Köszönöm szépen, István.

Photo courtesy Éva Peck

Köszönöm szépen, István: An Appreciation of Hungarian-American Author István Deák

I never met István Deák, the Hungarian-American author and academic, but I’m grateful to him. For a start, his books—most notably Europe on Trial—offered a window into the tangled realities of my ancestors’ world. Unlike many historians of the anti-fascist resistance, he provides a clear-eyed look at the rivalries (and alliances) among collaborators and resistors. How it’s far, far harder to tell the “good guys” from the bad.

But Professor Deák gave me something far more precious than his expert scholarship. He was the first person I looked up to who said: “You’re on to something. Keep going.”

When I first began to write seriously about my family’s story, I soaked up everything I could about the history of fascist-era Hungary. As an acknowledged expert, István Deák’s name quickly rose to the top of my list. After I wrote my very first essay on the topic, I emailed him out of the blue. I wanted to know if I’d gotten the facts straight, and possibly uncover new sources of information. He sent a reading list as well as some corrections. Eventually, I shared a finished draft. Professor Deák not only read it—a fledgling essay by an unpublished stranger—but he added: “You write very beautifully, and your essay should appear in something like The New Yorker.”

That was, objectively, an exaggeration. But the note meant the world to me, then and now. Writing, as you may have heard, is a solitary endeavor. Having someone of Professor Deák’s stature lend me encouragement gave me the confidence that my story was worth pursuing. As I’ve learned since, offering support and congratulation were second nature to him.

It’s funny how the sixth sense works. Before I’d even finished typing his name into Google, I already knew he was gone. Professor Deák died in January of this year. He was 96 years old.

Köszönöm szépen, István. Thank you so much. I hope someday I can live up to your example.