Clear the Line: Hungary's Struggle to Leave the Axis During the Second World War [Paperback]

Laura-Louise Veress (Author), Dalma Takacs (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Laura-Louise's father was a Danube steamer captain. Her first husband, Lajos Palsczi Horvath, was a cousin of Admiral Horthy, the Regent of Hungary. Laszls [Leslie] Veress became her lover and fought a duel with her husband. All through the troubles of 1943-44, she was in his full confidence; and when he had to flee, it was she who broke the Sicherheitsdienst seals on the door of his flat, and cleaned it of compromising material. Her courage saw her and her daughter through the siege of Budapest in the winter of 1944-45. . . . [Her] Magyar patriotism and her hatred of tyranny whether from the Right or from the Left, shine through. . ." -- The Times Literary Supplement, London, January 10, 1997

"Mrs. Veress weaves a gripping tale of a real mission impossible and a nation truly caught between a rock and a hard place." -- Amerikai Magyar Ujsag [Hungarian monthly], September, 1996

From the Author

Editor's note: Laura-Louise Veress died in 1996 at the age of 89. She spent many years researching and writing the manuscript of Clear the Line. My task was to organize and trim close to two thousand typewritten pages of her text. Throughout the process I consulted with her, and I made every effort to reflect her views and preserve her vision for the book. As her daughter, I have shared many of the events and scenes that I helped her describe, and with her approval I have added my own contributions. Thus I am more than an editor, but less than a co-author.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 404 pages
• Publisher: Professional Pr (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1570872074
• ISBN-13: 978-1570872075
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #477,248 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A thrilling but sad tale of futility., April 5, 2002

By 

Peter Czipott (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Clear the Line: Hungary's Struggle to Leave the Axis During the Second World War (Paperback)

The political thought of post-WWI Hungary was dominated -- no, obsessed -- with the desire to rectify the perceived wrongs of the Treaty of Trianon, which stripped her of two thirds of her territories and most of her natural resources, as well as leaving substantial ethnic Hungarian minorities in the detached lands. This obsession, together with a well-founded dread of Stalinism, rather than any general sympathy for National Socialism, gravitationally pulled Hungary into the Axis orbit. Almost from the start of WWII, Hungary sought to minimize its direct involvement and maximize its room for independent policy. This included opening overtures to the Western Allies to negotiate a secret surrender. This book, begun by the principal actor in the negotiations, largely written by his widow, and completed by their daughter, deftly sketches the background to a tale filled with intrigue, daring, and narrow escapes worthy of a spy novel. The negotiations proved futile when the Italian campaign bogged down and Churchill's desire to open a Balkan front was overruled by Stalin and Roosevelt. This forced the Hungarians to submit to Soviet power and led to over 40 years of political captivity. The romantically unrealistic world view of the Hungarian political establishment comes out poignantly in this memoir. There is some special pleading, but it is outweighed by the value of a fresh perspective on a small country caught in anguishing pressure between superpowers.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Anti-Nazi Resistance in Hungary, December 16, 2002

By 

L. Koncz Judith Koncz (Dedham, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Clear the Line: Hungary's Struggle to Leave the Axis During the Second World War (Paperback)

This housewife turned historian wrote a remarkable book weaving her story from different threads. One is the personal recollections of her husband Leslie Veress, an inconspicuous young official in the Hungarian Department of State of the 1942-43 era, who was part of a resistance group of young diplomats in this ministry, like Domokos Szent-Ivanyi, Geza Soos, Ferenc Vali. He was put in charge of Premiere Kallay's peace-feelers to Great Britain and operated a short wave radio with the British SOE. This is an "eyewitness" account never before told. The subject has been ignored by Marxist inspired Hungarian hitoriography and still is by the post-Communist generation.
Leslie Veress in his exile in England collected the documents generated in Great Britain as a result of his activities on behalf of a dissident Hungarian government trying to extricate herself from the deadly Nazi embrace. This is probably the most unique thread in the book.
Another thread is Mrs. Veress' own account of her life spanning two World- and one Cold War. She witnessed Romanian terror, Nazi, Nyilas, Russian and Communist terrors as it immediately affected her and her family. All this is garnished by a detailed chronicle of political history of the Allied Powers as they prepared the sad fate of Central Europe.
Those interested in anti Nazi resistance in Hungary in particular and WW II politics in general will find the book most useful.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A moving account of a sadly missed opportunity., May 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Clear the Line: Hungary's Struggle to Leave the Axis During the Second World War (Paperback)

Clear the Line is a moving account of a sadly missed opportunity in mid-century history; and it also contains fascinating nuggets of autobiography as far back as 1914. I started to read the book at half past five on Tuesday afternoon, thought I had better break off to get myself an evening meal at what I assumed to be about eight o'clock--and found that it was by then five to ten!! I had been totally absorbed in the book. Dalma Takacs has done a splendid editorial job.I was especially pleased to read the extract from Aylmer Macartney's 9 December 1941 broadcast, which I have not seen in print before. I am delighted to have such a memorable book on my library shelves.