Document Type

Interview

Publication Date

Spring 2013

Abstract

John Lukacs was born in 1924 in Budapest Hungary. He grew up in a middle class family raised by a Roman Catholic Father, and a Jewish mother. While he received most of his education in Hungary, he went to high school in Great Britain during his teenage years. During the Second World War, he was drafted into a forced labor battalion for much of the war. When German troops occupied Hungary in late 1944, he had to avoid getting sent to death camps by avoiding German patrols. In addition, he had to avoid being caught in the crossfire during the Siege of Budapest in December 1944 when the Soviets slowly pushed the Germans out of the city. After a living under Soviet occupied Budapest for less than a year, he left for the United States in 1946. In the United States, he worked at Chestnut Hill and LaSalle teaching history. Although he taught at both institutions until the 1980s, he preferred writing books and other academic articles not limited to: Winston Churchill, Hitler, the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc, and Pennsylvania history. Even after retirement, he wrote prolifically, publishing many works. He has been married three times and has two children. As of the time of the interview, he had no plans of writing in the foreseeable future. He currently resides in Phoenixville, PA. This interview focuses on his years and work as an educator full-time at Chestnut Hill College and part-time at La Salle College.

Additional Files
lukacs abstract.pdf (57 kB)
Abstract and Log of Interview
Lukacs interview.MP3 (88791 kB)
Audio Recording of Interview
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