HUNGARY
1905 World Events: "Bloody Sunday" - Russian
Revolution of 1905; Einstein Proposes His Theory of Relativity; Freud Publishes
His Theory of Sexuality.
1906 World Events: The Dreadnought Launched; Finland
First European Country to Give Women the Right to Vote; Kellogg's Starts
Selling Corn Flakes; San Francisco Earthquake; Upton Sinclair Writes The
Jungle.
1906
– Catherine Glück born 16
April at Fasor, Józsika utca, Hungary.
1907 World Events: Ten Rules of War Established at the
Second Hague Peace Conference; First Electric Washing Machine; Picasso
Introduces Cubism; Typhoid Mary Captured for the First Time.
1907 – Catherine’s
brother, Frederick B. Lamberger was born on 9 May.
1908 World Events: Earthquake in Italy Kills 150,000; Ford
Introduces the Model-T; Three Year-Old Pu Yi Becomes Emperor of China; Turks
Revolt in the Ottoman Empire.
1909 World Events: Japan's Prince Ito is Assassinated; NAACP
is Founded; Plastic is Invented; Robert Peary Becomes the First to Reach the
North Pole.
1910 World Events: Boy Scouts Established in U.S.; Halley's
Comet Makes an Appearance; The Tango Catches On.
1911 World Events: The Chinese Revolution; Ernest
Rutherford Discovers the Structure of an Atom; Greenwich Mean Time Adopted; The
Incan City of Machu Picchu Discovered.
1911 – Catherine
commences kindergarten.
1911 – (approximate
date) Catherine’s father involved in a domestic gas explosion incident
resulting in paraplegia and severe burns to his chest, face, arms and hands.
After this event, the family had to move to a council flat and operated a
family stationery business.
1912 World Events: Parachutes Invented; Piltdown Man, the
"Missing Link," Discovered (Fraud); SOS Accepted as Universal
Distress Signal; The Titanic Sinks.
1913 World Events: First Crossword Puzzle; Henry Ford
Creates Assembly Line.
1914 World Events: Archduke Ferdinand Assassinated; Battle
of the Marne; Charlie Chaplin First Appeared as the Little Tramp; First Traffic
Light; Panama Canal Officially Opened; World War I Begins.
1915 World Events: Armenian Genocide; Germans Use Poison
Gas as a Weapon; Lusitania Sunk by German U-Boat; Second Battle of Ypres.
1916 World Events: Battle of the Somme; Battle of Verdun;
Easter Rising in Ireland; First Self-Service Grocery Store Opens in U.S.
1916 – (approximate
date) Catherine embarks on an early career in languages by providing
Dutch/German-Hungarian translation of letters between parents and their
children who were in Hungary/Holland on one-year exchange programs.
1916 – (approximate
date) The Numerous Clausus became law and effectively prohibited Jewish people
from attending university. Food was also scarce and most people were on food
rations.
1917 World Events: First Pulitzer Prizes Awarded; Russian
Revolution; U.S. Enters World War I.
1917 – Catherine
writes famous letter in support of the Szurmay Fund for invalids, widows and
orphans offering to sell her long hair the proceeds of which would go towards
the fund.
1918 World Events: Daylight Saving Time Introduced;
Influenza Epidemic; Russian Czar Nicholas II and His Family are Killed.
1918 -
Austro-Hungarian Empire is broken up at the end of World War I. Hungarian
republic is proclaimed following a revolution.
1919 World Events: Prohibition Begins in the U.S.; Treaty
of Versailles Ends World War I.
1919 - Communists
take over power under Béla Kun. Kun
wages war on Czechoslovakia and Romania. Romanian forces occupy Budapest and
hand power to Admiral Miklos Horthy.
1919 – Catherine
and her family endure desperate living conditions. The Communist regime had
control; food was scarce; and the family shop was nearby a Military Hospital
which meant that the neighborhood children had to witness a lot of people
suffering sickness and disease as well as indigent invalids from WWI.
1920 World Events: Bubonic Plague in India; First
Commercial Radio Broadcast Aired; Harlem Renaissance Begins; League of Nations
Established; Pancho Villa Surrenders; Women Granted the Right to Vote in U.S.
1920 - Hungary
loses large part of territory to Czechoslovakia, Romania, Russia and
Yugoslavia. The National Assembly restores Kingdom of Hungary; Horthy becomes
regent and remains influential until 1944.
1920 – Catherine
enrolled at Mester Utca Commercial High School for Girls.
1921 World Events: "Fatty" Arbuckle Scandal;
Extreme Inflation in Germany; Irish Free State Proclaimed; Lie Detector
Invented.
1922 World Events: Kemal Atatürk Founds Modern Turkey; King
Tut’s Tomb Found; Michael Collins Killed in Ambush; Mussolini Marches on Rome; The
Reader's Digest Published.
1923 World Events: Charleston Dance Becomes Popular; Hitler
Jailed After Failed Coup; Ruhr Occupied by French and Belgian Forces; Talking
Movies Invented; Teapot Dome Scandal; Time Magazine Founded.
1923 – Catherine
does some relief legal assistant work for Dr. Endre Lengyel, Solicitor to the
State Transport Department (15 July through to 31 August) and earned a free
unlimited travel pass on Budapest Public Transport. She subsequently enjoyed
many and varied day excursions.
1924 World Events: First Olympic Winter Games; Leopold and
Loeb Murder a Neighbor Out of Boredom; V.I. Lenin Dies.
1924 – Catherine
achieved top grades in all subjects and was honored as “Most Outstanding
Student of the Year”. Catherine’s father purchases a black piano and she
commenced music lessons. Later on, Catherine and her brother both win “Champion
Shorthand Writer of the Year” contests. Money earned and saved from providing
tutoring to other students is used by Catherine to take a two-week holiday in
Erdöbénye, a montane resort for girls only, a place where Catherine made many
new friendships.
1925 World Events: Hitler Publishes Mein Kampf.
1926 World Events: A.A. Milne Publishes Winnie-the-Pooh;
Houdini Dies After Being Punched; Robert Goddard Fires His First Liquid-Fuel
Rocket; A Woman Swims the English Channel.
1924
– 1926 – Catherine works as Shorthand Writer at Lustre Company. She
reported to Messrs Lorinc and Poliak.
1926
– 1930 – Catherine works as Shorthand Secretary at Wertheim Elevator
Company in Budapest. It is a job that she fondly remembers. The company
introduced the first elevators and moving footpaths to Hungary.
1927 World Events: BBC Founded; The First Talking Movie, The
Jazz Singer ; Lindbergh Flies Solo Across the Atlantic; Sacco and Venzetti
Executed.
1928 World Events: Bubble Gum Invented; First Mickey Mouse
Cartoon; First Oxford English Dictionary Published; Kellogg-Briand
Treaty Outlaws War; Penicillin Discovered.
1929 World Events: Byrd and Bennett Fly Over South Pole; Car
Radio Invented; New York Stock Market Crashes; St. Valentine's Day Massacre.
1929 – Catherine
meets Béla Glück and a courtship commenced close to Christmas time.
1930 World Events: Gandhi's Salt March; Pluto Discovered;
Sliced Bread Available; Stalin Begins Collectivizing Agriculture in the
U.S.S.R.
1930 – Catherine
and Béla are engaged and married at the
Dohány utca Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Europe with 5000 seats and
perfect acoustics. They took a honeymoon in Abbazia, a holiday resort in
northern Italy. Also, they visited maternal cousins in Vienna, and was told of
a magnificent love story, “the love of the century” that brought her parents
together.
1930
– 1938 – Catherine works as Shorthand Secretary at the Hungaria Strand
Furdo, Roma part, Budapest. She provided general secretarial and administration
assistance to architectural directors responsible for construction of the Hungaria
Strand Furdo. The resort included lodging rooms, the largest Olympic swimming
pool in Budapest, a restaurant and recreational facilities. Her husband
Béla Glück was the chief architect of the project.
1931 World Events: Auguste Piccard Reaches Stratosphere;
Empire State Building Completed.
1932 World Events: Air Conditioning Invented; Amelia
Earhardt First Woman to Fly Solo Across the Atlantic; Lindbergh's Baby
Kidnapped; Scientists Split the Atom; Zippo Lighters Introduced.
1932 – Catherine
and Béla move to Erzsébet körut 24, in
the city centre of Budapest, into a two bedroom flat with a large balcony facing the street. From then on, the
couple spent April through to August each year at the holiday resort.
Catherine’s favorite music was the “La Cumparsita”, they frequently held
parties on their yacht, the “Cinka” which could accommodate up to 32 people
(albeit it was later confiscated as Jewish property). They had a very active
social life, played bridge, enjoyed plays at theatres, shows, nightclubs,
concerts and skiing in the mountains. Catherine danced the Hungarian “Csárdás”.
Béla and Catherine found a dog and they
named it “Bobby”.
1933 World Events: Adolf Hitler Becomes Chancellor of
Germany; FDR Launches New Deal; First Nazi Concentration Camp Established;
Wiley Post Flies Around the World in 8 1/2 Days.
1933 – Catherine’s
mother died suddenly on 23 June. Fred was severely saddened. Catherine took
English lessons from a professor. She the purchased a domestic agency from a
friend and traveled to England to set up the franchise of 22 English domestic
Agencies. The Glück Domestic Agency
sent many girls (up to 50 a week) from Hungary and Belgium to work as domestic
workers in England. The businesses was spectacularly successful and profitable.
Catherine and Béla bought a Fiat
Topolino car.
1934 World Events: Cheeseburger Created; The Dust Bowl; Mao
Zedong Begins the Long March; Parker Brothers Sells the Game
"Monopoly".
1935 World Events: Germany Issues the Anti-Jewish Nuremberg
Laws; John Maynard Keynes Suggests New Economic Theory.
1936 World Events: King Edward VIII Abdicates; Nazi
Olympics in Berlin; Spanish Civil War Begins.
1937 World Events: Amelia Earhart Vanishes; Golden Gate
Bridge Opened; The Hindenberg Disaster; Japan Invades China.
1937 – Catherine’s
father dies of food poisoning (she suspects the housekeeper did it).
1938 World Events: Broadcast of "The War of the
Worlds" Causes Panic; The Night of Broken Glass (Kristallnacht).
1938 - Hungary
regains some of the territory lost in 1920.
1939 World Events: First Commercial Flight Over the
Atlantic; German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact Signed; Helicopter Invented; World
War II Begins.
1939 – Catherine
and Béla lose the Hungaria Strand
resort. The property was confiscated as Jews were prohibited from owning
private property.
Alliance
with Nazi Germany
1939 - Hungary
joins Anti-Comintern Pact of Germany, Japan and Italy. At the outbreak of World
War II Hungary remains neutral.
1939 –The
Glück Domestic Agency was closed down
when the Belgian Embassy refused to issue any further visas (there was no other
transit route to England). The couple started to liquidate their household
assets. Catherine and Béla were separated and he was sent to a Forced Labour
Camp.
1940 World Events: Battle of Britain; Leon Trotsky
Assassinated; Nylons on the Market; Stone Age Cave Paintings Found in France.
1941 World Events: Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor; Jeep
Invented; Manhattan Project Begins; Nazi Rudolf Hess Flies to Britain on a
Peace Mission; Siege of Leningrad.
1941 - Germany
invades the Soviet Union. Hungary declares war on the Soviet Union. A large
part of the Hungarian army is destroyed. Hungary declares war on the United
Kingdom and the United States.
1942 World Events: Battle of Midway; Battle of Stalingrad;
Japanese-Americans Held in Camps; Nazis Raze Town in Retaliation for Reinhard
Heydrich's Death; T-shirt Introduced.
1943 World Events: French Resistance Leader Jean Moulin
Killed; Grave of Katyn Forest Massacre Found; Italy Joins the Allies; Warsaw
Ghetto Uprising.
1944 World Events: Ballpoint Pens Go On Sale; D-Day; First
German V1 and V2 Rockets Fired; Hitler Escapes Assassination Attempt.
1944 - Hungarian
Nazis depose Horthy and install a puppet regime after Horthy asks advancing
Soviet troops for an armistice. Hungarian Jews and gypsies are deported to
death camps.
1945 World Events: FDR Dies; First Computer Built; Germans
Surrender; Hitler Commits Suicide; Microwave Oven Invented; United Nations
Founded; U.S. Drops Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
1945 - Soviet
forces drive the Germans out of Hungary by early April. Large parts of Budapest
are reduced to rubble by the fighting. New Hungarian government introduces land
reform bill, redistributing land from large estate owners to peasants.
1945 – Catherine
survives the ordeal although she sustained acute chilblains. Fortunately she
soon finds employment as an English-Hungarian correspondent for an export
company. This was an empty job, as there was no business and thus no work to be
done. Catherine sat in the office and did nothing all day. She later became a
stamp dealer.