Sandor Taraszovics was a committed Freedom Fighter in 1956: He helped establish a communications system to advise freedom fighters of Soviet troop strengths and movements; he directed forces that wiretapped Soviet military and intelligence communications lines.
Nóra Kiss was born in Budapest in 1939. A talented artist in her youth, she attended the Gymnasium of Fine and Applied Arts in Budapest until the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. In 1959 she married Károly Szabó, a fellow 1956 refugee who escaped with the family.
John Stubits was born in Hungary, where he earned two engineering degrees, worked as a mining engineer in Budapest and participated in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Stubits emigrated to the United States with his wife and two daughters as a political refugee
Anikó Gáal Schott was born in Budapest, Hungary and escaped following the 1956 Revolution. She grew up in Montreal, Canada, where she completed her Bachelor of Science Degree in biochemistry at Sir George Williams University.
Tibor Sarkady worked at the KFKI Research Institute during the day and in the fall of 1956, began his nighttime studies at the Technical University in Budapest, where he first learned about the Revolution. Sarkady was an active freedom fighter and only when no hope remained, did he escape from Hungary and emigrate to the US.
Dr. Susan Papp Aykler has been President of the Rákóczi Foundation of Canada since 2001. The organization primarily supports the education of Hungarian youth from across the border and in North America through scholarships. In addition, the Foundation has organized the Students Without Boundaries every year since 1994.
Leslie László Megyeri is an active member of the Hungarian American community in Washington DC. He came to the United States as a refugee following the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. He and his wife Kathy reside in Washington D.C.
Macsotai Lajos was born in the mining town of Tatabanya, Hungary in 1939. His father Macsotai Lajos was working for the local church when he was recruited into the Hungarian military, which was controlled by the German army. He was taken to the Russian front to fight and in the winter of 1942 was declared missing after a battle at the Don River.
Edith K. Lauer is one of the Founders and presently Chair Emerita of the Hungarian American Coalition (HAC). As President of HAC, she represented the Hungarian American community at several key White House discussions with President Clinton and administration officials on NATO expansion from 1994 to 1997.
Born in Budapest in 1925, László Latkóczy-Osváth was working in the city’s Nyugati railroad station when the revolution broke out on October 23. He was able to provide the metal rods from the station that were used to topple Stalin’s statue. László Latkóczy-Osváth immediately joined the freedom fighters and fought for days alongside many others.
