Born in a bombing raid in 1944, Maria Krenz lived her childhood in Budapest traversed the tumultuous years from the Holocaust through the Soviet occupation to the year following the Hungarian Revolution, when she and her mother fled to Venezuela.
Made in Hungary is a remarkable memoir of resilience. Born in a bombing raid in 1944, Maria Krenz's childhood in Budapest traversed the tumultuous years from the Holocaust through the Soviet occupation to the year following the Hungarian Revolution, when she and her mother fled to Venezuela. It was a young life filled with uncertainty and contradiction amid the swirl of history. Raised Catholic by her Jewish parents, under Communism she lived every lonely day with the fear that it was dangerous to be either. After her father's death in 1950, she lived with her traumatized mother and was mostly left to fend for herself. She survived with her fierce spirit intact, and over time, grew hungry to understand the larger historical context of her early years. This book is the result, a poignant personal and family story steeped in history.