The daughter of political refugees from Soviet Hungary and granddaughter of Hungarian Jewish victims of the holocaust, a fact that was withheld from her until adulthood, Kati Marton continues to discover her roots through her writing.I first met her in New York in 1995 on the occasion of the publication ofA Death in Jerusalem in which she discussed the assassination of Folke Bernadotte, the UN emissary to Palestine, by the Stern Organization.
The daughter of political refugees from Soviet Hungary and granddaughter of Hungarian Jewish victims of the holocaust, a fact that was withheld from her until adulthood, Kati Marton continues to discover her roots through her writing.
I first met her in New York in 1995 on the occasion of the publication of A Death in Jerusalem in which she discussed the assassination of Folke Bernadotte, the UN emissary to Palestine, by the Stern Organization.
A second book : The Great Escape Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World delved into that strange alchemy of being Hungarian and Jewish.They are the scientists Leo Szilard, Edward Teller, Eugene Wigner, and John von Neuman; Arthur Koestler, author of Darkness at Noon; Robert Capa, the first photographer ashore on D-Day; Andre Kertesz, pioneer of modern photojournalism; and iconic filmmakers Alexander Korda and Michael Curtiz.
Her latest book Paris: A Love Story is her way of coming to grips with loss and renewal after the sudden death of her husband, diplomat Richard Holbrooke.
TG You open the book with a powerful quote from the poet Joseph Brodsky: “If there is any substitute for love, it is memory. To memorize, then is to restore intimacy.” Did you write the book and look for an appropriate quote or were Brodsky’s words an inspiration?
KM: I wrote the book and then came upon the Brodsky quote by chance, and it was perfect.
TG I was touched by your meeting with your ex-husband Peter Jennings in Central Park when he reveals that he has cancer and the terrible lack of privacy for public figures. With Richard (Holbrooke) you were married to another public figure. Marriage is hard enough when one can retreat to a life separate from one’s work but certainly with Richard you seemed to have found that secret. Please comment
KM My relationship with Richard was a much different one than with Peter. First of all they were very different: Peter insecure, Richard the most secure human being I have ever met. Peter was prone to jealousy, and Richard almost entirely free of that trait. Yes, indeed marriage under the media’s glare is challenging, plus the loss of privacy is a strain on top of the normal challenges of marriage. Because Richard was so “bien dans sa peau,” there was little we couldn’t figure out, talk through and find a way around. Our one rule was never to go to sleep on a disagreement. We talked every single day, wherever he was.
TG Paris has been a significant part of your life as the title states: Paris: A Love Story. When did you first come to Paris?
KM:I arrived as an 18 year old student to the Latin Quarter—on my own for the first time—and of course fell headlong for the city, as generations had before me: for big ideas I was soaking up in the Sorbonne’s Grand Amphi, for the smell of croque monsieurs and roasting chestnuts on every block, for the pearl gray sky that greeted me as I crossed the Seine each morning en route to my art history class at the Louvre. In love with love itself and soon a fellow student at Science Po. Of course I was already in love with the French language, taught to me by a secret police agent masquerading as our baby sitter during my Budapest childhood.
TG When did you realize that it had to be a part of your life
KM: I abandoned Paris and my idyllic student life in haste when my neighborhood—indeed the whole city—was engulfed in tear gas and barricades sprung up infront of the Luxembourg Gardens and my classes were cancelled: the great student uprising of May 1968. I had already experienced an actual, bloody uprising as a little girl in Budapet, so I was shaken by this sudden explosion. But I vowed I would return and live life as a real parisisenne. Ten years later I returned as foreign correspondent covering the Paris exile of the Grand Ayatollah Khomeini.
TG Contrast a Paris dinner party with a New York dinner party.
KM New York dinner parties start earlier, around 7:45, and end promptly at 10:30. New Yorkers are mindful that the next day is a work day, or they have to get up early to get the kids to school or to run in Central Park. There is less drinking in New York, for the same reasons. There is much more discussion of food around Paris parties. There is more talk of politics in New York. People are more personal and open in New York. No topic is off the table—however intimate. I actually love both kinds of socializing as I am half European and can slip into that identity without trouble in Paris.
TG You were in Bonn when the TV movie Holocaust was shown. Discuss the reaction by young Germans.
KM: As I recall in my book, the reaction to the TV movie was explosive. It sparked the first real national conversation about the Holocaust. That conversation has not yet ended. But it was started by an American soap opera. The Germans have been remarkably open and honest in confronting their terrible history.
TG It was only as an adult that you discovered your Jewish roots and since then you have written three books that revolve around Jews: Wallenberg: Missing Hero, A Death in Jerusalem, and The Great Escape: Nine Jews who Escaped Hitler and Changed the World. Peter Jennings even referred to you as his Jewish wife. How has this awareness affected your work and your personal life?
KM It is essential to be in possession of one’s personal history to feel like a full, coherent individual. My parents made a mistake in witholding so much of our past, as a way to “protect” us. Now, after those discoveries, I feel more connected to Europe’s terrible 20th Century: both the Holocaust (through my grandparents) and the Communist period, which cost my parents their freedom. When I write about European history it is through a very personal lens. I like to think this connection gives my books strength and passion.
TG How has Paris affected your work?
KM I love to write in my little pied a terre in the 5th arrondissement. It is my sanctuary, my escape from the hubub of New York. Every day when I finish writing I go for a long cleansing walk. In Paris you come face to face with history on every block. As something of a historian myself, this is of great inspiration for me. And of course the joy of endlessly encountering beauty—both natural and man-made—is extraordinarily inspiring for a writer.
TG How has Paris affected your life?
KM Paris is a place where good things seem to happen to me: first love, self discovery, first marriage, first big break as a journalist, then lasting happiness in middle age when I met and fell in love with Richard Holbrooke. Now after his unexpected death I am finding solace and joy in remembered joy on the streets of my parisian quartier, and as I write in Paris: A Love Story, exploring the city’s endless possibilities, starting new rituals with my children and siblings. Paris is a never ending gift.
