into the distance over the ocean.
“It’s like a dream,” Zea said with a sigh.
“Well, it’s going to be quite an adventure,” her man responded after a while.
“We don’t even know for sure that there really is another land out there… somewhere.”
Bodor put his arm on Zea’s shoulder. “That’s true, my darling… That’s true, indeed… We are putting our lives in the hands of God. We have to have faith.”
........
“Relax!” the Captain gave the order as soon as she was able to move.
Ravar was sitting in his seat burying his face into one of his hands.
Lella’s wide-open eyes were fixed on Trog’s hand resting on his laser handgun.
“No need to despair,” the Captain said cheerfully. “Ravar, you have every reason to celebrate. After all, you’ll live... You may have to answer a few questions when we get home… Please, understand that I’d have to report this incident even if the Shuttle didn’t get damaged. Now, let’s see the logs! I need to have a clear picture before making any decisions about what to do here.”
Ravar looked at the Captain. His face reflected his internal struggle. It took him some time before he was able to speak. His words surprised everyone, probably himself as well.
“I’m sorry,” he began slowly. “I’m really very sorry… I'm afraid my ego is bigger than the entire Universe.” He looked at Lella. “I’m sorry for talking you into this… this adventure. It could’ve ended much worse, indeed… I was selfish. I needed someone to look up to me. You’ve been a perfect support for me, Lella… Aside from what happened, I really love you.”
Lella stared at her fingernails and was unable to say anything.
Ravar turned back to the Captain.
“I should’ve known better,” he continued. “I thought I was already prepared to meet every possible challenge. I must admit I overestimated my own potential.” He paused, and then, very quietly, he added. “I can’t be forgiven for what I’ve done to the population of this planet. I’ve accelerated their aging process so badly…”
“Let’s see!” the Captain interrupted.
After Ravar took her through a summarized version of events, the Captain smiled. “You know what, Ravar?” she said. “You actually deserve to be complimented.”
“What?” Ravar asked in surprise. “I mean what for?”
“I think you showed a lot of compassion here,” the Captain answered. “Do you think I would’ve acted much differently seeing the merciless acts of those Korvags? You may have had your own goal in mind but your intervention was actually guided by your sense of justice.”
“Captain,” Ravar cried out in a guilty voice. “I have simply switched roles around. I took the victims and made devils out of them. That’s hardly anything commendable.”
“What’s done is done,” said the Captain. “However, the same could very well have happened without your actions. I doubt the Chroms would’ve put up with all that cruelty much longer. I’m sure, sooner or later they would’ve figured out a way to turn the balance in their own favor… Frankly, there’s another way of looking at this. Without your intervention things could’ve turned out much worse. One side might have completely wiped out the other, just to mention one possible outcome. At least this way all of them had a chance to avoid premature death. This species, living on this insignificantly small planet, wouldn’t have had a chance to accomplish much anyway.”
The Captain gazed out the window for a short while.
“During my voyages through the galaxies,” she went on, “I’ve seen a number of much more powerful civilizations completing their cycle of existence without ever amounting to anything significant as measured by the family of advanced species that search the galaxies. A civilization dies out every moment somewhere in the Universe. At least you’ve shown some light to the inhabitants of this planet. Their sun is burning up rapidly. Who knows how far they would’ve evolved on their own before their world gets frozen?”
The Captain continued in a motherly voice.
“Let me assure you, Ravar, you’re not the first one to act in an unusual manner under unusual circumstances. Even the Protocol allows some room for incorrect actions provided they’re not criminal in nature. This was one good lesson for you, no doubt. A real life experience, not something you could’ve learned in school... Now, let’s see what the most appropriate way of withdrawing Wrix from the surface is. We shouldn’t waste much time bringing this incident to a conclusion. After all, our loved ones are anxiously waiting for us at home.”
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