Minnesota
Minnesota cellist tells family’s story of survival during Holocaust
Cellist shares family’s survival of Holocaust
Communicating through music for as long as she can remember, Janet Horvath recalls growing up in Toronto in a home that was filled with smiles and learning to play the piano from her mother. And cello from her father. But when the instruments went silent. There was plenty the family never spoke about.
FOX 9 – Communicating through music for as long as she can remember, Janet Horvath recalls growing up in Toronto in a home that was filled with smiles and learning to play the piano from her mother. And cello from her father. But when the instruments went silent, there was plenty the family never spoke about.
“My father was the one I know now, in retrospect, he had PTSD,” says Janet “He would be the one with choking sounds at night or crying, nightmares obviously.”
It wasn’t until after her mother had a stroke in her late 70s and died 8 years later Janet learned about a private recorded interview conducted a decade earlier by her cousin. This was the first time Janet finally heard her mother speak about surviving the Holocaust.
“Where should I start way, way back? I can start way, way back,” Katherine Horvath says in the reel-to-reel audio recording.
Through this and other research Janet learned her parents were first dating in Budapest, just as Germany was losing World War II. The Nazis continued moving in and rounding up every Hungarian Jew they could find.
“May 26th, 1944, my mother had to get false papers, had to get parents’ permission because she was only 17, she borrowed a dress. They went to a justice of the peace and said they were Catholic, and they were married, and my father was deported the next morning to the copper mines of Borg, Yugoslavia for slave labor,” says Janet.
Meantime, his young bride moved around the city hiding for her life. “We could hear the guns,” Katherine recalls in the recordings. “They saw it was finished but they were still killing everybody.”
“They were deporting up to 12,500 people a day. Men and women on trains to Auschwitz, the infamous camp.,” says Janet “My mother evaded that.”
Eventually, the war ended., George Horvath reunited with his wife, Katherine, and a cello. Plus, along the way met Janet’s personal icon, Leonard Bernstein. Best known much later for West Side Story decades earlier the famed American conductor changed her father’s life.
A moment George didn’t speak to his daughter about until he was within a year of dying at 87 years old.
“He said yes! It was a very hot day; he came he was just a kid. He played ‘Rapacity in Blue’ and it was with the Jewish orchestra in the displaced person’s camp, and I talked to him and told him I want to come to America.
George joined a group of about 17 orchestra musicians bused all over Bavaria to camps in the American zone of Germany after the war.
“They had a mandate to bring morale-boosting concerts to those still languishing in the displaced persons camps. waiting for news of loved ones waiting for the difficult paperwork to leave Europe.
Later the young couple was able to claim to be farmers and immigrate to Canada where they raised their family. Janet followed in his classical music career footsteps, playing 32 years with the Minnesota Orchestra. She also spent the last decade putting her family story into print. Her book “The Cello Still Sings.” is part history lesson, part hope and awareness for the future.
“This history of playing all these concerts and bringing music and hope to those refuges was something I thought the public needs to know about,” says Janet “Without language skills, in a new culture, new foods, new traditions, it’s so difficult. We need to realize we are still dealing with statelessness and refugees right now. How can we have empathy for those people that have to start over?”
And while it took decades for Janet to even come close to understanding the tremendous amount of pain her parents went through, she knows each note of a few recordings from her father’s 38 years with the Toronto orchestra are a gift. And a reflection of the healing value of music that no one can put into words.
“It takes me back to my childhood listening to him practice this.”
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota has reached a settlement with the state attorney general over concerns the Eagan-based health insurer failed to comply with laws insisting that health plans cover mental health services the same as they cover treatments for physical health problems.
The Minnesota Blues plan denied any wrongdoing, but agreed to a series of new oversight provisions. In addition, the insurer will operate under new mental and behavioral health care rules that call for prompt decisions on prior authorization requests as well as applications by health care providers to join the health insurer’s network.
Blue Cross will be required to pay a $300,000 civil penalty if a court finds the insurer has violated terms of the settlement, which was announced Friday. In addition, Blue Cross is contributing $600,000 to a center for rural behavioral health at Minnesota State University-Mankato.
“Mental and behavioral health care is health care, period,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement. “We expect someone with a broken leg to be able to get the care they need, and the same should be true of Minnesotans struggling with conditions like depression or substance use disorder.”
Blue Cross said in a statement that it shares Ellison’s commitment to ensuring patients have timely access to “high quality and affordable mental health care.”
“Blue Cross has enhanced our practices related to addressing mental health benefits and access to care to ensure we are meeting the high expectations of members and other stakeholders,” the insurer said. “Today, our strategy is focused on transforming all mental health solutions in ways that can set new industry standards for equitable access to optimal care.”
The settlement is the latest in a series of agreements over the past 18 months between the state and Minnesota health insurers for improved coverage of mental health.
The earlier agreements were prompted by alleged violations of mental health parity laws, which have been adopted over the past two decades to improve patient access to mental health and behavioral health treatments.
The Vikings have lost back-to-back games after starting 5-0. Now they will turn to Cam Robinson, 29, to help protect quarterback Sam Darnold’s blindside after losing standout LT Christian Darrisaw to a torn ACL and MCL. Can they get a win this week against a Colts team that has benched Anthony Richardson in favor of Joe Flacco?
Week 9 vs. Indianapolis Colts, Sunday at 7:20 p.m. CT (NBC)
Catch up on what you need to know from this week on the Vikings:
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The Vikings addressed their massive void at left tackle by trading for Jaguars offensive lineman Cam Robinson.
• Vikings not sweating rookie’s quiet start
“I think Dallas (Turner) is going to be just fine. I think everybody wants everything right now, and he does, too. We’ll get him out there.”
• Meet the former Vikings visionary known as the grandfather of NFL analytics
Retired analyst Mike Eayrs was “so far ahead of the curve” that he is credited with popularizing data science in the NFL in the 1980s.
• What Christian Darrisaw’s injury means
Losing their talented left tackle will make it harder for an inconsistent Vikings offense that has already had trouble sustaining drives.
• 📈Power Rankings: Vikings at No. 8
The No. 17 pick in this year’s draft has one sack and three quarterback pressures through seven games.
Coach O’Connell speaks about new LT Cam Robinson pic.twitter.com/hVymPdY6vo
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) October 30, 2024
Scouting the Colts
• Joe Flacco will be Colts starting QB ‘going forward’
The decision to bench Anthony Richardson and start Joe Flacco at quarterback is not a temporary one, coach Shane Steichen said.
• Anthony Richardson has hard lesson to learn from the bench
Richardson’s time in Indianapolis may not be over, but his path back to being the Colts starting QB will be a big challenge.
• NFL execs debate Colts benching Richardson
“He hasn’t had many live reps in his football career. This season should have been presented as that development and growth across the board.”
• Richardson’s benching goes far beyond his play
“What a fascinating management dilemma to be in,” a former executive from one of the Colts’ division rivals said.
• Colts GM Chris Ballard has failed to live up to bold promises
Technically, Ballard still has personnel control in Indy, but the chances of him fulfilling the promise proclaimed by his owner are dwindling by the day.
How good are the Vikings?
Check out Austin Mock’s 2024 NFL projections, where you will find each team’s probability of conquering its division, advancing through the playoffs and winning the Super Bowl. The projections are based on 100,000 simulations of the remainder of the season, which factors in each team’s projected strength, current health as well as its remaining schedule.
(Photo of Justin Jefferson: Harry How / Getty Images)
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — A 19-year-old Minneapolis man has been charged in the shooting of three teens near the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on Labor Day.
The man is charged with three counts of attempted second-degree murder and two counts of drive-by shooting toward a person, according to the criminal complaint filed in Ramsey County on Oct. 23.
At 10:20 p.m. on Sept. 2, officers were called to Dugsi Academy at 1085 Snelling Avenue North in St. Paul on reports of a shooting.
Upon arrival, officers found a teen boy suffering from a gunshot wound to his leg. He told police he had been walking to a friend’s car in the parking lot when he heard gunshots. He said he ran toward the train tracks to escape the gunfire and thought he had blown out his knee, but he quickly learned a bullet had struck him.
The boy told police he did not see who was shooting and had been at the nearby Minnesota State Fair shortly before.
Officers later learned two more teens had been shot and were transported to different area hospitals. The criminal complaint says both victims told police they did not have any issues with anyone and were unsure who would have shot them.
A total of 53 spent casings were found beneath the Snelling Avenue bridge to the east of Dugsi Academy, charges say. An analysis found the casings came from three different guns.
Surveillance video allegedly shows several people exiting a blue sedan before firing their guns from the street and gravel area by nearby train tracks. The suspects then get back into the sedan before leaving the area.
A few hours later, deputies were called to a gas station in Little Canada for a drive-by shooting. Charges say surveillance video showed a blue sedan go out of view shortly before shots rang out. Five more casings from two different guns were recovered from the gas station. Further analysis revealed the casings matched that of those recovered from the shooting near the fairgrounds.
Investigators learned the blue sedan had been involved in a weapons incident on Aug. 27 where three men pulled a gun on security in Minneapolis. The sedan is owned by the man facing charges in the shooting.
Using license plate readers and phone location data, police were able to place the suspect in the area of both shootings around the time they occurred.
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