PLEASE NOTE: This book contains graphic description ... - HUNSOR

would order fire in an instant. With a swift movement I signaled my father to escape, andshoving aside the gun pointed at me I punched the partisan on the cheek with my free right hand(I was in good shape then). He tottered and was so astonished that he failed to fire his gun. For afew moments, the others did not comprehend what had happened. I could easily find my wayabout in the cemetery, so the rare pursuing rifle-fire hit only tombs and possibly my slowerfather. I was running toward the farm where my father-in-law was a lease-holder renting the landfrom a German farmer. Though naked, I was recognized by the dogs, and I got a change ofclothes from my father-in-law . Trying to avoid being found, I left the farm for Monrovia.Feeling secure, I returned to Szivac on New Year's Eve.Soon there was a rumor going about that I had escaped and returned home. My mother, awidow by then, was unable to keep the secret.Two weeks later, Branko Bikicskics, then the chief communist in Szivac, ordered myarrest. I got a heavy beating because I had escaped from the cemetery. Being considered adeserter, I was escorted to the military authority in Zombor. I acknowledged being a deserter, asI fled from the Hungarian army in September. They enlisted me in the Yugoslavian army, that ishow I became a Serb "volunteer". However, in my dreams I keep running. I dream that I grab myfather's hand, separating the two closest partisans with kicks, I thrust aside the gun pointed atmy father, and he runs away with me. By the time I wake up, my forehead is beaded withsweat."