My ex-mother-in-law was from Austria. Her mother, who had died long before I entered the family was Hungarian. Maria, aka Mitzi, used to read snail mail from family back in Austria, and they were written in German. As she’d read the letters aloud, pronouncing words with their guttural intonation, I could only pick up a word or two of understanding, she never offered to translate, so I left those family visits with my ex feeling very shut out and unfamiliar.

I’ve since kept up with foreign affairs and closely watched the ascent of Hungary’s Victor Orbán. For the last 10-plus years, I see his intentions to make his world only Hungarian and with sadness watching this type of ideology permeate my own America. My own America has become an America I no longer recognize.