We have a regular Author Talk series at the History Center, and one of our recent events has continued to resonate with me during our current moment in history. We had the privilege of hosting Ted Blum, author of “Calculated Risks,” a work of creative historical non-fiction, and Bob Ratonyi, author of “From Darkness to Light: My Journey Through Nazism, Fascism, and Communism to Freedom,” which both provided deeply personal and historical perspectives.
Each author shared gripping narratives of their families’ harrowing escapes from Nazi-dominated Europe during and before both World Wars. Their dedication and perseverance in tracing their roots added another layer of depth to the evening.
As part of the program, The Bremen, a Jewish museum and cultural center in Atlanta, had a genealogist on-site to help attendees research their own family histories, highlighting the fact that we are all immigrants with unique family histories.
Ted grew up in Champaign, Illinois, and pieced together his story from memorabilia and historical artifacts from his Hungarian grandparents. Inspired after discovering letters, tickets and art while he spent time at home during COVID, Ted enrolled in a creative writing course and spent time with Bob translating the Hungarian items.
His paternal grandfather Henry left his home in, as Ted describes it, “the sleepy Austro-Hungarian village of Sedliska,” fought in World War I and was captured as a prisoner of war. After years in prison and an arduous journey, he eventually made it to New York on Sept. 26, 1921.
Ted’s maternal grandfather, Martin Mandl, saw the atmosphere in Hungary become toxic for Jews as early as 1923 as the country tried to recover from its losses in World War I. Martin wanted out and went to Paris to study metallurgy at the Sorbonne. Later, he met his wife, Elsa, who took the calculated risk of leaving for America on a tourist visa and, with a lot of luck, got his wife and their daughter Eva, Ted’s mother, to join them.
Bob’s book chronicles growing up in war-torn countries from childhood through his college years in the 1950s. Born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1938, the year that Adolph Hitler annexed Austria and a year before Germany invaded Poland, starting World War II, Bob recounts his childhood was scarred by “fear, upheaval, and loss,” including losing his father when he was only four years old to a Jewish labor force. Bob’s mother was sent to a concentration camp in Austria when he was six and “forced to wear a yellow star and life without his parents.”
We loved having them both at the History Center to talk about the incredible journeys of their families from Europe to America. I encourage you to read their books and to look back at your own family’s story.
Both authors approached their family history research differently. Ted benefitted from his family’s meticulous record-keeping, using artifacts and documents to piece together their past. Bob relied on interviews with relatives and his own vivid recollections. Their presence at the History Center was a profound experience, shedding light on the perseverance of the human spirit in times of emotional and physical turmoil.
A heartfelt thank you to Maria Saporta of The Saporta Report for masterfully moderating the panel, ensuring the authors’ stories were told with the heartfelt clarity and emotion.
