Kati Marton

Kati Marton, 2009

Kati Marton , [ 'kati (*], 3. April 1947 in Budapest ) is a Hungarian - US -American author and journalist .

biography

Kati Marton's career

Kati Marton was born in Budapest in 1947 as the second child of Ilona and Endre Márton ; her older sister Julia was born in 1946, her brother Andrew Thomas on December 16, 1957.

After graduating from Bethesda Chevy Chase High School in Chevy Chase, Montgomery County , Maryland and the private Wells College in Aurora, Cayuga County , New York , Marton went to France, studied at the Sorbonne and the Institut d'études politiques de Paris . She then received her BA in Romance Languages and an MA in International Relations from George Washington University .

From 1971 to the end of 1972 she was a reporter for National Public Radio , from January 1973 to November 1977 reporter for WCAU (NBC) in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . From December 1977 to December 1979 she worked in Germany as a foreign correspondent and head of the Bonn office for the ABC broadcaster . a. Reports on the GDR, the Netherlands, Italy, Northern Ireland, Poland, Hungary and the Middle East.

Then she received her own broadcast on National Public Radio. She did interviews and wrote for newspapers and magazines such as The New York Times and Vanity Fair . The Catholic-raised journalist was confronted with her own Jewish roots and the murder of her maternal grandparents in Auschwitz while working on her book about Raoul Wallenberg .

Kati Marton was married three times. First marriage to investment banker Carroll Wetzel; they were married in 1973 and divorced after three years. In 1979 she married the newscaster (anchorman) on ABC, Peter Jennings († 2005); after the couple announced their separation in 1993, they divorced in 1994. In May 1995 she married the diplomat Richard Holbrooke , who died on December 13, 2010. The marriage with Jennings had two children, Elizabeth (* 1980) and Christopher (* 1982) Jennings. Holbrooke brought two children, David and Anthony Holbrooke, into the marriage.

The Parents' Story: Persecution and Emigration

Endre Márton (born October 29, 1910 in Budapest, Hungary; † November 1, 2005 in New York, USA) studied economics at the Loránd Eötvös University in Budapest and received her doctorate in economics in 1936 . Ilona Marton (born March 14, 1912 as Ilona Neumann in Miskolc, Hungary; † September 4, 2004 in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA) studied history and graduated with a diploma, later she was awarded a doctorate in philosophy. Ilona (Nyilas) and Endre Márton married in 1943. Both were originally of Jewish faith (one of Endre Márton's ancestors was a rabbi from Dobříš , a town south of Prague), but they were already there in the early 1930s to cope with the increasing anti-Semitism in Hungary to escape, converted to catholic faith. They withheld their Jewish descent from their two daughters, whom they brought up strictly Catholic.

In what was now communist post-war Hungary, Ilona and Endre Marton turned completely to journalism. After a brief job for the British The Daily Telegraph , Endre Marton worked as a reporter for the Associated Press (AP) and Ilona Marton as a reporter for United Press (today: United Press International / UPI) from 1947 . Both spoke fluent English, were familiar with the history, politics, and social fabric of Hungary and were willing to work for Western news agencies.

Her work for Western news agencies in post-war Hungary, dominated by communism, made her almost inevitably a suspect during the Cold War . They were suspected of espionage for the CIA by the Hungarian secret service , they were constantly monitored and spied on, and they were surrounded by informants. Endre Marton was arrested in February 1955, and Ilona Marton was arrested in June 1955 and the two daughters Julia and Kati placed with strangers. They were detained in the House of Terror , forced to "confess", charged with espionage and conspiracy against the Hungarian government. Endre Marton was sentenced to 13 years in prison (later reduced to six years) and Ilona Marton to three years in prison.

Under massive pressure from Western diplomacy and in the run-up to the impending popular uprising , they were released prematurely in 1956 - Ilona Marton on April 4, Endre Marton on August 15, 1956. Their news agencies were able to witness the popular uprising that began at the end of October 1956 report first hand about the Russian intervention and the fighting in Budapest. After the occupation of Hungary by Russian troops and the re-establishment of old power structures, the Martons again became suspects for their work for Western news agencies. In January 1957, when there was increasing evidence that they were about to be arrested again, they and their two daughters Julia and Kati fled to the US embassy . They no longer saw a future for themselves and their children in Hungary, decided to leave the country and were smuggled into Austria.

From here the family emigrated to the USA a few months later, where they found a new home in Chevy Chase, Maryland . Ilona and Endre Marton received the George Polk Award (Special Award) for their journalistic work . In the USA, Endre Marton worked as a reporter, author ( "The Forbidden Sky. Inside the Hungarian Revolution", 1971 ), university lecturer, in later years as a correspondent for the US State Department. Ilona Nyilas (Marton) taught French at Robert E. Peary High School in Rockville and Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, (both in) Maryland before retiring in 1975.

Works

• Wallenberg , New York, Random House 1982
• The Polk Conspiracy: Murder and Cover-up in the Case of CBS News Correspondent George Polk , New York, Farrar, Straus & Giroux 1990
• A Death in Jerusalem , New York, Pantheon 1994
• Wallenberg: Missing Hero , New York, Arcade Publishing, 1995
• Hidden Power: Presidential Marriages That Shaped Our History , Anchor 2001
• The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World , New York, Simon & Schuster 2006
  • The escape of geniuses. Nine Hungarian Jews change the world. A literary report , German by Ruth Keen, Eichborn Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2010. ISBN 978-3-8218-6219-4
• Enemies of the People. My Family's Journey to America , Simon & Schuster, New York 2009
  • Enemies of the People: My Family’s Path to America , German by Stefanie Schäfer, Die Other Bibliothek , Berlin 2013. ISBN 978-3-8477-0343-3

Prizes / awards

• George Foster Peabody Award for a report (WCAU) about the PRC, 1973
• Gannett Fellow at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism , 1988
• Philadelphia Press Association Award for Best Television Feature Story
• Channel 12 ( Public Broadcast Service - PBS) Award for reporting
• Marc H. Tanenbaum Foundation Award for their commitment to mutual tolerance between religions, 1997
• Kostas Kyriazis Foundation Award for her commitment to freedom of the press, 1997
• Rebekah Kohut Humanitarian Award from the National Council of Jewish Women , 2001
• Matrix Award for Women Who Change the World, 2002
• Citizen's Committee of New York's Marietta Tree Award for Public Service, 2004
• Edith Wharton Award for Journalism. 2004
• Woodhull Institute's Changemakers Award for Ethical Leadership in the Arts, 2004
• Officer of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary , 2006

Web links

• Literature by and about Kati Marton in the catalog of the German National Library
• bookreporter.com entry
• " A Hungarian Navigates the Terrible Century " - Kati Marton in conversation with her publisher Michael Naumann at the American Academy in Berlin on March 25, 2010

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Washington Post Sept. 7, 2004: Reporter Ilona Marton Dies at 92
2. ↑ conservationmagazine January / March 2007: Julia Marton-Lefèvre
3. ↑ footprintnetwork / Bio ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ MM - The Millions March 30, 2010: Interview with Kati Marton
5. ↑ New York Times October 30, 2009: The Dossier + Photo: Ilona Marton with her two daughters Julia and Kati
6. ↑ aglobalnews.com: Kati Marton  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Bookreporter.com / Authors / Kati Marton
8. ↑ PEN - American center: Kati Marton ( Memento of the original from January 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ↑ PEN - American Center: Kati Maron ( Memento of the original from January 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
10. ↑ Jewish Telegraphic Agency, February 12, 1999 ( Memento of the original from December 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
11. ↑ Charlie Rose: In Books: December 19, 2009 - Interview with Kati Marton about her book "Enemies of the People" - (19.00 minutes): Kati Marton talks about her childhood in Hungary / murder of her grandparents in Auschwitz / persecution, imprisonment of her Parents whose escape from Hungary - emigrated to the USA. ( Memento of the original from December 19, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
12. ^ Marriage.about.com: Kati Marton and Richard Holbrooke Marriage
13. ↑ Stefan Elfenbein: " The symbol of the nation - A conversation with Kati Marton about presidents and first ladies " - Berliner Zeitung of October 27, 2001
14. ↑ ^{a b c} Los Angeles Times Nov. 3, 2005: Endre Marton, 95; Reporter Covered Postwar Regime in Hungary
15. ↑ Photo: Endre Marton ( Memento of the original from June 4, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
16. ↑ when she was 19 years old, she left her name in Ilona Nyilas convert
17. ^ New York Times September 9, 2004: Ilona Marton, 92; Hungary reporter
18. ↑ János Molnár: Foreign Correspondents in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution - here: F.3
19. ^ Miskolc-Site / Ilona Marton - Prize-Winning Journalist + illustration
20. ^ ^{A b c} New English Review, May 2010: Kati Comes Home: East European Jewry Confronts Ist Holocaust Secrets
21. ^ The Easthampton Star January 22, 2010: The Budapest File
22. ^ János Molnár: Foreign Correspondents in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution - here: F.8
23. ^ The Washington Post October 18, 2009: Behind the Iron Curtain
24. ^ János Molnár: Foreign Correspondents in the 1956 Hungarian Revolution
25. ^ Time (Magazine) February 4, 1957: Exit from Budapest
26. ^ New York Times October 23, 2006: Kati Marton: The Shadow of a Smile
27. ^ George Polk Award Winners / List
28. ^ Robert E. Peary HS: Dr. Ilona Marton Dies at 92… ( Memento of the original from November 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
29. ^ Peabody Award Collection Archives