The 1956 Olympics held in Australia had a fencing team from Hungary. Fencer Daniel Magay, along with the other athletes on that team, won a gold medal. Then-- he never went back home again.
Toward the end of World War II (1945), the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin invaded and occupied (took over) Daniel's country.
"Security"police (oxymoron for sure) used "intimidation, falsified accusations, imprisonment, and torture to suppress political opposition". Daniel was afraid, and rightly so. It didn't even help if you were in the Communist party, since at least 7,000 middle and lower level party officials were "purged," i.e. killed.
Hungary staged a revolution in 1956, and was completely crushed by the Soviets. Daniel was out of the country at the Olympics , saw his chance to escape, and took it.
Here is Daniel telling his story, and what he's grateful for today:
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