The Lives of a Budapest Jew: László Weisz, 1908 to 1995

Budapest, 1930s and 1940s. László “Laci” Weisz had an ambitious streak, excelling in school and prospering in business despite modest beginnings. Had he lived in unremarkable times, his life might have qualified as a Hungarian Horatio Alger story. But the Nazi takeover of Germany inspired a series of anti-Jewish laws in Hungary. Laci's employer offered him a choice: accept a demotion and reduction in salary or be fired along with the other Jewish employees. He chose termination, resolving to find a better life for himself and his family in a more welcoming nation. Unfortunately, World War II intervened. Only after surviving multiple forced-labor camps and escaping imminent deportation to a death camp would he achieve his goal. The Lives of a Budapest Jew tells the gripping story of Laci, renamed Leslie Varady in the United States, his wife Magda, and his son Robert, survivors of the Budapest Ghetto. A testament to an extraordinary family, it serves as a reminder that oppressors will always be on the wrong side of history.