Hungarian freedom fighter Janos Hadnagy (aka John Hadnagy) posed for Apollo, AMG, and Pat Milo among others after fleeing his native hungary.
John Was a Hungarian Freedom Fighter
There is a young man working in Los Angeles who has no illusions about Communism. He is JOHN HADNAGY: For John was a Freedom Fighter in Budapest during the desperate attempt of his fellow Hungarians in 1956 to free themselves from Communist shackles.
John, who was a railroad worker, had been amateur wrestling champion of Hungary in the 175 pound class for the years 1954, ’55 and ’56. When fighting first broke out, he was in a military prison, having been arrested for a minor political offense, so he was unable to take part in the beginning of the struggle. After a few days of fighting, the Russian forces were withdrawn from the city, only to return with tanks. Just prior to their return, John had been re- leased from prison and placed in charge of fifty men, but the single cannon and small arms of the Freedom Fighters were no match for the Russian tanks, and as the Hungarians’ ammunition ran low, their plight became desperate.
After being wounded twice in the fighting, John took refuge in his apartment for five days, where in the absence of a doctor, it was necessary for him to remove a bullet from his ankle with his pocket knife. He still carries a second bullet in his thigh. He was arrested by the Russians, robbed, and after being stripped of his clothing, tossed into a refrigerated basement where he was left for two days with no food other than a hunk of black bread. Just prior to his arrest, he and two hundred other Hungarian fighters had changed their clothes for firemen’s uniforms, which led to their ultimate release when the Russians decided that they were German soldiers.
In spite of an infected ankle, John was able to make his way 180 miles to the Austrian border during the next two weeks. As he was still carrying a gun when he crossed the border, he was arrested by the Austrians and kept in jail for a week. A few months later he went to Munich, Germany, where he remained until April 1957, when with other Hungarian refugees, he was flown Camp Kilmer in New Jersey.
John thinks it is fine to be living in a country where one does not have to lie awake at night, listening for a knock on the door to tell you that the secret police have come to put you in prison. And he is sure of another thing if this country ever becomes involved in a struggle with Russia, he wants to be among the first to volunteer to fight against Communism, whose evils he knows so well.
All photos used with story by courtesy of Apollo Productions Interna- tional. by special arrangement of the