Immigrant Autobiographies Recount Turbulent Lives
Mike O’Sullivan
Voice of America, DC
Sept 15 2004
Los Angeles – The United States is a nation of immigrants and each one
has a story. Many of their stories are compelling. Mike O’Sullivan
spoke to two immigrants who have published their autobiographies to
share their personal tales of hardship and triumph.
Susanne Reyto (VOA photo – M. O’Sullivan) Susanne Reyto was born in
Nazi-occupied Hungary near the end of World War II. Her Jewish family
survived the Holocaust with the help of two diplomats, Raoul Wallenberg
of Sweden and Carl Lutz of Switzerland, who issued diplomatic papers
to save tens of thousands of Jews from the Nazi death camps. But no
sooner were the Nazis gone when a Soviet-backed regime was installed
to replace it.
Her father was a successful businessman who suffered persecution
again under the communists, losing his home and business. The family
would spend 29 months in a prison camp, then witness the failed 1956
Hungarian revolution against the Soviet Union. In 1957, the family
escaped Hungary and made its way to Australia, and later came to the
United States, settling in Los Angeles.
Ms. Reyto says her grandson, who was studying World War II, asked
her to talk about her experiences with his school class. She did,
and later repeated the talk.
“I spoke to all of the eighth grade classes at that time, and I
realized how much of a transformation the children experienced,
especially a few days later when I received their ‘thank you’ notes,”
she said. ” And one of the little girls said, ‘Mrs. Reyto, I think
you should write a book so everybody else can listen to your stories,
not only us.'”
That suggestion and a later visit to Hungary cemented her decision
to put her story in writing.
On a trip to Budapest, she visited a museum called the House of
Terror. Located in a former prison and secret police headquarters, it
documented the events of Ms. Reyto’s childhood: the persecution under
the Nazis, the confiscation of her home by the communist government,
and the prison camps.
With the help of those documents, and recollections of her mother,
she published her story this year in a book called Pursuit of Freedom.
Yervand Markarian (VOA photo – M. O’Sullivan) Yervand Markarian, 84,
has a very different story, with a similar happy ending. Mr. Markarian
was born to an Armenian family in the Chinese city of Harbin. Located
near the border of the newly formed Soviet Union, in 1920 the Chinese
city was home to expatriate white Russians who were fleeing the
Bolsheviks, and Armenians who had fled persecution in Turkey.
As a young man, he would join the French army to fight against the
Nazis. To his surprise, he ended up in French Indochina, modern-day
Vietnam, fighting communist insurgents for the French Foreign Legion.
After the war, he worked as a policeman in the French concession
of Shanghai, then joined his father-in-law running two Russian
restaurants.
After the war, the restaurants thrived, but survived only briefly
after the communists took power in 1949. Mr. Markarian recounts,
it was soon apparent the new regime would not be good for business.
Officials visited to ensure that none of the married customers were
having romantic liaisons.
“Or they would come up to a couple that would say, yes, we are
married. [The officials would ask] do you come often to such a
restaurant? Well, two or three times a week. How much do you spend?
So much. How much do you make a week? So much. Well, we think you
can afford another 10 percent of your salary to the state,” he said.
Branded as capitalists, some of Mr. Markarian’s business acquaintances
committed suicide. Others like him eked out a living until they were
able to leave. In 1951, he settled with five family members in Brazil.
Unable to speak Portuguese, he faced new hardships, but he finally
found work in the Ford Motor Company’s Brazilian operation. Eventually
he took his family to the United States, were he also worked for Ford.
Mr. Markarian would build a successful business on Hollywood’s Sunset
Boulevard, where he recreated his Shanghai restaurant called Kavkaz.
It soon became popular with film stars and directors.
“Roman Polanski, Dan Duryea, Simone Signore, Peter Ustinov,” he cited.
Celebrity patrons also included the actor Omar Sharif, oil magnate
Armand Hammer, and singer Barbra Streisand.
Mr. Markarian recounts his tale in a self-published book called Kavkaz,
named after his popular restaurants.
The two immigrants say that despite their early hardships, they have
kept their optimism. They are both effusive about the opportunities
and freedom they have found in their new country. Mrs. Reyto adds
that she is sharing a message.
“My message or theme is inspiration, the power of positive thinking,
and hope and dream for a better tomorrow,” she explained. “And
without that, we just can’t survive. And in the worst of times,
there are always decent people in the world.”
There is always, she says, light at the end of the tunnel.
The author says she has learned to take control of difficult situations
because it is always possible to change them.