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00:00Every family has its secrets.
00:12Locked away behind our front doors are the pasts, the buried scandals, and the life-changing
00:18decisions that have shaped our families and our nation.
00:23The conclusion I've always had is that my father is responsible for mother's death.
00:27I've been told that I was connected to the royal family through my father and through
00:32the Prince of Wales.
00:33The Mafia, maybe my grandfather had a bigger part to play than I thought.
00:38My brother, he just disappeared, he was gone.
00:42My dad said to us, if you dishonour me, I will take your life.
00:46This is a photo of your dad.
00:48I'm just blown away.
00:51Every Family Has a Secret uncovers the extraordinary stories behind our everyday lives.
00:56This time, two Australians are searching for the truth about their fathers.
01:01My dad was a major in the Hungarian army.
01:04Peter Eden grew up hearing of his dad's amazing exploits during the Second World War.
01:09According to him, he had been awarded this medal.
01:12By the Nazis.
01:13By the Nazis.
01:14But were the epic stories he told hiding much darker secrets.
01:18All of a sudden, it just hit me that one of those people looked like my father.
01:23And adoptee, Derek Pedley, interrogates the past of his biological mother.
01:27I got my original birth certificate.
01:29This is where I first saw my mother's name.
01:31Hoping it can help to find his father.
01:34Chas.
01:35Please.
01:36Good chance being father.
01:51My brother and I grew up around weapons.
01:53My father was a very, very good shot.
01:56At one point, he had 77 rifles.
02:01My dad was a major in the Hungarian army.
02:05He told us that if he gave a command
02:07and that soldier even questioned the command,
02:10he would have no hesitation and shoot him on the spot.
02:15Peter Eden's olive farm in South Australia is named Garden of Eden.
02:20It's a far cry from his childhood home,
02:22where he's fathered with absolute authority.
02:25My dad was a man of extremes.
02:28On one hand, he was an extremely loving father and husband.
02:32He also had a temper.
02:34His anger would be such that he would just totally lose it.
02:38He said to us, if you dishonour me, I will take your life.
02:44We asked questions about his past, but he wouldn't tell us.
02:49Peter Eden's father, Ashia Topchagich,
02:52came to Australia as a refugee in 1950,
02:55later changing his name to Alex Eden.
02:58But Peter thinks that his father's departure from Europe
03:01may also have been an escape from justice,
03:03with suspicions that he'd been involved in espionage,
03:07extreme politics and anti-Semitic activities.
03:10Who was Peter's father?
03:11And what secrets was he hiding?
03:15Hello?
03:17Peter?
03:18Hi, Noni, how are you?
03:19Well, please, would you like to come in?
03:20Thanks.
03:20Have a seat.
03:21Lots of interesting stuff to look at.
03:24So, Peter, this adventure's been a long time coming to you,
03:27trying to find out about your dad's past.
03:29Yes.
03:30What is it that you hope to find?
03:33I'm hoping to understand him better.
03:37He and I had a real love-hate relationship.
03:40My life was about wanting to make him proud
03:43and wanting to be as good as him.
03:46He died in 1992,
03:48and I felt that I failed him in many ways.
03:51So this is dead.
03:52It's quite stern.
03:54Yes, he was quite a tough man.
03:55His word was his bond.
03:57And tell the truth was probably the worst he could do.
04:02Truth and honest were paramount.
04:04Let's talk about his life when he came to Australia as a refugee.
04:09How did he build his life here with your mum?
04:11They had only known each other six months before he came to Australia
04:16and then asked her to join and marry him.
04:20This is their wedding day.
04:21She arrived on the 1st of November, 1950,
04:24and on the 3rd of November, they married.
04:26Two days after she arrived?
04:28Yes.
04:28Wow.
04:29She gave up everything
04:31and came to a country that she didn't know the language.
04:34So she couldn't speak any English?
04:36Oh, she couldn't speak English at all.
04:37My father spoke some languages.
04:39He spoke Russian, Yugoslav, Turkish, Italian, German, Bosnian.
04:46Wow.
04:47So you say you had a love-hate relationship with your dad?
04:50Yes, he had a lot of temper.
04:52Just the smallest things at times could set him off.
04:56My mother did get beatings
04:58and I could never understand how a person could do that to somebody they loved.
05:03And then for one time, I finished up with a screwdriver stuck in the back of my head
05:06because he'd throw the screwdriver like a knife
05:09and I ducked down and as I ducked, it stuck in the back of my head.
05:13So in light of this volatility,
05:17was it that that started you wondering about what kinds of activities
05:20he'd been involved with during the war?
05:23Definitely, yes.
05:25If you've been through traumatic situations like a war,
05:29you can become numb, causing pain on others.
05:33So his war experiences sound like they were many and varied.
05:37Oh, absolutely.
05:38He was a major in the Hungarian army
05:40and he had seven soldiers appointed to him.
05:45Their job was to sneak across the Russian border,
05:50blow up a bridge or things along those lines.
05:53He flew aircraft and he worked in an aircraft factory.
05:57And these medals, were these your dads?
05:59I'm not 100% sure of which are real, if any.
06:03The one that had us mostly was this one,
06:06the Iron Cross with Oakleaf and Cross Swords.
06:10This is not a genuine article.
06:12He's obviously purchased it.
06:14And he said that these were the medals that I had,
06:17but I couldn't bring with me.
06:19So according to him, he had been awarded this medal
06:22for a high level of heroism.
06:26By the Nazis?
06:27By the Nazis.
06:28So what other activities did he say that he was part of
06:31during the war years?
06:32I know that he was imprisoned by the Russians,
06:37which was about 1946.
06:39He told us that because he spoke Russian,
06:42he started playing chess with a very famous Russian general
06:46by the name of Malinovsky.
06:48And Rodion Malinovsky released him because of that friendship.
06:53But Malinovsky said to him,
06:55if we catch you again, we'll hang you.
06:58Wow.
06:59Well, look, let's go back.
07:00What do you know about your dad's early life?
07:02And where he came from?
07:03The difficulty has been that I've got varied information about his background.
07:09This is actually my father's birth certificate,
07:12which states that he was born in Budapest, 5th of February 1925.
07:16But that would make him shift in 1940,
07:19which clearly he couldn't have been.
07:22Well, that's exactly right.
07:23Because he told us his birth certificate was not real.
07:29What I believe may have happened is he was born possibly in Sarajevo in 1919.
07:37And then when he was about five or six years old,
07:40his father moved to Budapest and they did a Hungarian birth certificate
07:44so that he'd be a Hungarian citizen.
07:46In terms of age, if you look at 1919, then it fits together.
07:52That makes more sense.
07:53So this is extraordinary things to have done before you're 30.
07:58Absolutely.
07:59So does it occur to you that some of these things might be fanciful?
08:04Yes.
08:05Right.
08:05I'm questioning whether my father had been completely honest.
08:08Given that potentially things could be uncovered that are deeply unpleasant.
08:14Whatever comes out, I'm prepared for it.
08:17In the 30 years since his father's death,
08:20Peter has never stopped searching for the truth about his seemingly extraordinary life.
08:25But that research has led to a disturbing discovery.
08:29One day, I came across a photograph of a group of men
08:33being forced to view the exhaustion of bodies.
08:37They were part of a group in Hungary called the Arrow Cross.
08:41It was a political movement who were affiliated with the German Nazis.
08:46And all of a sudden, it just hit me that one of those people on there
08:50looked like my father.
08:52And I started doing some comparisons with some other folks that I had.
08:56I'm almost 100% certain that this photo is of my father.
09:00And looking at that, I believed that my father was part of Arrow Cross.
09:08To find out if it's possible,
09:10and if his father could be the man in the massacre photograph,
09:14Peter has sought out Sid-based Professor of History, Ruth Ballant.
09:18Hello, Ruth.
09:19It's Mr. Peter.
09:21Ruth's Jewish sisters were living in Bud-est through these dangerous times.
09:25The Arrow Cross was a party
09:27of fairly explicitly on the German Nazi Party.
09:31And in 1939, at the general elections,
09:35it actually got a quarter of the votes
09:37of the Hungarian population.
09:39So this wasn't a really peripheral party,
09:43despite its extremist views.
09:47With the outbreak of World War II,
09:49the government of Hungary allied itself with Germany.
09:53And as the Nazis redrew Europe's borders,
09:55Hungary took back some of the territories it had lost after World War I.
10:00But as the tide of the war turned,
10:02and tens of thousands of its soldiers were lost,
10:05fighting Hitler's votes,
10:06Hungary tried to back out of the German alliance.
10:09This force was not acceptable to Hitler,
10:12and in March 1944,
10:14Germany invaded Hungary,
10:16toppling the government,
10:17and handing power to the fascist,
10:19anti-Semitic Arrow Cross Party.
10:22A reign of terror followed.
10:24Within one night of the Arrow Cross taking part,
10:27gangs of youths roam the streets of Budapest
10:32to assault Jewish people at will.
10:34Hundreds of killed on that first night alone.
10:37The Arrow Cross attacked the Marosh Street Hospital.
10:42They hunted staff members.
10:44They took the survivors out in the street
10:47and made them dig their own grave before they were shot.
10:52The photograph that you are talking about
10:54is one that members of the Arrow Cross
10:57who are believed to be responsible for this atrocity
11:00are made to line up in front of exhumed boys.
11:03Oh, oh my God.
11:07That's a take-in.
11:09I knew that he was anti-Semitic,
11:11but if somebody had said to me,
11:13would this be a person that would be
11:15taking Jews out on the street and shooting them,
11:19I would not have said that.
11:21It was our understanding that his greatest fear
11:25was the Russians fighting him.
11:27But from now saying,
11:29it's possible that he also needed to
11:32keep very lucky
11:34from possible
11:36war crimes.
11:39It's a possibility.
11:41I also think,
11:42Peter, we still need to determine
11:44whether the man in the photograph
11:46is indeed your father.
11:48Yes, absolutely.
11:48I am going to try
11:51to make a positive identification
11:52by check records in Hungary.
11:55Thank you very much.
11:59It's one thing to take life
12:01in a war
12:03where people are shooting at each other
12:05through trenches.
12:06It's another thing
12:07to march people out onto a street,
12:11dig the grave, and shoot them.
12:13That's going to be a lot
12:15for me to cope with.
12:16I know that.
12:16Having grown up believing
12:18his father was a war hero,
12:21Peter now faces the possibility
12:22his dad was, in truth,
12:24a war criminal.
12:31In Perth,
12:32journalist Derek Pedley
12:34is also searching
12:35the truth about his father.
12:37Origins is an incredibly important thing
12:39to adoptees because
12:40we don't get one,
12:41or the one that we're given
12:42isn't the truth.
12:44I've really tried
12:45to stop myself thinking
12:46about my father too much
12:47because I figured
12:49it doesn't serve me
12:50at all
12:51to wonder about
12:51someone I'm never going
12:52to be able to track down.
12:54I'm almost 50 now
12:55and I have a natural curiosity.
12:57It's one of the reasons
12:58I became a journalist.
12:59And this is the most important story
13:01in my life.
13:03It's my story.
13:06Newspaper journalist
13:07and author Derek Pedley
13:09was born in 1972
13:11and he grew up
13:11in regional Western Australia.
13:13At the age of 15,
13:15while rifling for loose change
13:17in his parents' bedroom,
13:18he stumbled on a secret
13:19that would send his whole life
13:21spinning out of orbit.
13:22It was the beginning
13:23of a difficult,
13:24emotional,
13:25and ongoing search
13:26to find his place
13:27in the world.
13:30Derek.
13:30Hi, Noni.
13:31G'day.
13:31How are you going?
13:32I'm good.
13:32Nice to meet you.
13:33You too.
13:33Please come in.
13:34Thank you very much.
13:37Derek,
13:37you made a pretty remarkable
13:39discovery when you were
13:40a young teenager.
13:41Can you tell me about that?
13:43I was looking through
13:43mum and dad's bedroom
13:44and I came across
13:46an envelope.
13:48So,
13:48I've opened it up
13:51and
13:52the first thing
13:54that I've seen
13:54is that
13:55it was a matter
13:55in the adoption
13:57of Abraham Simon Madison
13:58and my first thought
14:00on that poor boy.
14:02I thought Abraham
14:02was a pretty heavy duty name
14:04to give a boy
14:05in the 20th century.
14:08I turned it over
14:09and started reading
14:10and there's mum and dad's name.
14:12It says,
14:13for an order of adoption
14:13of Abraham Simon Madison
14:15born on the 3rd of May 1972
14:17at Subiaco
14:18and I've gone,
14:20I was born on May 3,
14:2172 and Subiaco too.
14:24And it was then
14:24that I've read
14:25that the child
14:25shall hereafter
14:26be known
14:27as Derek John Pedley.
14:29And I just
14:29sat there
14:30and sat there
14:31and sat there
14:31staring at that name
14:32and it changed
14:33everything for me.
14:35So,
14:36did you raise this
14:37with your adoptive parents
14:38at the time
14:39or did you bury it?
14:40I buried it.
14:40Just the word adoption,
14:42it was like a,
14:43it stung me
14:44just hearing the word
14:45out loud.
14:46It would make me
14:46get very strange.
14:48So,
14:49at what point
14:49did you contemplate
14:50tracing your birth parents?
14:52Well,
14:53at seven,
14:53you know,
14:53I got a cadetship
14:54in journalism
14:56at the West Australian
14:56and moved to Perth.
14:58I got to learn
14:59the basics of journalism,
15:01including drinking
15:02and started to learn
15:04how to drink
15:05pretty seriously.
15:06I was deeply depressed
15:07so I started seeing
15:08a psychologist.
15:08He said,
15:09you need to find out
15:10your family medical history.
15:11So,
15:12that's when I began
15:12the process.
15:13And what did you discover?
15:14So,
15:15I got my original
15:15birth certificate.
15:17The most important thing,
15:18of course,
15:18is this is where
15:19I first saw my mother's
15:20name written down
15:20and it's
15:21this Patricia Madison.
15:24So,
15:25I registered
15:25with adoption
15:26Jigsaw in Perth.
15:27A couple of weeks
15:28after I gave them
15:30my details,
15:31Jigsaw had rung me
15:32and said,
15:32we found your mother,
15:33Joyce Paterson,
15:34who lives
15:34in the Northern Territory
15:36and she can't wait
15:37to speak to you.
15:38And I just felt
15:39that she was so,
15:40obviously so keen
15:41to meet me.
15:42So,
15:42I fly to Darwin,
15:43I go down
15:44and I stand
15:44on the Esplanade
15:45and I see
15:46a woman walk
15:47towards me
15:47and she held
15:49out her hand.
15:50I shake my hand
15:51and I just
15:51hugged her.
15:53And my memories
15:55of that time
15:55are pretty hazy
15:56because of all
15:56the alcohol
15:57but I remember
15:59that moment.
15:59I won't forget
16:00that moment.
16:01You have some
16:02photos of her?
16:02I do have some
16:03photos.
16:03This is my mother
16:04in,
16:05that's 1971.
16:07A redhead.
16:08So that's the month
16:09before I was conceived.
16:10What had she told you
16:11about the circumstances
16:12of your birth?
16:13She couldn't tell me
16:14anything about my father.
16:15She sort of gave
16:16the general impression
16:17that it was
16:17a one night stand
16:18and that was as close
16:20as she got
16:21to revealing
16:22anything to me.
16:23So,
16:25you kept this
16:26relationship going
16:27with your birth mum?
16:28I did.
16:29I was in contact
16:30with her
16:30but I spoke downwards.
16:31I was hard
16:32bloody work,
16:32lonely because
16:33I was just
16:34so messed up.
16:35I was drinking
16:35a lot.
16:36I kept doing
16:37really silly things.
16:38She went from
16:39unconditional love
16:41to I can't help you
16:42this is too hard
16:42in the space
16:44of about a year.
16:45She pretty much
16:45decided that she
16:46was done with me.
16:47So,
16:48there was an
16:49estrangement
16:49in other words
16:50between you
16:50and your birth mother?
16:522004
16:53was the last
16:54communication
16:55I ever had
16:55with my mother.
16:57What happened
16:57to her?
16:57In June 2013
16:59my phone rang
17:00and she said
17:03you don't know me
17:03but I have to
17:05tell you Joy's dead
17:06and that's it
17:06any hope
17:07that I had
17:08for reconciliation
17:09with her.
17:10Around about the
17:11same time
17:11Joy's best friend
17:12Faye contacted me
17:13I've got this
17:15letter here
17:15that your mother
17:16wrote
17:16I was going
17:17to send it
17:18to you
17:18when she died
17:19but I was
17:20a bit worried
17:20that you might
17:21destroy it.
17:22She sent this
17:22letter in
17:23April May 1972
17:25as she's
17:25laying in bed
17:27in hospital
17:29postpartum
17:30and just before.
17:32So this is the
17:32letter
17:33in it she's
17:34speaking to me
17:35and to God
17:35I'm sitting here
17:36just waiting for them
17:37to tell me
17:37I can see Abraham
17:38I want to keep him
17:39so badly
17:40but I don't know
17:41if it's the right
17:41thing to do
17:42even though I feel
17:44fat and frightened
17:45what more can I
17:46say son
17:46only that I love
17:47you so much
17:48it hurts
17:48and fills me
17:49with sadness
17:50help me my son
17:51help me
17:52and I read this
17:54letter
17:54and I knew
17:55instantly
17:55and it's the
17:58first inkling
17:59I had of
18:00understanding it
18:01all I suppose.
18:02So Derek
18:03what do you
18:04want the next
18:05stage to be
18:06where do you
18:07want to go
18:08with all of this?
18:08There was a
18:09particular line
18:10in the letter
18:10I think I should
18:11tell you something
18:12about your father
18:12this is very sad
18:15because I didn't
18:15love him in the way
18:16that I should have
18:17but after all
18:18he is your father
18:18he doesn't even know
18:20that he has a son
18:21I would love to know
18:22who my father is
18:23that's the one thing
18:24that I was never
18:25ever going to get
18:26to find out
18:26so I would like to know
18:28I would like to know
18:29where this has come from
18:30it's been broken
18:31a few times
18:32but I want to know
18:34my history
18:35without a name
18:39or an accurate
18:40description
18:40Derek's best hope
18:41of tracking down
18:42may be through
18:43genetics
18:44but while he awaits
18:46his DNA results
18:48Derek's meeting
18:49just best friend
18:50hoping she can
18:51provide some clues
18:52to his dad's
18:53identity
18:53Faye Alexander
18:55knew joy
18:55from the early
18:5670s
18:57when they were
18:58both poor
18:58waitresses
18:59living in
18:59share houses
19:00and cheap meals
19:01and op shops
19:02were the order of day
19:03so Faye
19:04how did you enjoy
19:05meat?
19:06so we met
19:07when she came over
19:08to visit
19:09at a house
19:09that I was living in
19:11and
19:12immediately
19:14liked her
19:15she had a good
19:16feeling about her
19:17that was probably
19:18only about
19:19six months
19:20after she
19:21had given you up
19:23but now
19:24when I look back
19:25on that
19:25I can see that
19:26she was a
19:27troubled person
19:28it was
19:29late
19:30since foo
19:31I think
19:31yeah
19:31that was the start
19:33of a lifelong
19:33friendship
19:34with joy
19:34yes
19:34yes
19:35pretty much
19:36so we
19:36we always
19:37kept in touch
19:38I have some
19:39photos I'd like
19:40to show you
19:40oh good
19:41this is a
19:43fascinating picture
19:44for me
19:44because joy
19:45is pregnant
19:45in this picture
19:46so you're there
19:48I am
19:48and she's with
19:50a tall
19:51thin man
19:53whose identity
19:54at least to me
19:56remains unknown
19:57yes
19:57well it's certainly
19:58unknown to me
19:59as well
20:00but who knows
20:03it could well
20:04be your father
20:05so when you
20:06were living
20:06together
20:07did you get
20:08any kind
20:09of hint
20:09at all
20:10from joy
20:10of what
20:12had occurred
20:13no
20:14nothing
20:14she never
20:15let on
20:16that she
20:16just had
20:17a child
20:17and when
20:18joy finally
20:19did tell you
20:19of my existence
20:20did she
20:21tell you
20:22anything at
20:23all about
20:23my father
20:23no
20:25only that
20:25she wasn't
20:26going to
20:26tell me
20:26what it was
20:27yes
20:27but joy
20:29did entrust
20:29Faye
20:30to the
20:30keeper of
20:31her most
20:31personal
20:31possessions
20:32maybe you
20:33will be able
20:34to find
20:34something
20:35in these
20:36diaries
20:37which I
20:37don't know
20:38if you've
20:38seen
20:38no
20:39there could be
20:41some clues
20:42in there
20:42fantastic
20:43wow
20:44the idea
20:49that Faye
20:49came into
20:50joy's life
20:51just after
20:52she had to
20:53surrender
20:53me
20:53really is
20:54comforting
20:55because they
20:55became
20:56lifelong friends
20:57but I don't
20:58know how you
20:59can have such
20:59a close
21:00friendship
21:00and not
21:02conf
21:02your deepest
21:03secret
21:04I think
21:05the things
21:06that she
21:06kept locked
21:07away in her
21:07head
21:07she committed
21:09them to
21:09paper instead
21:10and I can't
21:11help but
21:11think
21:12could these
21:12diaries
21:13contain clues
21:14to my
21:14father's
21:14identity
21:15in
21:20Perth
21:20Derek
21:20is hoping
21:21his diaries
21:23written during
21:23the years
21:24following his
21:24birth
21:25will reveal
21:26the truth
21:26about his
21:27conception
21:27the diaries
21:29are from
21:301972 and
21:3173
21:31and there
21:33could be
21:33clues
21:34perhaps
21:35to my
21:35father's
21:36identity
21:36but
21:36that
21:371971
21:38diary
21:38makes me
21:39think
21:39she
21:39started
21:40writing
21:41in the
21:41diaries
21:42after she
21:43surrendered
21:44me
21:44as a
21:44way
21:45perhaps
21:45of
21:45coping
21:47with
21:47what
21:48she'd
21:48been
21:48through
21:48a little
21:50black
21:50book
21:51the
21:52initials
21:52of
21:52Joy's
21:53name
21:53is
21:53Trisha
21:54Addison
21:54Abraham
21:55Simon
21:56Madison
21:56it's
21:57good to
21:58know
21:58that she
21:58was
21:58thinking
21:58about
21:59me
21:59Chaz
22:00Chaz
22:02Joy
22:04never told
22:04me about
22:04any of
22:05the
22:05relationships
22:05that
22:06she
22:06had
22:06with
22:07men
22:07I
22:08know
22:08there
22:08is
22:08no
22:09chance
22:09of
22:09getting
22:09it
22:10together
22:10again
22:10with
22:10him
22:11but
22:11I
22:11allow
22:11myself
22:12to
22:12dream
22:12well
22:14it
22:15seems
22:15like
22:15she
22:15loves
22:15this
22:16guy
22:16Chaz
22:17deeply
22:17but
22:17she's
22:18really
22:18struggling
22:19with
22:19it
22:19it
22:20sounds
22:20not
22:20not
22:20together
22:21anymore
22:21so
22:22this
22:22is
22:22October
22:2373
22:24so
22:25it's
22:25about
22:2518
22:26months
22:26or
22:26so
22:26since
22:27I
22:27was
22:27born
22:28Chaz
22:29I
22:30don't
22:31want
22:31to
22:31love
22:31the
22:31guy
22:31in
22:32the
22:32way
22:32I
22:32do
22:32oh
22:34shit
22:35that
22:37that
22:37line
22:38is
22:38what
22:38Joy
22:39wrote
22:39in
22:39the
22:39letter
22:40because
22:40I
22:40don't
22:41want
22:41to
22:41love
22:41the
22:41guy
22:41the
22:42way
22:42I
22:42do
22:43and
22:43in
22:44her
22:4472
22:44letter
22:45to
22:45me
22:45she
22:45wrote
22:46I
22:47didn't
22:47love
22:47your
22:48f**k
22:48watch
22:49wow
22:50that
22:53that
22:53occurred
22:54to
22:54me
22:54chaz
22:56could
22:56chaz
22:57be
22:57my
22:57father
22:57in
23:03Adelaide
23:03Peter
23:04Eden
23:04is
23:04seeking
23:05the
23:05truth
23:05about
23:06his
23:06father
23:06Alex's
23:07wartime
23:07activities
23:08in
23:08Hungary
23:09he
23:11fears
23:11that
23:11intense
23:12nationalism
23:13and
23:13anti-semitic
23:14views
23:14could
23:15have
23:15led
23:15his
23:15father
23:15to
23:16commit
23:16war
23:16crimes
23:17but
23:18where
23:19had
23:19these
23:19extremist
23:20views
23:20taken
23:20my
23:22father's
23:22father
23:23named
23:23Mujaga
23:24Topchigic
23:25they were
23:26very
23:26close
23:27and I
23:27think
23:27a lot
23:28of
23:28my
23:28father's
23:29beliefs
23:29would have
23:30come
23:30from
23:30Mujaga
23:31and
23:32from
23:32the
23:32people
23:32around
23:33him
23:33hi
23:34I'm
23:34Peter
23:34I'm
23:35Jan
23:35good to
23:36meet
23:36you
23:36Professor
23:37of
23:37European
23:38history
23:38Jan
23:39Lacek
23:39has
23:40looked
23:40into
23:40the
23:40environment
23:41in
23:41which
23:41Peter's
23:41father
23:42was
23:42raised
23:43so
23:43Peter
23:43I
23:43know
23:44that
23:44you
23:45are
23:45interested
23:45in
23:46history
23:46of
23:46your
23:46father
23:47yes
23:47but
23:48also
23:48wanted
23:49to
23:49talk
23:49to
23:49you
23:49a bit
23:50about
23:50your
23:50grandfather
23:51so
23:51we
23:52know
23:53that
23:53he
23:53ran
23:53several
23:54cafes
23:54or bars
23:55in
23:55Budapest
23:56sometimes
23:57he was
23:57successful
23:57sometimes
23:58less
23:58successful
23:59yes
23:59we
24:00have
24:00a
24:01document
24:01which
24:02is
24:02from
24:031925
24:05oh
24:05ok
24:061925
24:07Mujaga
24:08Topchigic
24:09wearing
24:09a tattered
24:10pullover
24:11he greets
24:11me
24:11with
24:12steaming
24:12black
24:12coffee
24:13in
24:13the
24:13meantime
24:14the
24:14door
24:14constantly
24:15opens
24:16young
24:16men
24:16keep
24:17entering
24:17the
24:18well
24:18known
24:18pins
24:19on
24:19their
24:19coat
24:19lapel
24:20the
24:21well
24:22known
24:22pins
24:22on
24:22their
24:23coat
24:23lapel
24:23the
24:24pin
24:24it was
24:25a
24:25sign
24:26of
24:26one
24:26radical
24:27Hungarian
24:28group
24:29called
24:29Association
24:30of
24:31Awakening
24:31Hungarians
24:32men
24:33they
24:33they
24:33were
24:33very
24:33strong
24:34anti
24:35Jewish
24:35and
24:36they
24:37regularly
24:38met
24:38in
24:39your
24:39grandfather's
24:40pub
24:41really
24:42yeah
24:43so that was a precursor to the Arrow cross
24:45yes
24:46so there's another document i i would like to show to you it's from newspaper
24:53oh this is okay we're looking at 1923 the first of august a group of policemen with revolvers drawn into arrest whose proprietor is
25:06so we know that some members of the awakening were preparing bomb plots or terror attacks on
25:36the synagogue in budapest wow with some people being killed during the attacks
25:42that is that that's some amazing information i guess it's also helping explain
25:48where my father was going because you know when he had these influences going on around him through his father
25:55then obviously that had to pass down
25:58the journey so far regarding my father has now even strengthened my thoughts about him being
26:08involved with arrow cross that seemed to fit with his character and with what i knew of the background
26:16the part that i'm having difficulty admit is the level of anti-semitism
26:22um i do understand arrow cross were quite strongly anti-semitic
26:27and i would never have considered my father
26:31to be violently anti-semitic
26:34as a displaced person peter's father a shitopchigich arrived in australia in 1950
26:40reinventing himself as alex eden
26:43but what secrets had he left behind
26:45the person getting off the ship in 1950 been someone looking for a new start any criminal activity
26:53murders or genocide he wanted to leave that well behind him so i think it was very much about
27:00remaining incognito and hoping he's not found peter has come to sydney to meet intelligence expert
27:08dr john faye who's been looking into the claims peter's father made about his military career and other
27:14wartime exploits well i suppose the starting point really is this document here this is the information
27:20provided to these authorities in order to enter australia date of birth for the second 1925 okay
27:28languages english slight german russian nil as far as i'm aware um he spoke seven languages and russian
27:38was one of those well this is he's provided so there's an element there that
27:44doesn't quite ring true um now this is his employment history that he provided to the australian
27:50authorities that covers his period from 1933 through to uh november 49 so i can see a student then an
28:00apprentice locksmith i was aware that he was an instrument inspector so that they all make makes
28:07this and also doing aircraft repairs in a um airframe factory but no mention of his military career
28:15correct there's a couple of problems with the military career because he doesn't appear in any of the
28:21documentation for graduates of um air office training establishments and for a young man to reach the
28:28rank of major um when he's been working in a factory till 1944 44 it's just implausible there's no
28:36way he could ever have been a major in the hungarian army the claims of having flown aircraft they
28:42don't let just anybody fly an aircraft you have to be a fully qualified pilot that takes time yeah i i
28:48did question that yeah um at times but we were also under the belief our father was partisan type
28:56activities going into russian areas and blowing bridges and um causing havoc um has there been anything
29:06nothing no nothing so i would discount all talk of guerrilla warfare operating in that environment
29:14in 1945 was the death sentence and look about the medals the jettles they get awarded uh with the
29:21approval of the hungarian government and that would have all been on record and none of that exists
29:25so we can also remove the medals from the story as well right my understanding is
29:31that he had been imprisoned by the russians from 46 to 47 there's no mention of that
29:40in this document he had said that he was a guest of general malinovsky
29:45and that he played chess with malinovsky and malinovsky released him in 47.
29:49well look what we've got here is uh a letter from the daughter of malinovsky
29:54that's the original uh cyrillic um and that's the translation of that in response to you i can
30:03say one unfortunately the name of the man whose military career interests you i've never heard from
30:08my father i've not seen this name in the documents of my archives either from february to june 1945 my
30:15father was at the front and at the end of this period my father was in moscow where he was preparing for
30:20the war with japan so when we look at somebody like malinovsky there is no way that a uh with an
30:28unknown individual the idea of playing chess with a member of an enemy nation is is is a story it's
30:36not a story that i believe well that's fair enough things are built up over time and look these things
30:41get embellished and they get embellished and they get embellished if we go back to your father and he
30:46they we've got this article here after the worship the youngest member of the congregation
30:54asia topchagic age 10 recited a poem okay so that's 1924 so that looks at him being born in 1925
31:04correct and this is his school report oh this is new
31:08okay so we have a student from 33 to 39 uh if he was born in 1925 um then that would have made him
31:23what 14 when he finished school so uh what all of this really establishes is we've got him admitting
31:31to the australian officials that he was born in 1925 yes we've got independent newspaper reporting
31:37telling us that he's 10 in 1934 and then we have a school report again supporting the 1925
31:44birthday not the 1919 birth date okay which means in 1944 he was 20 years of age you know what you're
31:51saying makes a lot of sense um you know a lot of things don't fit now that i've seen all of those
31:56dates there's there's a lot obviously that i will need to take it um through uh but it certainly um
32:05comes a long way to helping us on on this journey
32:13i'm disappointed that he felt the need to exaggerate his life i didn't need those stories
32:20this journey is certainly unfolding in very strange directions i had not anticipated to have quite so many
32:28things that he had spoken about being torn away there's no question i will see them differently
32:34so i've got i've got a lot of thinking to do the lies peter's father had told were shocking but were
32:41the troops hiding more terrible still journalist derek peddler is on the road hoping to discover the
32:49identity of his biological father today i'm going to get the results of my dna test my dream outcome
32:57would be finding out who my father is and what became of him i named chas to work on at the
33:04moment what happens today could change my life hi derek how are you come on it's nice to have you here
33:14after analyzing his dna results historian professor deborah gare has pieced derek's family story
33:20together the first need to know is that um the dna test was matched against the and i'm excited to
33:28tell you that we've been able to find your two pairs of great grandparents oh wow
33:33so francis culsell and his wife margaret evelyn rowe we also know about your other great grandparents
33:40on your paternal line these are the mccarthys so this is where it gets really interesting right
33:47what it isn't already so you've got your two great grandparents here and you can see that they
33:53had nine children but there's two out of these siblings here that we want to follow as well these two
34:00here now if i pop those side by side these two families became close from the marriage so you
34:10had a brother and a sister from the celsels marry a brother and a sister from the mccarthys right and
34:16it's their children that we're tracing in trying to defeat your father is when you see the family of
34:23all the children of these two marriages so you see here francis and edna and found the child
34:30and francis and three boys all of whom were born in the 1940s and so all of whom are to be your
34:37father and then for the child uh they had four children but of the children um only two of them
34:44were boys and they were both born also in the 1940s so also the right age to potentially be your father
34:51your dad is here right these five
34:57wow but the the sad thing is that of these five candidates um only one of them is still alive
35:03um we've been able to make contact with a number of their children and we've been able to do more
35:10dna testing um and from there we're able to identify which one your dad is oh my god
35:16god really yeah and it's this one over here your dad was mervyn mccarthy
35:23and he was born in 1949 mervyn mccarthy wow
35:29i can't we found him the real thing is though is that he's one of the the four that aren't alive
35:38any longer but we do have a bit of information about him and i do have a photograph can i show
35:45it please yeah so this is a photo of your dad i think you'll see the light it's like a mirror oh
35:53jesus that's a bit of your dad i think probably in the 1970s not too long probably after you met your
35:58mother oh my god the nose
36:15i'm just blown away
36:19and how long ago did he die he died in 2016.
36:27mervyn james mccarthy
36:31date of death november 24 2016 867 in mount hawthorne which is here in perth wow
36:39that is extraordinary also chas was a red herring mervyn mccarthy
36:50that's incredible so the last bit of information that i've got to share with you is that we've
36:54managed to um track down somebody's dad really well and that friend is going to be able to tell
37:01lots and lots about your dad oh wow
37:08oh i suppose i've been waiting for this day since i found my adoption papers when i was 15.
37:14merv mccarthy that name is going down a whole new path now i know who he is and his name and his
37:25identity gives me a starting point to find the rest of my family
37:29that starting point is the pub that was his dad's local
37:36neil randall was the former landlord and new car
37:40g'day derek yes neil randall yeah nice to meet you
37:45it's a bit of a day for you yes it has been fantastic yeah merv used to come here every day
37:51of the week and that's exactly where he used to sit right here right here right here for about 20 years
37:57so merv worked as a seismic surveyor and worked on the oil rigs and in fact i came across these photos
38:05so this is on the rig itself fantastic he loved going to singapore in fact this is where he met
38:12his wife-to-be sandra so that's his wedding day and this is his wife yes this is just all so much to
38:23take in wow and so did merv and sandra have children they did four boys four boys yeah i've
38:32got four brothers and the great news for you is that they want to meet you fantastic it's just four
38:39brothers four brothers wow my mind is blown at the moment four brothers that's going over and
38:49over in my head on a loop they're suddenly having a brother walk into their life whose existence they
38:55were completely unaware of after so long of my father just being a wild fantasy he's a reality now
39:03he's a real person this is one of the biggest things that's ever happened in my life
39:09he's a real person he's a real person he's a real person he's a real person he's a real person
39:14peter eden the shock of discovering his father's fictitious past has got him re-evaluating their
39:19entire relationship there obviously were a lot of good times and what i wrestled with was
39:26why we had to have the really bad times you know we were pretty consistently down as being stupid
39:34and uh that starts to become something you believe in and you accept it's revived memories of previous
39:42attempts to hold open and honest with him this letter that i wrote to my father in february 1991
39:52i always looked up to you almost as i thought but it's important to me to clear the air over some
39:58incidents you wrongly punished me for i will never forget the evening you pushed me through the glass
40:04office door because you thought i'd put face at you handed out to us and were worse than any
40:12deserved every member of your family bears scars of your inflictions of discipline
40:17and he said to me that this letter had been disloyal and uh i was disowned on that
40:26and i didn't speak for 12 months it was very
40:32i didn't love him but we just always had that barrier between us
40:39i don't care what might be said about him
40:43and anything he's done wrong he was my father
40:54while his stories have proven to be lies one remains is he a man in the photo standing over
41:01the piece from the jewish hospital massacre professor balent has been investigating whether
41:07petersfa was affiliated with the right-wing extremist party arrow cross hungary jews endured suffering
41:15during their short but violent reign ruth's family included so peter i've got some documents here to
41:22show you oh okay oh i can see the arrow cross symbol on here and my father's name
41:30so this is his membership for the arrow cross party this absolutely confirms the suspicion that i had that
41:41he was part of arrow cross this is the translation of that document i the undersigned request my
41:48enrollment in the arrow cross party i declare that they are and there were no persons of jewish race
41:54among my parents or grandparents i understand that should any of the information be untruth
42:00membership will cease without further notice this was budapest 1941
42:07that's a very young age to be joining a political movement i have another document here for you
42:14oh and this is a translation of the article uh 7th of june 1945 list of cross
42:21party members in the fifth district what was happening in june 1945 is each district
42:28in budapest they were going around and creating lists of those who were associated with the arrow
42:34cross name role of arrow cross party members grouped by apartment buildings
42:42what they're saying is he was still known as an arrow cross party member so by this date
42:49most of the arrow cross party leaders have either or they've been imprisoned yes and some of them
42:58indeed were executed for their war crimes yes just me to look into the photo of the maros street hospital
43:08massacre massacre i am still quite convinced that man is my father i was able to get a list of the names
43:19of the men in this photograph really for you yes and and this list of the men
43:28is peter finally holding the proof that he is guilty of a shocking war crime
43:34in peter eden's search for the truth about his father one final question needs answering and this is
43:41the list of the list of the list of the list peter has long suspected his dad took part in a wartime
43:46massacre at a jewish hospital now he's been given of the perpetrators
43:51so my father's name is not there your first name is not on the list and your father is not in this
44:09photograph wow that's uh that's a massive relief that's a massive relief to think that he may have
44:20been involved in something like that that rattled me to my very foundations so i'm i'm enormously relieved
44:28but we have to remember that your father who was 19 at the time was living right in the center of
44:36budapest and was clearly aligned with the arrow cross party many young people associated with the arrow
44:44across responsible for atrocities against the jewish people in budapest the younger people were yes it
44:51would tended to be young men and so i now have a short video uh to show you it's presented by
44:59greta suvagash she is an expert on the jewish history of pest
45:04i'm standing on the street called peter right across from me there is the former apartment house
45:16where lived from 1941 through the following years this street was one of the boundaries of the
45:23international ghetto from 1945 to 1945. approximately 40 000 people were crammed into the ghetto up to 60
45:32however they were not into the arrow cross race on both sides of your family's home there were sites
45:39of documented massacres it means that your family your father could have seen jews being marched along
45:46the river to their tragic fates right now i'm standing next to the memorial called the shoes of the danube
45:53dedicated to the 3500 hungarian jews who were killed by the hungarian arrow cross militiamen
46:00on the winter of 1945 1945. they were to take off their shoes with shot at the danube's edge
46:08and floating away down the river
46:14how do you feel peter i had heard about that i can only hope
46:22his involvement wasn't to be one of those taking innocent people to their death like that is just
46:30i feel like um i must apologize on behalf of my father and those people for all the suffering
46:40they put you and your family through thank you peter can i give you a hug yeah sure
46:45hello good to see you you too thank you so peter what a journey yes it's been a
47:08real roller coaster i can imagine because it's it's like you've had to do a 180 degree
47:15turn in in your relationship with your father and what you know about him that's that's exactly right
47:20are you angry with your father probably more disappointed um particularly because he pushed
47:28and promoted so hard about honesty honesty integrity and now i've got to review everything i understand
47:36i said when we first commenced this journey that i was prepared to accept anything um be it good or bad
47:45but i hadn't prepared myself for the complete stripping everything i had but do you get a sense
47:52that that there's some peace to be some release from you know a situation you've lived in your entire
47:59life i've already started to feel a lifting of that weight and i think i'm on the path to closure
48:08maybe the number of dreams i have about him will will ease off maybe the number of times i pick up
48:15the phone to ring him which i still do um will will slow down and and i'll be more accepting of uh his
48:24passing and uh of his life so what you're saying is you can let him go absolutely
48:37i think i will be a lot more comfortable in my achievements and my life and what i've done
48:43because my life has been about trying to prove something to him even though he's been gone for
48:49well over 30 years and now i don't think i need to anymore
49:01it's really quite bizarre feeling i'm getting a little of nerves for the very first time
49:07derek pedley is about to meet two of his half brothers the boys probably will get a bit of a
49:12shock when they see my face for the first time damien and jamie have come along their mother sandra
49:19g'day g'day i'm derek yeah derek damien damien nice to meet you too give me a hug
49:31hi i'm jamie jamie nice to meet you wonderful to meet you yeah same
49:34hi i'm sandra how are you nice to meet you can i give you a hug too thank you
49:41you got moved too
49:47this is a spin out isn't it it's it's completely surreal yeah yeah this is beyond my wildest dress
49:53i didn't know about your father yeah my father i didn't we didn't even know about you either
49:59how did you guys feel when you found out you had another brother oh yeah i just i spun out i
50:03thought cool like yeah like if dad was still here he'd it's it's been right out yeah he would yeah
50:10tell me about move tell me about your family so some pictures if you want to see some pictures
50:15you can see the similarities there yeah always wondered where this came from
50:20you got the same feeling yes no hair yes it's gotten a bit off i lucked out in the genetics oh you
50:28got the full head of hair and i got the there were also the features where they'd come from and i know
50:33now i know i can see them in your face it's just incredible was he a good dad yeah he was a great
50:39dad yeah yeah always there for us whenever you know if we're in trouble or anything like that
50:43it's a lot to take in isn't it it is it is i was very nervous today but nice to meet it was very
50:51good to meet you it's good to meet you talking in yeah so this is my son nash this is mabel my little
50:57girl and this here is it's ted my stepson and sydney my stepdaughter i can't begin to explain the
51:05feeling i was really scared being disappointed and i think deep down i was desperate for answers
51:12and now i've got a happy grin on my face and i feel like the pressure has been released i got the
51:18answers i was looking for and they're fantastic answers four brothers a father who looks like me
51:24he was a good man who was respected and loved and this is going to change me and i won't know
51:31just how much for quite some time take a while for this to settle into my soul
51:47so
51:52so
51:58so
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