Marta Maria (Polyanyi) Racz

Márta Mária Polyányi was born on April 29, 1936 in Budapest, Hungary, during a time of political turmoil. Her hometown of Székesfehérvár changed hands eight times during her childhood. In 1944, when Márta was 8 years old, Nazi German forces invaded Hungary, with American and English Allied forces after them. Clashes between the Axis powers and the Allies on Hungarian soil resulted in a large number of civilian casualties, including Márta’s father, Pál Polyányi, who was killed in an American carpet-bombing attack.

After Márta’s mother had to become the sole family breadwinner, Márta and her brother Péter were raised by their grandmother. Despite lapses in formal education due to WWII, Márta was able to graduate in 1954 from the prestigious Blanka Teleki School and establish herself as a talented artist.

It was at her first job that Márta met her future husband, Egon Rácz, who worked at the same secret munitions factory as an explosives expert. During the years of their youth, all cultural, academic, and economic institutions became the property of the state, under the watchful eyes of the Communist party. When six of their contemporaries were killed by Soviet soldiers during a peaceful demonstration, Márta and Egon decided that they would get married and leave the country.

After involuntarily spending six months in a refugee camp in Yugoslavia (now Serbia), Márta and Egon escaped to France, where they lived for 12 years and became French citizens. When political unrest found them again in 1968, they emigrated to the United States, eventually becoming U.S. citizens.

Márta and Egon, with daughter Livia, moved to Massachusetts in the early 1980s, where Egon started up a new company. They lived in their Fitchburg home continuously through 2021, spending several days a week in Belmont taking care of their granddaughters, Hanna and Emma, imparting favorite Hungarian recipes, and becoming active in the Hungarian Society of Massachusetts. Márta passed away peacefully at Maplewood Senior Living Facility in Weston, MA on December 12, 2021. She leaves her husband Egon, daughter Livia, son-in-law Bruce, granddaughters Hanna and Emma, and extended family in Hungary. She is buried in Mt. Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, MA.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Marta Maria (Polyanyi) Racz, please visit our floral store.