By Michael Marsh
But while Revesz was building his career and enjoying his life, conditions in the country were deteriorating. Nicolae Ceausescu’s decision to rapidly industrialize Romania in the late 70s resulted in a massive $11 billion foreign debt. Austerity measures implemented a decade later to pay off that debt caused catastrophic shortages of milk, food, gasoline, and other necessities. Romanians were reduced to using paint thinner or a mixture of methane and gasoline to run their cars. The country couldn’t produce enough electricity for its needs. “You had hot water during the summer because the water pressure was so low,” Revesz says. “You had cold water in the winter. Everything was upside-down.”
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Meanwhile, citizens were told that all was well. Revesz recalls that his first job after college involved creating graphs and charts for the Ceausescu government that illustrated “overinflated data and lies on the ‘remarkable progress of industrialization’ during the ‘most enlightened years of communist Romania under his wise leadership.’” The slogans were part of a “perpetual kissing up that was practiced at all levels and in every media.”
A pale Tokes went to a window and begged people to leave; most refused until they were sure nothing would happen to him that night. Revesz and his wife stayed five hours. “People were so afraid of each other, because they didn’t know which one of them was the secret police, which one of them would carry a hidden camera,” he says. “They didn’t talk to each other; they talked only to the person they came with.” In the following days, government security forces fired on groups of more than three people, killing hundreds. In the ensuing uprising, 50,000 people protested in the streets, and most of the army troops sided with them.
At first the couple found work with James Electronics at Rockwell and Irving Park. He put wire on coils; she soldered. At a company picnic, he entertained coworkers by drawing pictures of them. A company official saw his work and offered him a job illustrating employee manuals. To do the job, he first had to learn how to operate all of the company’s machines. “Thank God I knew English,” says Revesz. He later did freelance work for a guide on corporate transfers to the Chicago area.
“I am not encouraging immigration,” he says. “Only those people who really don’t have a choice should consider immigration. But once they come to this country, I think it is to be expected for the most civilized country in the world to treat these people in a civilized way.
Art accompanying story in printed newspaper (not available in this archive): Laszlo Revesz photo by Paul L. Meredith.
