My maternal grandfather, József Sztojka, was an architect.
He was hit by a severe stroke in late 1947 I believe, which left him severely disabled. He passed away, institutionalized, after 15 years of progressive illness, before I was born.
But before he fell ill, he worked as a senior architect in the government committees responsible for the post-war reconstruction of Budapest, a city that suffered massive damage during a relentless two-month siege in 1944-45.
Unfortunately, I know very little about his efforts.
But recently, I found a book, published in 1987, which contained selected writings from this period of reconstruction. Much to my surprise, two documents are from my grandfather. Both are from late 1945 (in Hungarian):
- Report by József Sztojka during a sitting of the National Construction Council about the state of the labor supply and construction materials shipments
- From a talk by József Sztojka, advisor to the Minister of Reconstruction, about the oversight related to the solution of reconstruction tasks
I am sure that these two documents have very little significance in the big scheme of things, but they are meaningful to me, as they offer a tiny glimpse into what kept my grandfather busy in those hectic months following a terrible winter of total war.
