Blacklisted : A Journalist's Life in Central Europe

A memoir by Paul Lendvai, a Hungarian Jew who was arrested by the Nazis as a teenager. He became a communist activist in post-war Budapest, was imprisoned by the communists, and fled to Vienna after the 1956 Revolution. He became a leading journalist and commentator on eastern Europe.

Paul Lendvai, born a Hungarian Jew, was arrested by the Nazis as a teenager, became a young communist activist in post-war Budapest, was arrested by the communists, again survived as one of the country's youngest political prisoners, and on his release was blacklisted as a journalist by the communist regime. After fleeing to Vienna following the 1956 Revolution, Lendvai was to become a leading journalist and commentator on eastern Europe. In this prize-winning memoir, he paints a picture of ethnic hatred, political turbulence and murderous anti-Semitism, as well as the swings between treachery and compromise which have characterized the history of 20th-century central Europe. There are descriptions of encounters with killers, torturers, onlookers and victims, traitors and heroes. In preparing the book, Lendvai had access to many previously unseen secret police files of Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Hungary.