GEORGE (GYURI) LENART:Â 1927-2020
Gyuri was born in Heves, a small town in Hungary, an only child to Jeno and Erzsebet Lowy. He had an idyllic childhood and at the age of five he moved with his parents to Hatvan where he completed his schooling. Gyuri returned to Heves often, staying with his grandparents, and it was on one of these visits that he met Marika Szanto. She was 11 and he was 14.
When Gyuri was 11 years old his mother died from breast cancer, leaving him and his father alone, a small, devoted family unit. When he was 17 he could see the dangers growing around him and decided that joining the Hungarian military could possibly provide some shelter from the ravaging storm of the Holocaust headed towards his town.
He was not permitted to join the military but was allowed to become part of a labour service. This decision saved his life. All of his contemporaries were murdered in the concentration camps. Gyuri’s father was taken to Auschwitz. He survived and the two were reunited only to have his father die a few months later.
After the war, Lenart began his studies in engineering and made his way to Budapest to live with his uncle. Tragically two weeks after he arrived his uncle was murdered.
At this time he discovered that Marika had survived the war and was living in Budapest. He looked her up and the two reconnected and love blossomed. On Christmas Eve 1955 they were married at the registry office and moved into their own apartment. Once again he saw the writing on the wall. In 1956 the borders were opened by the Revolution which gave them a chance to escape from Hungary.
Read the obituary from the Lenart family in the Brisbane Times.