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Dr. Károly Balogh, 1956er

Born in 1930 in Budapest, Károly Balogh left Hungary after the collapse of the 1956 Revolution. His father was a well-known dental surgeon (known as the founder of the "Balogh Iskola" in dentistry). Although Károly studied dentistry at the medical school in Budapest, he became a medical pathologist (patológus). His father was a medic in World War I, serving two years on the front in Albania. He was a reservist in World War II. Károly remembers World War II well, giving vivid details about the bombing the family endured while living in Damjanich street in Budapest during the war. Their house was destroyed in 1944. His father was interrogated by the Arrow Cross secret police (at Andrássy Street 60, their headquarters) for hiding Jews during the war. The entire family escaped after WWII but then came back, hoping for a better post-war life. Károly Semmelweis Medical University in Budapest in 1954 and was working in a hospital lab on October 23rd when the revolution broke out. He and his colleagues immediately joined the protests and stood behind the Revolution. His wife, Judit Györgypály Balogh, was a psychiatrist working at the Lipótmező mental institution in Budapest during the revolution (her interview is also in the Memory Project archive). They both escaped together to the West after the Revolution, ending up in the Boston area via New Orleans. Károly took his U.S. Medical exams in the late 1960's and began working at Massachusetts General Hospital shortly after. He has been a research doctor and professor in the pathology department of Harvard University since 1978. He and his wife had three children and both worked actively in their professions until recent retirement. Károly was one of the driving forces behind the 1956 commemorative statue in Boston's Liberty Square.