Josef Toth He is an 18-year-old boy who was blond, gray-eyed, and had a fair amount of acne. Josef escaped to Austria and helped many others escape as well. He became an amazing man who not only looked out for himself but for others as well.
AVO The
State Protection Authority ( or
ÁVH, referred to as "AVO" in the book) was the
secret police of Hungary from 1945 until 1956. It was conceived as an external appendage of the
Soviet Union's secret police forces and gained an indigenous reputation for
brutality during a series of
purges beginning in 1948, intensifying in 1949 and ending in 1953. In 1953
Joseph Stalin died, and
Imre Nagy (a moderate reformer) was appointed
Prime Minister of Hungary. Under Nagy's first government from 1953 to 1955, the ÁVH was gradually reined in. ==References==