It Happened on a Brooklyn Subway

Marcel Sternberger was a Hungarian man who lived in New York in 1948. Every day he took the 9:09 railway from his home to Woodside, New York where he caught the subway to his office in Manhattan. But on the morning of January 10, 1948 he decided to get off the train and go visit a sick friend named Laszlo Victor who lived in Brooklyn. After lunch he caught the subway to ride into Manhattan. 

He said, “The car was crowed so I thought there would be no chance of getting a seat but as I entered the car the man sitting to my left suddenly jumped up and ran out so I slipped into the empty seat.” He said, “I’ve been living in New York long enough to know not to start up conversations with strangers but the man sitting to my left was reading a Hungarian newspaper.” “So, I said to him in Hungarian, ‘Do you mind if I glance at your paper?’” He was surprised that someone was speaking to him in his native language, but he said, “You can look at it now. I’ll have time to read it latter.”

The two men had a fascinating conversation over the next half hour. The man told him is name was Bela Paskin a law student when World War II broke out. He was captured by the Germans and put to work in a German labor battalion. When the war was over, he set out on foot to his home in Debrecen, Hungary. When he got there a stranger told him that his whole family was dead. They took your mom, dad, brothers, sisters, and your wife to Auschwitz. The reputation had already been established that no one made it out of Auschwitz alive. 

Too heart sick to continue any longer in Europe, Bela Paskin set out again on foot to Paris, France where he immigrated to the United States. He landed in New York in October 1947 just three months before he got on the train with Sternberger. 

All this time Sternberger kept thinking that this story sounded familiar to him. He had met a young woman at a party who was from Debrecen and had been to Auschwitz. Her story had so moved him that he took the time to write down her address and her telephone number. So, as he fumbled nervously through his address book, he said to Paskin in what he hoped was a casual voice, “Was your wife’s name Marya?” Paskin said, “Yes. It was.” as his face turned white as a ghost. Sternberger grabbed him by the arm and said, “Come on. Let’s get off the train.”

The two men went to the first pay-phone they could find. Sternberger dialed the number. The phone rang, and rang, and rang. Finally, she answered the phone. Sternberger told her who he was and said they had met at a party. Then he said to her, “Could you describe your husband for me?” She thought it was a strange question, but she described him. Then he said, “What was the address where you and your husband lived in Debrecen?” She gave him the address. He turned to Paskin and said did you and your wife live at such and such an address. He said, “Yes! Yes! How did you know that?!” He said, “Because I am talking to your wife on the telephone……” “Take this phone and talk to your wife.”

Every day we wake up and think it’s going to be just another ride on the subway… just another trip into work. And yet it seems like many of the things that happen in this world are outside of our control. Sometimes you need a guide, someone who can help you where you are. Whoever it is, it really should be someone who cares about you, someone who took the time to write down the address and the telephone number. Thank you for taking the time to read this. If you liked it I hope you will share it with someone. Have a blessed day!

Brady Barron