A Testimony to Moral Courage
FOREWARD
Near the Danube Bridge offers a sweeping saga – at once intimate in its focus on family and on the central figure of the faithful Seventh-day Adventist Kalman – and broad as it offers readers a clear understanding of the chaos and aftermath of WWI, the lived experiences of those whose youth were swallowed up amidst WWII, and what transpires as Europe strives to survive the rise of the Third Reich, to grapple with emerging dystopia in the form of communist Yugoslavia.
Reporting unflinchingly, yet sensitively, on the desperate (yet rich and complicated) lives of individuals forced to navigate the tumult of World War II, the inveterate aftermath of the destruction of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the unleashing of age old feuds both religious and ethnic and the terrible menace of modern eugenics, and rabid communism fueled not by a commitment to the worker, but enforced by fear of death marches, bodies flung from trains, peasants hanged, and men and women of faith “disappeared,” Near the Danube Bridge draws readers into this milieu, unpacking, page after page, the intricately woven lives of three generations of two families — joined by history, by horror, and by faith — and in particular into the world of Kalman and his bride — young people full of promise whose story captures the full gamut of human elation and utter despair, and whose young love spans celebration, imprisonment, torture, near starvation, and the terrible uncertainty of resting in faith — only to become migrants in their own country, across Europe, and only in their later years land safely in America.
It is no small feat to tell a story faithfully that brings forward with nuance an accurate understanding of the role of art in the Slavic psyche, captures the cadence of the languages of Serbo-Croatia, the emotional challenges of ethnic identity in the midst of disintegrating European cultures, and yet remains faithful to the task of walking with us through Kalman’s story. It is the story of everyone who has ever survived war and famine, been made an economic migrant, or sought asylum, or done both at once. Kalman, though an ordinary craftsman and superlative musician, becomes an extraordinary survivor, having rooted his cause in absolute commitment to moral certitude and faith in God as he understood it and faithfully practiced it.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church, a body emerging from the American Millerite movement, never big, but always vital, inviting exploration of rigorous study of scripture, wholesale commitment to vegetarianism, to community, and to self-improvement, remains a thriving religious community — if an outlier compared to mainstream Christianity — in both America and Europe. Its beginnings in Europe, growing in influence after WWI, and the ways it offered a life-changing experience and demanded deep personal commitment and moral courage both foregrounds the many stories and the layers that comprise Kalman’s family tree and his inheritance of faith as well as his own personal conviction — tried by fire and marked by loss.
What is essential to the survival of the mind? What keeps one from madness in the face of extreme torture and preserves a core of humanity, of kindness, of hope and creativity alive in the face of inhuman machinations of governments and merciless military machines? Among the answers offered in the family memories and historic metaphor woven into Near the Danube Bridge are critical answers — music, family, faith, and a rooted sense of self. Also offered —the truly heroic —the commitment to the real in the face of unbridled cruelty and madness.
Anyone familiar with the history of Europe, particularly the tumultuous events of the early 20th century, or the rise of Hitler and Stalin, but also with an understanding of the many languages, folk traditions, and complicated shifting boarders at the center and in the East, will quickly recognize and appreciate the deep research that undergirds the faithful piecing together of this family’s history. What a gift to read the truth about a family — one’s own family — the good and the bad, to see in its tall tales, in cherished anecdotes, collective memories, in jokes and picture albums, the history of the world in the 19th and 20th century — and to know that everyone’s story, every individual who stands in faith and seeks freedom — that person matters! This story matters! This family history is for Kalman’s descendants as well as for us all.
It is a testimony to moral courage. It is a reminder that America has always held the promise of freedom — even as she’s failed in realizing her promise fully from time to time. And it is a history of the mundane in a sense — a history of the daily — a reminder of the stories we all have and which we can clearly see in this tome. It all matters! Kalman matters. His life mattered. His family is not unlike our families, and his story, as offered by this author, becomes a story that invites us all to revisit our roots and to not let ourselves off the hook for not knowing our own history, the histories of our nations and the world.
Kathryn A. Broyles, PhD, MDiv, MA
You can find out more about Dr. Broyles by visiting her LinkIn page.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynabroyles