Author Description

On October 23, 1956, 200,000 people took to the streets of Budapest in a relatively unplanned demonstration to protest the oppressive communist regime that the Soviets had imposed upon them. Then, the secret police began killing the unarmed student protestors and thousands of teenagers and young citizens turned into freedom fighters overnight. For almost three weeks, Hungarians waged guerrilla warfare against the Soviets and secret police; they fought bravely, even when they knew they didn’t have a chance. Over 190,000 people fled Hungary after the revolution, including the author’s grandfather, Joseph, who was 16 when he escaped. He and his brother fled on foot but the Soviets caught them near the border, they were separated and had to go on without each other. The Hungarian refugee crisis of 1956/1957 was an extraordinary exhibition of the power of the international community that has never been replicated. Young Men Go West is a blended narrative nonfiction of Joseph's escape, and a historical nonfiction of the Hungarian Revolution. His story is one of both fear and optimism; and the collective story of the Hungarians’ plight for freedom is one of loathing for the Soviets and of their courage in the fight for sovereignty.