My Parents and Our Family
My brother and I were not my Father's only children. He
was obviously so much older than the fathers of other children of our
generation. He was born as one of the seven children of Alexander von Metz and
Wilhelmine Frederike Grunwald on the 11th of May 1861 at Budweis, Austria.
During his long and very successful military career he was highly respected and
repeatedly decorated as one can learn from the Austro-Hungarian Army - Rudolf
Ritter Metz von Spondalunga web page from where we have taken two pictures;
first as a Lieutenant and then in later life as a Lieutenat General.
The biography may be viewed here.
My Father was a dedicated military man who was a heroic
leader of his regiments on the Russian Front during WWI, from 1914 to the end
of 1918. He received serious wounds in 1915 and 1916 by always leading from the
front. His belief was that an officer never can relax until his men are safe
and rested. He had never been involved with politics, as politicians are the
people who, to a great extent, make the wars and send military men to the
battle fields. Most of these men become heroes, living or dead. After the wars
are over, the politicians decide on the fate of the surviving nations with
their peace treaties.
From his first marriage to Adele Augusta Maria Miller was
born a son - Rudolf August Victor- (1890-1923) whose first name was engraved on
our family crypt as Rezso. He had married Sarolta Korda von Magyarcseke of
Hungary and produced a daughter Marta Elizabeth in 1921. When I was born in
1934 so many years later, I was Marta's aunt, which fact still tickles her a
great deal.
Rudolf August Victor Metz as a First Lieutenant at the
old home in Klotildliget in 1915, and as a Captain in 1920.
After the death of Augusta my Father married my Mother,
Margit Berta Anna (1902-1989), (pictured here in 1930)
on the 20th of December 1932 at Budapest. Margit was the
youngest of the four children (Laszlo, Jeno, Maria and Margit) of Bela and
Berta Gunya of Hungary.
My Father's (left) and Mother's (right) family crests
Unfortunatelly Berta died when my Mother was only a year
old and because of that her aunt Anna (1854-1935) attended her as a child. My
grandfather Bela died three years before I came to this world. Anna was a
gentle and loving mother substitute for little Margit. Anna had some voice
training for her beautiful soprano and occasionally performed in the Opera
House in Budapest. My Mother must have gotten her musical inspirations from her
since she later excelled in playing the piano. Anna died in 1935 in an
unfortunate accident. She was climbing the steps of a streetcar when it
suddenly started to move. She fell under the car and to her death on the Plaza
Calvin at Budapest.
Grandfather Bela at Budapest around 1900.
The handwriting on the pictures above, (Bela) and below,
(Anna) is my dear Mother's.
On the left is Anna at Budapest around 1900 and on the
right, Maria (1890-1970), sister of Margit in the early 1900s.
I don't remember ever seeing a picture of my Metz
grandparents. Alexander von Metz was a General in the Kaiserjaeger Regiment.
The Metz family got von Spondalunga after he had distinguished himself during
the defense of South Tyrol in 1866. He was an excellent fencer and had
published a book on the subject first in 1863, then later the second edition in
1883. Grandfather Alexander also was an amateur artist and painted landscapes
in oil. I remember a fairly large painting hanging in our living room before
the War.
This is a copy of the Second Edition cover of the
"Fencing Book" that Alexander von Metz had written and published in
Vienna in 1883. Currently the book is the property of the Hungarian Military
History Museum in Budapest.
Grandfather Metz distinguished himself in the defense of
South Tyrol, Spondalunga, illustrated here in a 19th century aquatint, on 11th
of July 1866, and when my Father was raised to the rank of Ritter, von
Spondalunga was added to his name.
Shortly after their wedding my parents had rented a large
apartment on Margit Blvd., at the Buda side of the Duna (Danube) River. The
apartment was at the foot of the Margit Bridge and the huge corner windows were
over-looking the river. My brother, Rezso Miklos was born in the month of April
1933, and 16 months later I came along to join him.
More about this here.
On the advice of my Father my Mother regained her post as
a 3rd grade elementary school teacher in a close-by public school. Nanny Teri
was hired and she lived with us until her marriage in 1938. My Father had had a
foresight of the upcoming war and the predictable change of the regime.
On the left are little Rezso and my Father with me
sitting on my niece Marta's lap and on the right my Mother with little Rezso
and me, Marta (niece) and Nanny Teri standing behind; both at Margaret Island,
Budapest 1935.
The UK Historysite WWII
By the second half of 1939 World War II was in full
force. In 1938 Rudolf and Margit had decided to move the family out from
Budapest to Piliscsaba, a village about 28 km to the Northwest of the Capital.
My Mother quit her job and prepared her family for the move. Interestingly
enough, our new home was the villa that once belonged to my Father in his
earlier years when he had been stationed at the near-by army camp. This part of
Piliscsaba was named Klotildliget for all the lovely gardens and its
tree-shaded streets.
The four pictures above were taken in 1926 at Piliscsaba
on the occasion of the new war memorial being erected. My Father was stationed
and living there at that time and is on the pictures wearing the hard military
hat (csako).
My Mother's relatives with my parents at the front of our
villa in Klotildliget, Summer 1939. Left to right; Uncle Laszlo, Mese Neni
(Uncle Jeno's wife), Uncle Jeno, Aunt Maria (Keresztem), my Father and Mother.
Sitting in the front is Anno Neni (Uncle Laszlo's wife) with her granddaughter,
who is my second cousin, the two years old Ildi in her lap.
My Mother's relatives with my Parents at
the gate of our home in Klotildliget. Summer 1939.
Click on the picture for a bigger version please.
The Metz Family under their apple tree, Klotildliget,
1939.
Rezso and me cooling down in our little pool, looks like
I had some problems keeping my ball inflated. Summer 1939.
Rezso soon was enrolled for his first grade in the local
school, and I was to follow him in the next Fall. An old villa was converted to
a one- room schoolhouse, where four classes were held at the same time. We only
had one teacher, an old maid named Iren Neni, and a very young Catholic priest,
Father Ruzsik who came once a week to teach us the Catholic religion. Life was
peaceful and full with little friends with whom we had discovered the beauty of
the lush meadows and the forested hills.
Ligeti Iskola 1941
My parents were occupied otherwise. More than one half of
our two acres was about to become a farm. Fruit trees were planted and a huge
vegetable garden was created with the help of the hired hands. Chickens and
ducks were bought to fill up the fenced-in chicken coop.
The von Metz Family in their garden at Klotildiget,
Hungary in the Summer of 1942.
By the summer of 1943 most of the larger cities in Europe
had already suffered major destruction from the frequent bombing raids.
Budapest and the other larger cities in Hungary were no exceptions. With us
living in the countryside our lives had still been safe.
After he finished his fourth grade, my brother was sent
to a Military boarding school at Koszeg, a small medieval city close to the
Austrian border. I was to finish my fourth grade in the local school. Shortly
afterward my Father became gravely ill. With the war going on no local doctors
or nurses were available for his care. My Mother had nursed him for 5 weeks
without professional care or medications. He died in my Mother's arms at home
on the 21st day of October.
The funeral took place at the cemetery in Piliscsaba, and
was conducted with the highest military honor. My Mother had decided not to
bring my brother, Rezso home after only a few weeks of him being in the school.
A month later Mother and I took the train to Koszeg and visited Rezso for a few
days. I took this picture after I was trying to focus by backing up few steps
and fell in an open manhole.
In the mean time in 1944 Hungary was completely occupied
by the Germans. For the summer months Rezso came home from Koszeg just to go
back in September. By the month of November the battle front was all around us.
Rezso was brought home again from his school, because the teachers and some of
the students were defecting to Austria.
On the night of Christmas Eve my Mother had decided to
take shelter with us in a wine cellar at our neighbors; the rifle shooting and
the heavy artillery fire were coming very close to us. On Christmas Day morning
the first Russian soldiers carrying machine guns were raiding our home. It had
become quite evident that it was impossible for us to return. By the following
day more soldiers had appeared in a very intoxicated condition. While one of
them was shooting holes in our neighbors' ceiling five other soldiers took
advantage of two of the women who were also staying with us. In the dark of the
night very secretly we had escaped to a friend's house, but after a scary
encounter with other drunken soldiers we had to move on to another friends'
home. Here we stayed until the snow melted in early April, and Hungary was
gloriously "liberated".
- Home Page
- My Parents
and our Family
- The Lean Years after World
War II
- The Turning Point and Escape
- My new Family in a new
Country
- Our New Life
- Visits and Achievements
- My Second Marriage
- Travels and Changes
- The Golden Years
- Reflections
Copyright ©
Jutka
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