Nothing is free. Agnes Gibboney learned that in communist Hungary, where the Communist Party moved a stranger into her parents' house and answered every objection with one question: do you want me to report you? On this Surviving Communism episode of The Jenny Beth Show, she tells Jenny Beth Martin what free housing, free food and free health care delivered to one family in Budapest, and why she is warning young Americans who hear the same promise from the Democratic Socialists of America today. Gibboney was born about ten years after communism took hold in Hungary, to a cabinetmaker and a working mother who owned their house. Under the regime her mother stood in the snow for one liter of milk a day for three children, a family got one pound of meat a week, doctors had to be bribed, and a baptism was done in secret because it was against the law. In January 1957 her parents put their two-year-old to sleep with a pharmacist's concoction and jumped a ditch into Yugoslavia on the last day the border was open. Ten months in a refugee camp, thirteen years in Brazil and legal immigration to the United States followed. Agnes Gibboney is a Hungarian-born legal immigrant, an angel mom whose son Ronald was killed by an illegal immigrant, and a 2020 candidate for Congress. Her question for every young American promised free rent and free health care: how do you get it for free? Learn more at teapartypatriots.org and jennybethshow.com.
Guest: Agnes Gibboney was born in Budapest, Hungary, about ten years after the communist regime took power, and was two years old when her parents fled with one suitcase in January 1957. Her family spent ten months in a refugee camp in Yugoslavia and thirteen years in Brazil before immigrating legally to the United States. Hungary stripped the family of its citizenship, and she was told at the immigration office in Los Angeles in 1977 that she was stateless. She returned to Budapest that year while the country was still communist, and many times since. She is an angel mom whose son Ronald was killed by an illegal immigrant, a 2020 candidate for Congress, and a public speaker on border security and the reality of life under socialism. This episode is part of The Jenny Beth Show's Surviving Communism series.
Key topics:
• Why every Hungarian conversation her parents had was about the same fear: a neighbor reports you, the police take you, no trial, no hearing, a forced labor camp
• Budapest in 1977: gray cars, bullet holes in the buildings, and an uncle who answered a question about communism with "shh"
• Stateless: how the Hungarian government took the family's citizenship, and what an immigration officer in Los Angeles told her it meant
• The first escape attempt: soldiers surround the family at the border and take the suitcase of cigarettes they meant to sell for food
• January 1957: a pharmacist friend's concoction puts a two-year-old to sleep, and her father jumps the border ditch into Yugoslavia with her in his arms
• The refugee camp, and the three siblings her parents lost
• Why they left: a father who was anti-communist and "speaking up too much"
• Thirteen years in Brazil, two lapsed applications, and the knock on the door that opened the American embassy in Rio
• The Communist Party moves a stranger into her parents' house: "Do you want me to report you?"
• Her mother left Hungary without saying goodbye to her own mother, afraid she would be reported; they never saw each other again
• Letters, and an international call arranged at the post office
• Life before communism: Margaret Island on Saturdays, lunch and a movie on Sundays
• The New York Times, 1950: milk products "disappeared completely" from Budapest, meat "as rare as eggs," and food exported to pay for the five-year plan
• One liter of milk a day for three children; one pound of meat a week for a family
• Baptism was against the law, so her godparents carried her through the back of the church
• Bribing doctors, and waiting years for a replacement
• Stalin's statue, radio propaganda that said Americans were starving in the streets, and how the regime took from the rich, then the middle class, then the poor
• The Democratic Socialists of America pitch of no rent and no medical bills, and her question for every young person who believes it
• What a "free phone" from the government really costs
• Cuba today, and why she says socialism and communism are the same thing
• The utopia that never arrives: "coming soon"
• Her mother, who worshiped the United States and waited thirteen years to get here
• Her daughter's fear for her safety, and where Jenny Beth Martin says her courage comes from
• The Cal State San Bernardino student who learned communism was good from his professor and never checked
• Her charge to Americans born here: get an education, do your own research, stand up for this country
Timestamps:
00:19 — Welcome: Agnes Gibboney and the Surviving Communism series
00:41 — Born in Budapest ten years into communism; afraid to speak even to siblings
01:49 — Hungary in 1977: an uncle who answered "shh"
03:42 — Stateless: "You don't belong anywhere"
04:48 — The first escape attempt: soldiers and a suitcase of cigarettes
06:08 — January 1957: a pharmacist's concoction and a jump over the border ditch
07:34 — The refugee camp in Yugoslavia: a baby brother lost
08:27 — Martha and Clara: a sister's grave she rebuilt and paid for herself
10:21 — Why they left: a father who spoke up too much
11:34 — Thirteen years in Brazil, two lapsed applications, a knock on the door
12:27 — The immigration medical check: "what a concept that is"
13:22 — Childhood memories of Brazil; going back to Hungary
14:29 — Budapest under communism: gray cars, bullet holes in the buildings
15:45 — Before they left: a house of their own, a cabinetmaker's good living
17:08 — The Communist Party moves a stranger into their home: "That's free housing"
18:09 — Leaving family behind without saying goodbye; the wooden box her father made
19:43 — Letters, a call at the post office; she never saw her mother again
20:50 — Her mother lived the return trip through her
21:51 — Her father's silence, and a night in Copacabana
23:24 — Life before communism: Margaret Island Saturdays, Sunday lunch and a movie
24:24 — The New York Times, 1950: food shortages reach the front page
26:06 — One liter of milk a day for three children
26:29 — "All milk products have disappeared completely from Budapest"
28:12 — Jenny Beth Martin: a gallon of milk every day and a half, carrying twins
29:23 — Baptism against the law: through the back of the church in Göd
30:30 — One pound of meat a week; coworkers give up their vouchers
31:19 — Bribing the doctor; waiting years for a replacement
32:24 — Jenny Beth Martin: they have to dehumanize everyone to be that brutal
33:12 — Stalin's statue, and radio propaganda that said Americans were starving
34:23 — First the mansions, then the middle class, then the poor
35:42 — "If Americans would only know how evil it is": the Democratic Socialists of America
37:15 — No rent, no medical bills: "How do you think you're going to get it for free?"
38:16 — The free phone, and constant surveillance
39:17 — Get an education, do your own research, visit a communist country
39:45 — Cuba: six days a week of work to eat
40:30 — Socialism and communism: "the same thing"; the utopia that never arrives
41:23 — Her mother worshiped the United States; thirteen years of waiting
42:33 — "My mother would hug me": I'm proud of you
43:11 — Her daughter's fear; an angel mom's public platform
45:17 — Jenny Beth Martin: the silencing effect, and where courage comes from
46:24 — Not being intimidated; thinking for yourself
47:55 — The Cal State San Bernardino student who never checked his professor
49:53 — Why stand up: "the only country in the world"
51:20 — "I'm a legal immigrant. You were born here. You should be doing what I'm doing"
52:23 — God bless President Trump; vote out the same failures
54:05 — Close: thank you, Agnes Gibboney
Links mentioned:
jennybethshow.com
teapartypatriots.org