By Zary Fekete
1947: We were three days into the Hungary/Romania peace talks. I was one of the United Nations document translators. Each day, hundreds of important pieces of paper came across my desk. Most required little more than a cursory glance.
However, one paper caught my eye. It was a letter from the Hungarian commander offering gratitude to his Romanian counterpart. Except he had misspelled the word gratitude (hála) as (halál), which means “death.” I was bored and under deadline pressure, so I passed it through with no correction.
The Romanians attacked and killed thousands. They even ate the dead to cause fear.
Very powerful and very evocative in so few words.
Absolutely brilliant. Shall remember this.
OMG, a misunderstanding and cannibalism!
Horrific! Good twist at the end!