Judy Temes was just five years old when she was left by her parents seeking to escape Communist Hungary. With borders sealed in 1969, there were few options for crossing the East-West divide. Her father—a Holocaust survivor desperate to leave behind Hungary’s totalitarian government and the legacy of the Holocaust—used tourist visas to take his wife and twelve-year-old son to the West. These visas, however, came at a high price: one child would need to be left behind. Left with an antisemitic uncle in a destitute Hungarian village, five-year-old “Juditka” had to cope with not only her parent’s apparent desertion, but questions about her real identity and what it means to be a Jew. Judy documented her story in her debut memoir, Girl Left Behind. She is a former journalist, a secondary humanities teacher in Seattle, and the mother of three children.
Social Media:
Such a poignant interview. The importance of having someone in one’s life who they know cares for them is so clear. Amazing that Judy seems not to be psychologically damaged by being abandoned at such a sensitive age.
I loved having this conversation with Judy. I was captivated by her “voice” when I read her book and just had to talk with her. So glad you enjoyed listnening.