BY SUSAN BLOWER
Indiana Correspondent

AMHERST, Mass. — On Jan. 1, 1957, Julius Gyula Fabos arrived by ship on America’s shores with only a suitcase in his hand. He was a refugee from Hungary, a survivor of Stalinist oppression, the son of a Hungarian farmer.
Fabos went on to earn a doctorate from the University of Michigan and to teach landscape architecture at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has written six books, including his new release, Son of a Kulak: How a Hungarian Farm Boy Survived World War II and Escaped Stalinist Oppression for a New Life in America.

On May 7, America will celebrate the 66th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. However, the end of the Great War was the beginning of Soviet oppression and occupation of Hungary.

The Soviet Union demanded grain, milk and meat from prosperous Hungarian farmers called “Kulaks.” When Kulaks could not meet these demands, their land was seized and consolidated into large, mechanized, collective farms. About 100,000 Kulaks, mostly Catholic, lost their rights, including their freedom.
As a boy Julius watched as his father was unfairly jailed and his farm seized by Soviet leaders. Later he, too, was jailed and tortured, then enslaved in Soviet mines for 15 months.

As a boy he had also survived a front-row view of World War II as the Soviets and Nazis battled on the soil of his family farm, which he remembers as a terrifying experience. The Fabos farm, about 200 acres, grew grains, vineyards, orchards, pigs, horses, milk and beef cattle, chickens and geese. In addition, Fabos’ father serviced machines for other farmers.

Julius left his father, mother and sister behind when he escaped Hungary with only a briefcase. His mother was too frightened to leave her home country, Fabos said. He stayed in a refugee camp in Austria for a month and received supplies enough to fill a suitcase, for which he remains thankful.

“Everything shapes you. Environment is powerful. When I came here, I wanted to go to the university badly, and I did. I became a professor ... I knew I had to make it on my own, and this gave me direction and drive,” Fabos said.
He received his BS from Rutgers University, which helped many Hungarian immigrants, Fabos said. He earned his MLA from Harvard University. Upon getting his PhD, he taught for 33 years and received many prestigious awards in his field.

Fabos said that though Hungary is largely democratic today, many of the collective farms are still in place. Their family farm was never returned. Later in life, his father worked for the Post Office and made wine on the side.
“He did okay, not great,” Fabos said, regretfully. He travels to Hungary annually for a visit and organizes a major conference there.

Fabos, now 79 and retired from teaching, said that he wrote Son of a Kulak primarily for his family and secondarily to chronicle the Kulak story for the English-speaking world.

“I spent a delightful evening recently with my granddaughter, who’s 13. She had questions (about my experience) and asked me to tell her stories,” Fabos said.

He said that talking about his past is no longer painful. Son of a Kulak is available on Amazon.com