When my father was born, it was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. When I was born, it was Lithuania. When I left, it was Hungary. It is difficult to say where I come from.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I am very familiar with Hungary, because I grew up in Romania, which borders it.
During the first six years of my life, Hungary was one of the most important components of the Habsburg dynasty's vast Austro-Hungarian Empire, but after World War I it became an independent national entity.
When people ask me where I am from, I never say Serbia. I always say I come from a country that no longer exists.
When people ask me where I am from I never say, 'Serbia.' I always say, 'I come from a country that no longer exists.'
I was born in Budapest, Hungary, and moved to the United States in 1956. It was during the Hungarian Revolution when Russian tanks rolled into Budapest, and my family - me, my brother, and my parents - escaped over the border to Austria. We just took whatever we could carry. It was perilous, but we made it across.
My grandparents all came from Lithuania to South Africa.
Because my name is Hungarian, everyone assumed I knew about Hungary. I didn't. They also assumed that if you knew about Hungary, you also knew about the rest of Eastern Europe.
I was born in Vienna on November 7, 1929, eleven years after the multiethnic Austro-Hungarian Empire fell apart following its defeat in World War I.
My father is from Bosnia, and my mother is from Croatia, but I was born in Sweden.
My father's father came from Russia; my mother came from Romania.