Good Dogs Do Stray

Book Summary

Around 200,000 Hungarians fled to the West in 1956. They left most of their belongings behind. Among these refugees were the Kollers from Pornóapáti/Pernau with their seven children, including 14-year-old Emmerich. More than half a century later, the author looks back on his childhood and youth and at the same time on a time marked by war, upheaval and poverty.

He lovingly provides an insight into the everyday life of the small village on the Pinka, where time seemed to have stood still. There are beautiful memories of an undamaged landscape, the smell of hay and fresh bread from the oven, work in the vineyard – but also of events that are deeply etched in his memory. He experienced the end of the Second World War as a small child, when streams of refugees moved westwards and the Red Army invaded.

Only apparent normality returns after the war. Strict teachers remain in memory, whose educational methods were just as much from the previous century as those of the deeply Catholic parents’ home. Under the Communists, the old customs and ways of life disappear. The changes have a profound impact on village life, and the repression of the Stalin era also affects the family. When the Kollers decide to flee, it is a hasty affair and accompanied by fear. Four years as refugees in Austria follow. Important life decisions have to be made. Emmerich enters the St. Rupert Mission House in Bischofshofen and begins training to be a priest. The Kollers have the opportunity to emigrate to the USA.

A new, unknown country awaits them.

Emmerich Koller tells of life and survival in a turbulent time of the 20th century – and thus also reports on an important piece of Austro-Hungarian history.