We've all experienced a sense of freedom on a bicycle. As a kid, I remember my bike giving me freedom from the confines of the yard, then the confines of the neighborhood. Now it's just the freedom of being on the road under my own power.
For others, bicycles have provided freedom from oppression.
Take for instance the story of Imre Antal's escape from Hungary, published on today's 50th anniversary of the Hungarian revolution in the UK's Northern Echo. When thousands of Soviet troops invaded the country to squash the uprising in 1956, Antal and three friends escaped to Austria by bicycle.
“It was a frightening ride for all of us. We kept hearing of killings and people being sent to labour camps. But luckily we eventually managed to reach the border. We made contact with the Red Cross, and they eventually took us to safety in Graz.
“From there we were taken to the Austrian Tyrol, where we stayed for six or seven weeks.”
More than 2,500 Hungarians were killed, 13,000 imprisoned and 350 executed.
A more famous bicycle ride to freedom involved H.A. and Margret Rey, the creators of the “Curious George” children's books.
As Jews living in Paris in 1940, they rightfully feared for their lives as the Nazis attacked France. Hans Rey (H.A.) built two bicycles from spare parts and he and his wife rode to Orleans, carrying a few possessions and artwork of Curious George.
They took a train to Bayonne, then bicycled to Biarritz, sold their bikes, and crossed into Spain, eventually making their way to New York City.
Some 76,000 Jews were rounded up and sent to concentration camps; only 2,500 survived. Their story is told in the book “The Journey that Saved Curious George.”
Today the term “bicycle escape” means jumping on a bike for a weekend jaunt from a bed-and-breakfast inn to some area wineries. Half a century ago, it meant something much more dramatic.
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