Peter Gorog

Peter Gorog was born Péter Grünwald in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, on March 10, 1941. Peter’s father, Árpád Grünwald, worked as an office manager at the Franklin Publishing House. His mother, Olga Schönfeld, was a hat-maker.

The persecution of Hungarian Jews began with the 1920 Numerus Clausus Act. This Act restricted the number of Jews who could be admitted to higher education. Árpád, who aspired to be a lawyer, could not study law under the discriminatory quota system.

In the 1930s, Hungary’s authoritarian government pushed the country into close alignment with Nazi Germany. World War II began when Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. In 1940, Hungary allied itself with Nazi Germany and joined the Axis powers. 

The Hungarian government enacted increasingly oppressive antisemitic laws and policies. These policies included the creation of forced labor battalions and labor camps. In August 1940, Árpád was conscripted into a forced labor battalion. The Hungarian government considered him and thousands of other Jewish men undesirable for armed service. He had to leave Olga, who was pregnant with Peter, for months at a time. Árpád was home for Peter’s birth in March 1941. After Peter’s birth, Árpád was only able to see him on brief visits home. Following his visit in March 1942, the Hungarian government sent Árpád to occupied Ukraine with a labor battalion. He was given little food or clothing during the harsh winter. Árpád was reported missing by the Red Cross in January 1943. Olga was later told that Árpád was left behind when Hungarian forces were retreating from the advancing Soviet troops. Árpád presumably froze to death.

Olga supported the family through income from her hat-making. She was eventually forced out of the apartment, which also served as her millinery shop. German forces invaded Hungary in March 1944. The Hungarian government ordered the Jews of Budapest to move into a “csillagos ház,” meaning “a house marked with a yellow Star of David.” Olga and Peter, carrying only one suitcase of clothing and valuables, found refuge with a distant family member who had converted from Judaism to Christianity.

In October 1944, the Arrow Cross party gained control of the Hungarian government. They began a reign of terror against the Jews in Budapest. The Hungarian authorities arrested Olga. They took her to the Mosonyi Street Jail. She was released after three weeks, and the family moved into an internationally protected apartment. Then in late 1944, on Arrow Cross orders, Olga and Peter moved to the Budapest ghetto. They lived near Peter’s grandparents, two aunts and a cousin. They spent most of their time in the basement during the frequent Allied air raids. After weeks of fierce fighting, the Soviet Army liberated the Budapest ghetto in January 1945. Olga and Peter made trips to the countryside to barter her jewelry for food. Despite their efforts to feed the family, a few months after liberation, Peter’s grandparents died of illnesses made worse by malnutrition and lack of medical care.

Peter grew up in Communist Hungary. In 1962, he changed his family name from Grünwald to Gorog for fear of antisemitic discrimination. He earned a Master of Science in electrical engineering. He later participated in the design of the first Hungarian-made computer. He defected to the United States in 1980, where he worked on various NASA projects, such as Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), Land Satellites (LANDSAT), the Hubble Telescope, and the James Webb Space Telescope. Peter retired in 2014. He and his wife have five daughters. Peter is a volunteer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.