During the latter months of 1956, readers of The Oneonta Star followed the Hungarian Revolution in the headlines almost daily.

What began as a student revolution in November 1956 in Budapest against the Communist government and its Soviet-imposed policies, turned the entire country into chaos. By January 1957, the Soviet-installed government had suppressed all opposition. An estimated 200,000 Hungarians fled as refugees. Some of them arrived here in The Heartland of New York.

The Monday, Dec. 31, 1956, edition of The Oneonta Star reported that 14 Hungarian refugees came to Oneonta that past weekend, much the same way they escaped from Hungary -- through biting cold and snow.

The 14, four women, nine men and a 15-year-old boy, arrived at the former Homer Folks Tuberculosis Hospital, today’s Oneonta Job Corps Center, in the early hours of Dec. 29, 9½ hours after they left Camp Kilmer, N.J., where they had entered the U.S.

Dr. Ralph Horton, then the director of Homer Folks Hospital, knew the refugees were coming and made accommodations for them.

Garnett Griffith, a native of Virginia, drove a Star Transit Charter bus from New Jersey to Oneonta. It was an adventure for Griffith, to say the least.

"They didn’t speak English," he explained, "and I couldn’t speak their language."

He stopped at the former Red Apple, a popular state Route 17 cafeteria near Suffern, where they had supper. The Hungarians ordered in sign language.

In Oneonta, there was anxious waiting going on at Homer Folks. A large Christmas tree twinkled outside in the snow, a gesture of a warm hello. News people were awaiting the arrival, for pictures and to tell their story for what they’d hoped would appear in newspapers the next morning.

Finally at 2:20 a.m. Saturday, a maintenance man spotted bus lights through the swirling snow, maneuvering the slope of West Street.

The 14 refugees arrived to receive care for possible tuberculosis. Most spent about eight weeks there to find out if they had the disease.

The 15-year-old boy was named Gyula Kotan, and later moved to Pittsburgh as his aunt, Mrs. Paul Kotan, arrived to meet her nephew for the first time.

Kotan told the story of how her nephew during the revolution was given permission by his parents to go to Budapest. Once there, he saw hundreds of escapees streaming through flames and smoke, headed west. Gyula, or Julius in English, joined the throngs in walking through cold and snow to the freedom line in Austria.

There were many stories such as these told. In the meantime, there were more refugees headed toward our region.

The Oneonta Rotary Club sponsored a family, which arrived in the city around Feb. 1. Rotarians were busy collecting clothing and furniture, and help was sought by members Robert Bagg and James Lettis.

Sidney also prepared for a Hungarian refugee family in early February 1957. The Community Service Council in the village was working to provide a comfortable home and food supply for the family. Initially the family moved into an apartment in the area known today as Sherwood Heights. A job was waiting for Elemer Malodecsky at Scintilla, today’s Amphenol Corp.

The State University of New York system assisted in finding scholastic homes for many college age Hungarians. Five came to Oneonta State Teachers College in late February 1957. They lived in college housing units.

"The main object at Oneonta," Dr. Royal F. Netzer, college president said, "is to enable them to learn English."

An Oneonta Star editorial printed on Feb. 28 was written in both Hungarian and English, through efforts of an interpreter, Aranke Vincze of Laurens. Part of it read, "After you have been here awhile and have learned our language and our way of life, you too may enjoy the freedoms and the high standards of living that is not paralleled anywhere in the world."

The Oneonta Star followed up with a family a week before Christmas. The Bartfals were the family sponsored by the Oneonta Rotary Club. They had left their apartment and bought a home on Hudson Street after Julius Bartfal had gotten a job in a local wholesale electric business. He was planning to buy a new car. They had arrived in the U.S. with Julienne Bartfal pregnant. Their newborn son, also named Julius, was doing well.

Vincze, acting as the Bartfal’s interpreter, explained that for the 1957 Christmas season, "their greatest gift is freedom."

This weekend: If you were looking to build a new home in 1907, the Sixth Ward of Oneonta deserved consideration and had some interesting incentives to bring you to some new neighborhoods.

City Historian Mark Simonson’s column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com.