Word: fenyvesi
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...Austrian camps were an unfortunate introduction to the refugees' new life. One large one, at Eisenstadt, had been a Russian soldiers' barracks, and there were Russian signs all around the walls. "The first day there we erased them," Fenyvesi says. The camps were over-crowded, the food consisted of black coffee, American cheese, beans, and meat every day. The refugees did nothing at all for four days--"it was very depressing...
While in the camps they made their decisions of what they would no next. Fenyvesi and George Heimler, also a sophomore in Kirkland House, wanted to go to the United States because it offered the most opportunities for scholarships and college education...
They arrived here by plane and boat, on dark nights and on cold foggy mornings. "I always arrived everywhere at night," Fenyvesi remarks, while Heimler laments that "we coudn't even see the Statue of Liberty." Many of them were met by journalists and photographers. "My first impression of American," one refugee student relates, "was of American photographers and reporters. Their first act was to sit on the table or put their feet up. I thought this was a common American social custom...
Kilmer was outfitted with recreation halls, movies, good food, and comfortable barracks, which were "pleasant and warm," Fenyvesi recalls. "Everybody said 'That's America.'" he added. He was assigned to "a typical American family" in Washington: "a husband, a wife, two kids, one cocker spaniel, and a turtle." Others were assigned to similar places, or stayed with relatives...
After their arrival in the United States, the Hungarians started looking for work and college schalarships. Fenyvesi found employment in a printing office in Washington, which was doing work for Senator McClellan's labor investigating committee. In delivering reports, he met many of the the late Senator McCarthy. Heimler the late Senator McCarthy. Heinler worked in a shoe factory for a while, and then went to the University of Illinois for an English course, where he stayed in a fraternity house. He found the students there quiet, friendly, and had several dates with local sorority belles...