Andrew Hidi Arrived in January 1957 from Hungary

Andrew Hidi was a fourth-year engineering student at the University of Budapest when the revolution stunned even its orchestrators in October 1956.

He marched with thousands of students to Bem Square and Western Rail Station. In November, after the Soviet-backed government deserted the city, he married Suzanne and the couple honeymooned on Budapest’s Margaret Island.

They decided to get out of Hungary. But their escape was one day too late because Soviet tanks rolled into the city that night. By Nov. 4, the bridges to mainland Budapest were closed.

They both had reason to leave before Andrew joined anti-government protests.

From a bourgeois family, Suzanne had a dark future in communist Hungary.

Now they were desperate. They planned three escapes — by car, truck, and train to the Austrian border — and each failed.

On the fourth try, they left on foot behind a paid guide to what they hoped in the darkness was Austria. Beneath them, a cleared minefield. Above them, Soviet flares lit the night sky and made silhouettes of refugees in the forest. Andrew and Suzanne made it to Vienna, and arrived in Canada by ship in January 1957, just months after leaving Hungary. They finished their education in Toronto, and at age 40, Andrew started an engineering consultancy. It grew from one to 130 employees, and is now run by his son. Andrew and Suzanne returned to Hungary, but never for good. “In simple terms, I’m a Canadian,” he said. “I feel like a Canadian.”