The following evening, October 23, Szaby and I were playing ulti at Gyuri's home on Mester utca.

It was sometime shortly after eight, as I remember it, when Gyuri's father came into the room and told us there were “tuntetesek,” street demonstrations.

He thought we should go home.

Szaby and I left and boarded a bus near the corner of Mester utca and the Nagykorut, the Big Boulevard.

We were the only passengers.

Before we reached Ulloi ut, the driver suddenly came to a screeching halt because someone had stepped into the road.

A drunk man entered the bus.

He wore an armband with an arrow cross on it and held a gun in his hand.

He looked inside and demanded:

“Are there any Jews on this bus?”

There were only two of us.

I answered him:

“Testver,” brother, “only the two of us, my buddy here and I are here. Nobody else.”

He looked at us, said, “Good,” and stepped off the bus.

Then we continued.

It was one small incident in a much larger night, but I remember it because moments like that tell you how quickly ordinary life can become uncertain.

Szaby eventually got off at Rakoczi ut.

I continued and got off at the Vigszinhaz.

That was where I saw the crowds.

Large numbers of people were moving toward Parliament.

Nobody told me to join them.

Nobody had to.

I simply began walking with everyone else.

That is how much of the uprising happened.

People saw other people moving and joined them.

Eventually enormous crowds gathered around Parliament.

I found myself at the northern end of Kossuth Square.

From where I stood, it was difficult to hear very much. I remember Nagy making some kind of statement, but the thing I remember most clearly was the sound of the crowd.

Thousands of people were shouting:

“Vegyek le a csillagot!”

“Remove the red star!”

That sound has remained with me.

I did not return home until well after midnight.

My mother was frightened because she had no idea where I had been.

I had left the house as a university student spending an evening with friends.

By the time I came home, Budapest had changed.