Judith Kopacsi Gelberger was born and spent her first twenty years in Hungary. She was ten years old at the time of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956, when her until now secure life had been turned upside down. Her father, Sandor Kopacsi, the former Police Chief of Budapest, who sided with the revolution, was arrested by the returning Soviet army and threatened to be executed. Although his life was spared but the consequent repercussions closely influenced Judith’s life.
As the child of a “traitor” she could not get a higher education. This would force her to remain a low-wage worker for the rest of her life.
In 1965, at twenty, she made her way to Canada, where after many years of struggling and recurring nightmares she found love, friendship. With the help of her husband, Peter Gelberger, she fulfilled the impossible dream to reunite with her parents in Canada. He also provided the right atmosphere for Judith to become fully bilingual and encouraged her to write her memoir, titled HEROES DON’T CRY, and her poetry in two languages.
Judith never forgot her background, and besides raising two beautiful and multi-talented children, for many years had been directly involved with multiculturalism in the Region of Peel, and served two years on the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Board, where she could use her experience being refugee herself.
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