Zoltan Bartok

My escapes: Escapes from Behind the Iron Curtain & Escapes from myself Zoltan Bartok

Accused of sabotage on the tenth anniversary of the 1956 revolution, the author tried to escape from Hungary. He was 17 years old. Caught before reaching the Yugoslav border, he was jailed and treated cruelly. In 1970, instead of regular military service, he had to do hard labor in a penal colony that was established for "enemies of the state". Risking prison, he was able to trick police and obtain a red passport with a 24-hour Yugoslav transit visa in 1973. During a night in August, he swam to freedom in the Adriatic Sea. After 6 months in Italy, he was admitted by the USA as a political refugee.

After the 1975 Helsinki Conference, believing that the amnesty the communist government granted was credible, he returned to his homeland in 1976. After 10 months "back in the cage", he risked everything and escaped through the Hungarian-Yugoslav border near a military post. However, the following day Yugoslav soldiers captured him about 100 feet from the Italian border, put him in jail where he was accused of being a KGB agent. When the interrogations ended at the end of his prison term, he was actually helped by members of the Yugoslav secret service to sneak into Italy during the night of September 29, 1977. In the city of Triest, he found refuge at Studio R, a gathering place for members of the Italian Red Brigade. After 10 challenging days among these Eurocommunists, he received money from friends in Germany and the USA. He took the train to Rome. He showed up at the airport with his only document, his American Green Card and was able to board a plane to New York.

Back in the USA, new adventures and new miracles awaited him. His struggles to survive the hardships and to adjust to the American way of life are described in book 2, Escapes from Myself.