Escapes from Myself

By: Zoltan Bartok

Narrated by: Doug Greene

I escaped from the communist bloc in the summer of 1973, swimming across a bay from Yugoslavia to Italy. I was almost 24 years old. Six months later, I arrived in the USA, where I became a permanent resident a couple of years later. Believing that the amnesty the Hungarian government issued after the 1975 Helsinki Agreement was credible, I returned to my homeland at the end of 1976. When I went to the police station to apply for a passport in the summer of 1977, I was told to wait five years before my rights were also reinstated. I managed to escape again and arrived back in the USA shortly before losing my permanent resident status. I became an American citizen in 1980.

Shortly after I regained my freedom and landed in New York in October of 1977, I decided to move to the West Coast. Failed relationships, loneliness, a gambling addiction, and repeated trips to the edge of the cliff followed. Miraculously, a guardian angel was always there when I needed one.

©2017 Zoltan Bartok (P)2017 Zoltan Bartok