Mr.
Toransky is an old 75 year-old foreign man.
Born in Hungary, this man lives with his wife, two daughters, two sons,
and two dogs. Mr.
Toransky sits at home and reads the newspaper almost every day.
He lives a warm and happy life.
Throughout his life before he came to North America, Mr. Toransky lived
through a communist system.
When he finally escaped, Mr. Toransky went to a free, American-occupied
Germany. From
there he went to Austria, and then to Canada.
He says that working in Canada and establishing a new life was a
difficult task.
Soon he moved here to California.
His biggest change in the twentieth century was indeed coming from a life
of communism to a free life.
Mr. Toransky explains very clearly the hardships of a communist system.
He explains how only special privileged people got luxuries such as
passports. In
a communist government, people had to do things the way the government wanted
them to. People
were not free.
A
lot of things changed in the 20th century.
I was born in a foreign country.
I was born during war, bombing you know.
I was a Russian war prisoner and I came back to the American side.
The army would come back from Italy because we moved back to Germany.
Then umm, during wartime, we are not that poor, but not that rich either.
I went through a lot of sufferness.
After the war, because Russia and the United States win the war, they
took us home. So
that was a Russian occupied communist system.
I was home four years.
Because I was American war prisoner, I had to, they uh, communist
government called me in for service.
I did not want to go.
I escaped with my parent’s authority from the communist system to uhh
German. I
escaped from a communist occupied Hungary to a free Germany, occupied by
Americans. Then
from there, after nine months, I lived in Austria and after nine months I
immigrated to Canada.
So, that was a very good thing.
Communist system for my sake was bad because we lost everything.
But anyway, the big thing in my life was when I went in uhh a free
country. Communist
system had just come out after the Second World War in 1945.
Hungary was a free country before 1945.
That was good, a communist system is a bad and that’s all.
When I come to Canada, I start my life, I marry.
Canada is a beautiful free country, but you know, the states are better
for me. After
eight years, when we became Canadian citizens, I met some friend I knew from
Austria when I was lived there in Sazbul.
He immigrates here. After eight years we came here to California.
I had a good job.
See, every five-year, you get the chance to become a citizen.
And when we live here five years, we became American citizens.
I know I grown up in a free system, but when you’re living, communist
system come in and make a reform.
They take away your grandfather land, your father business and you cannot
do anything. They
are system, and if you not do it that way, they put you in jail.
I don’t like communist system and that’s the way it is.
I
did very good here.
Canada is a beautiful country as well as the states.
I work hard, save my money, invest and all my children educate
university, you know.
I uhh, I like freedom.
Freedom is most important in your life.
You know, this country, you can be somebody if you want, you have to work
for it. You
save your money because nobody save for you and invest it, start a business or
whatever you want to do.
In there [communist society] you have to be born poor and smart and then
you have to join a communist system and you have to follow it, and the communist
system work like that.
They always have people spying on you and you have to spy somebody else.
I like religious freedom also.
I went back home, in communist country after seventeen years.
I tell you, communist leadership was not more than 10%.
In communist system, there is no way you vote for what you want. I went
back quite a few times, you know.
At least more than half a dozen times.
We are doing very good in this country, so I can afford to go back and
visit my folks, mother and father, and my sister.
You cannot even get a passport like free country you can move, get a
passport, go visit another country, from there, [communist Hungary] not. Only
privileged people and there was a privilege too when you reach, what is in the
party and who follow a system.
So that was a very big change for me, very very big.
When I went a second time around, I knew a family from a down, their son
was very sharp and he went to school and joined the army.
He became a lawyer and he became a judge.
He come to visit me because I know him, he was about my age.
He said, you know, I like to, and I know its wrong because I am a judge,
and I not supposed to do such a thing, but my wife like to go visit Italy and
you know, I can make a passport.
We needed some foreign money, dollar.
I pay any amount to you, Hungarian money, if you sell me some passports.
His name was Paul.
I said, I cannot sell you, I don’t trust you and I don’t even want to
do it. When
I come in a communist country, you have to register in a town.
If you move another city, you have to register out, they want to track
you where you go, that’s the way a communist system was.
So I said I cannot do this.
Sebastian Al-Saiegh