On the Border

Almost 180,000 Hungarians poured across the frontier into neighboring Austria during the 1956 rebellion. But after Soviet tanks crushed the revolt, the Iron Curtain went up again--a 6-ft., double barbed-wire fence and hidden minefields along the entire 125 miles of the border. Those left behind in Hungary no longer could escape; the few who did try to flee were crippled by mine explosions or trapped and shot by Red patrols.

Among refugees who stayed on in Austria were many separated from their families. For them freedom had a special hardship: they were homesick, and 8,600 of them took up the Communist offer to go home. One such was Josef Sarkany, 58, who had been an automobile mechanic in Budapest. After making it safely to Austria alone in the big exodus, he waited in vain for his family to join him. As the days stretched to months, Josef despaired, turned himself in to the Hungarian legation in Vienna and asked to go home to his family.

The Reds had promised forgiveness to all repatriates, and the first ones were welcomed back to Budapest on a Red carpet--but not Josef. He could not even find a job until late last year, when the Communist regime found one for him. Josef, his wife Maria and their two daughters, Klara, 18, and Maria Juliana. 12, were shipped off for conscript labor to the provincial town of Szombathely, just six miles from the Austrian frontier.

One night last week Josef and his family stole out of their quarters. In a driving rainstorm they struggled across muddy fields to the border. There Josef told his family to line up single file and follow in his footsteps. Josef picked his way to the barbed-wire fence and cut a hole in it. One by one, his family followed.

The Sarkanys succeeded where only half a dozen have before in recent months --they crossed the border into Austria alive. But they paid a price. At the frontier young Klara strayed a step from her father's path. A mine exploded, and the others had to pull her to safety. On the day she won her freedom, Klara Sarkany lost her right leg. An Austrian surgeon had to amputate it below the knee.

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