Wrong Passport

by Ralph Brewster

A story of dodging detection in war-torn Budapest. Originally published in 1954, Wrong Passport is reissued now for the first time by Blue Danube. With extensive notes bringing the context and historic background to life and tracing the subsequent fortunes of Brewster and his friends. ‘This country is like a little island, where the people live so happily, as if nothing was wrong with the world...’ When Ralph Brewster wrote those lines, in the summer of 1943, Hungary’s involvement in WWII was still barely felt in Budapest. Less than a year later the Nazis took over. Born an American but given Italian nationality as a child (the ‘Wrong Passport’ of the title) Brewster refused to return ‘home’ to Italy to fight for Mussolini. Instead he went into hiding in Budapest and his story of life in a country at war, resorting to ever more desperate measures to dodge detection, makes fascinating reading. As Fascists tighten their grip and the Soviets begin their advance, the once-carefree city of coffee houses, concert halls and thermal baths is torn apart and Brewster’s world disintegrates, together with that of his extraordinary cast of the Archimandrite, the art-dealer spy, the cinema impresario, the Jewish philosophy student who refuses to wear the yellow star and the real-life ‘English Patient’.

Originally published in 1954, Wrong Passport is reissued now for the first time by Blue Danube. With extensive notes bringing the context and historic background to life and tracing the subsequent fortunes of Brewster and his friends. 2 Full-Color maps

274 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1954

Reviews

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wrong Passport is the story of a man trying to survive in World War Two Budapest and Hungary, while trying to escape and find sanctuary elsewhere. He must rely on friends and acquaintances for places to sleep, must keep mobile to escape roundups, and must constantly be planning his next move while avoiding the secret police and informers. This is not a dramatic novel, but simply illustrates the constant wear and stress of survival in a world in which you have no place.