THE EXPLANATION...
Whenever I left our flat for either the school or Father's office I had to pass in front of the Markó street prison.
The day after he was sentenced to death, ex-Major Ferenc Szálasi, head of the Arrow Cross Party, Leader of Hungary, whose official proclaimed policy was the final extermination of all the Jews in Hungary, asked the President of Hungary for clemency. This was refused and his execution was set for the afternoon.
I was passing the prison and seeing the crowds realised that Szálasi is going to be executed. I became part of the crowd wishing to be admitted.
As he was walking to the gallows people were shouting: S-L-O-W-L-Y. An American soldier broke through towards him and asked him: "Where is my Mother? What have you done to my Mother?"
The hangman grabbed him and lifted him up. They broke his neck in a second or two. He did not suffer. He had it easier than his victims.
I am sorry to say and it must sound terrible here and now, but I am pleased to have been there.
I tried to explain why.
Steve Colman
Killara, N.S.W
September 1983