My name is Susan Fix and I live in Toms River, NJ. This is my first Expo, and I’m looking forward to all of the presentations! All four of my grandparents (and my father) were born in Hungary. My maternal grandparents (from Dunamocs and Oszko, Vas) immigrated individually as young adults and met here in Asbury Park, NJ. My paternal grandparents were ethnic Germans, born and raised in Ajkarendek, Veszprem, Hungary. They lived there until my father and grandfather were drafted into the German and Hungarian armies respectively, and my grandmother and my father’s little sister were forced to leave their home in 1945. After living as refugees and soldiers, the family was reunited, settled in Germany, and immigrated to NJ in the early 1950s.
My parents spoke Hungarian when they didn’t want my brothers and me to understand their conversations — unfortunately, at the time, we weren’t very interested in learning the language, which I regret now. We attended Hungarian (and German) commumity gatherings (picnics), and we were used to hearing either Hungarian or German spoken. In 2015, my son and I visited my mother’s cousins and their families in Budapest and Dunamocs (Moca).
