Jenő Ivánfi

Jenő Ivánfi was born as Jenő Ivancsics in 1929 in Eger. His father was railway engineer, he had to choose a Hungarian family name as a civil servant when he was appointed chief counsellor at Hungarian National Railways. Jenő Ivánfi graduated at György Fráter Secondary School of the Minorities in Miskolc. In 1947 he began his university studies at the Science Faculty of Szeged University. Despite his excellent grades he was expelled among the first political victims from the university for having backed Cardinal József Mindszenty in public. In 1949 thanks to his professors’ support he could continue his studies at Loránd Eötvös University in Budapest. He became chemist, he got his degree in 1952, but he could get a job but a working place where others didn’t want to go. So he went to work to Borsod Chemical Trust, and was trained in energetics and coal chemicals at the different firms of the Trust, he supervised the construction of the Coke Plant in Kazincbarcika. He married Éva Joszt in 1953. In 1954 he managed to move to the new Research Institute for Heavy Chemistry where he worked as research engineer. His family, his wife and his newborn daughter, Andrea, followed him to Veszprém. His second daughter Mónika was born in 1956. During the Hungarian revolution he saved the wounded from the line the fire in Budapest and he distributed leaflets. After the Soviet invasion of November 4th, some members of his family succeeded to fly to Austria. He decided with two friends of his to follow their example. They left for Szombathely by train. On the train he met a colleague whom he gave the keys of his flat. He met a stranger, too, "Uncle János,” who offered himself to help them to cross the green border. He said he was a former border officer. By his help they managed to cross the Austrian frontier. They got an accommodation in the refugee camp at the fortress of Stadtschlaiding. Jenő Ivánfi and one of his friends, who wanted to go on to West Germany, was housed in Wien by an Austrian acquaintance of him. They applied for jobs immediately at the embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Thanks also to his German knowledge, since December 1956 he was employed at EBV Hauptlaboratorium in Alsdorf, (Germany, before Bundesrepublic of Deutschland), as an analytical engineer until 1961. After he had had accommodations and a job he asked for the reunion of his family. He got the German entrance permit for them in a very brief time, but the Hungarian authorities hindered his wife and his children to leave the Hungarian People’s Republic. So finally in 1961 he decided to rejoin his family and return to Hungary. After arriving back in his homeland, he lived in Debrecen where he earned his living as an ordure cleaner. The political police watched him and contacted him several times. In 1961 he finally got a job at the Stain Factory in Tiszaszederkény of the Tisza Chemical Plants, he became again there research engineer. He regularly published papers in professional periodicals and he was sent to international conferences due to his language knowledge. He soon was appointed the head of the research department. However the political police continued to control him and tried to recruit him to be an intelligence agent by promising that he could leave the country with his family. His third child András was born in 1964. In 1972 he asked his placement to Borsod Chemical Trust in Kazincbarcika. Here he became the product manager in 1982, organizing the production of PVC windows on national scale. He retired in 1989. He joined the Christian Democratic People’s Party and led the local organization of it. In 1990 he became vice-major of the city of Kazincbarcika. In 1994 he was honoured the Gold Cross of the Hungarian Republic. He lives in Sajógalgóc with his wife in a beautifully restored old house built in the 18th century. Founder of the Local Circle for Monuments’ Protection, his hobby is exploring the history of the so-called cul-de-sac villages.

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