Tribute has been paid to the ‘colourful life’ of Westgate resident Terezia Schwager who came to the UK as a young woman escaping the aftermath of the Hungarian Uprising.
In October 1956, Terezia was just 18 and part of the uprising in Budapest.
The revolt, which lasted some two weeks, was against the Soviet-imposed communist regime. Initiated by students and workers demanding democratic reforms, the revolution briefly installed a new government under Imre Nagy, who declared Hungary’s neutrality.
The uprising was brutally crushed by Soviet tanks and troops on November 4, resulting in 2,500 deaths and 200,000 refugees feeing West.
Terezia passed on secret files. She was incarcerated but after being freed managed to flee the country.
In the aftermath of the uprising Prime Minister Imre Nagy was executed and Hungary was brought under new leader János Kádár, and forced back into strict, loyal Soviet control, solidifying Moscow’s dominance in Eastern Europe.
Husband Emil said: “She came over here (UK) in very difficult circumstances. She had been in the 1956 uprising. There was a lot of devastation and killings. Revolution is not like war. In war you know your enemy but revolution is brother against brother.
“My darling Tere was incarcerated for bringing out secret files.
“(When freed) she came over the border to Vienna and then taken to Aldershot Army base where she went to hospital for a hole in her lung. At the time she had got that injury it was -18 to -24, such a cold cold winter.”
Emil and Terezia met at a Hungarian club in Notting Hill after Emil’s parents persuaded him to come along.
He said: “Every Saturday they had music, dinner, wine and a dance hall. When I saw Terezia I was so shy I asked my mum and dad’s friend to tell that beautiful lady can I have a date. She gave a me a nod and I fell apart.”
Emil and Terezia never separated from that point and spent 60 years together. They married in 1966 in Dover and ran a hotel in Folkestone Road.
The couple, who had also lived in London and Hastings, came to Westgate in 1984 when Emil decided to return to his trade as a butcher and took on a shop in the town’s Station Road.
He said: “The hotel was very hard work and I wanted to go back to the meat trade so Terezia did not have to do that work anymore.”
He ran Norman’s Butchers (the shop is now SelectSpecs) until the early 2000s, counting a young Tracey Emin amongst his customers, with Terezia also coming in and chatting to the customers.
After retirement, the couple travelled in their motorhome to Spain – where they had a property- Austria, Italy, France and Hungary to name just some destinations.
Terezia passed away on January 9th at the age of 88.
Friend Yvonne Bruton, who has known the couple for almost 40 years, said: “She went through so much in life, leaving her parents at 15, escaping Hungary and the revolution, being incarcerated and then coming to the UK.
“She had a very colourful life and was always smiling and laughing and her front door was always open to anyone who wanted to come in.”
Emil, 81, said: “She had the greatest heart and was charitable to everyone. Anyone who needed anything, she would always help and she did a lot for two charities – the British Heart Foundation and cancer research.
“My darling Terezia was everything to me.”
What a poignant tale.
R.I.P. and condolences.
RIP