[...]

1951

In the autumn it came to our knowledge that thirty families were being relocated from Szécsény, and that our names were on the list. We did not lose heart, we knew this was an absurd and unfair decree. It soon turned out that we were quite right to be hopeful: the president of the local council did not enforce the order in our case. (...)
The relocation act—as far as I can remember—came into effect in 1951. During those years our relatives and friends suffered severely. They were relocated to villages in the Great Plain. My sister, other relatives, among them Dániel Bánffy, the former Minister of Agriculture, with his wife and seven children. They had to live in a single room with an earth floor, all nine of them. The same happened to Dániel Bethlen and his children. The villagers were very good to them, they helped the unfortunate, afflicted families as much as they could and dared. The male members of these families, like my brother-in-law Antal, worked on small farms. They were relocated to the Great Plain at harvest time. Threshing had begun. Antal and Dániel Bethlen were hard at work on the threshing machines. As there were no elevators, the heavy sacks full of wheat had to be carried on their backs. Dani Bethlen sometimes carried two sacks on his shoulders so the work could go faster. But his back remained unbowed, so acquaintances who saw him later related. He must have inherited Prince Gabriel Bethlen's legendary strength and energy.
When tempers had cooled and spirits had lifted, a more normal way of life was resumed in Hungary. Ilona Bethlen wanted to visit her relatives in Transylvania. She applied for a passport. The official asked for her name. "Mrs Dániel Bethlen," she replied. "And your maiden name?" "Ilona Bethlen." "And your place of birth?" "Bethlen." "If you say the name Bethlen one more time," said the official, smiling, "you will not get a passport."
In 1953 forced relocation ended, and the relocated were permitted to leave their assigned domiciles. But many of them had nowhere to return to, as they had lost their own homes.

Translated by Eszter Molnár