Kati Marton

{{short description|Hungarian-American writer}} {{Eastern name order|Marton Kati}} {{Infobox person | name = Kati Marton | image = Kati marton 2009.jpg | caption = | alt = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1949|4|3}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Kati Marton |work=[[Contemporary Authors Online]] |location=Detroit |publisher=[[Gale (publisher)|Gale]] |year=2011 |access-date=2011-09-30 |url=http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?displayGroupName=Reference&disableHighlighting=false&prodId=BIC2&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=GALE%7CH1000112975&mode=view&userGroupName=fairfax_main&jsid=6ebae4b84ea0037d71de5e9886024236 |format=fee, via [[Fairfax County Public Library]]}} Gale Biography In Context.</ref> | birth_place = [[Budapest]], [[Second Hungarian Republic|Hungary]] | death_date = | death_place = | occupation = Journalist, human rights activist | status = | education = [[Wells College]], 1965–67<br/>[[University of Paris|Sorbonne]] and [[Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris|Institut d'Études Politiques]], [[Paris]], 1967–68<br/>[[George Washington University]], [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]], 1969, [[Master of Arts|M.A.]], 1971 | family = | spouse = {{ubl|Carroll Wetzel ({{abbr|div.|divorced}}) * {{marriage|[[Peter Jennings]]|1979|1993|end=divorced}} * {{marriage|[[Richard Holbrooke]]|1995|2010|end=died}}}} | children = 2 | relatives = | agent = Amanda Urban, [[International Creative Management]] | credits = ''[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]'' | URL = }}

'''Kati Marton''' (born April 3, 1949) is a [[Hungarian-American]] author and journalist. Her career has included reporting for [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] as a foreign correspondent and [[National Public Radio]], where she started as a production assistant in 1971, as well as print journalism and writing a number of books.

She is a former chairwoman of the [[International Women's Health Coalition]], and a director (former chairwoman) of the [[Committee to Protect Journalists]] and other bodies including the [[International Rescue Committee]], [[Human Rights Watch]], and the [[New America Foundation]].

== Biography == === Early life === Marton was born in [[Budapest]], [[Second Hungarian Republic|Hungary]],<ref>{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0A1EFF3C5B0C708EDDA90994DE404482 |title=The Shadow of a Smile |last=Marton |first=Kati |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 23, 2006 |access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0C15F63F5D0C708EDDAE0894D0494D81 |title=PUBLIC LIVES; Mr. Secretary, Perhaps, and Ms. Ambassador |last=Bumiller |first=Elisabeth |author-link=Elisabeth Bumiller |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=July 23, 1998 |access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/books/review/Furst-t.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=kati%20marton&st=cse |title=The Dossier |last=Furst |first=Alan |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=October 30, 2009 |access-date=December 14, 2010}}</ref> the daughter of [[United Press International|UPI]] reporter Ilona Marton and award-winning [[Associated Press]] reporter Endre Marton. Her parents survived the [[Holocaust]] of [[World War II]] but never spoke about it. They served nearly two years in prison on false charges of espionage for the U.S., and Kati and her older sister were placed in the care of strangers. Raised a [[Roman Catholic]], she learned much later, and by accident, that her grandparents were [[Jews]], who were murdered at the [[Auschwitz concentration camp]].<ref>[http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/05/11/in-syria-europe-boston-the-past-is-never-finished.html The Daily Beast: "In Syria, Europe & Boston, the Past Is Never Finished" by Kati Marton] May 11, 2013 |''Raised Catholic by my mother and father, I didn’t learn until adulthood that my maternal grandparents were in one of Adolf Eichmann’s early transports from the Hungarian countryside to Auschwitz. My parents, converted Jews, tried to shield me from the murderous hate they had experienced in Budapest; they had told me my grandparents had perished under the Allies’ bombs''</ref> Among the many honors her parents received for their reporting on the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]] was the [[George Polk Awards|George Polk Award]]. The family fled Hungary following the revolution and settled in [[Chevy Chase, Maryland]], where Marton attended [[Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mansfield |first1=Stephanie |title=Kati Marton's Hungarian Odyssey |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1987/04/28/kati-martons-hungarian-odyssey/a8de0aa4-7974-4c8d-8593-84ccb20b9554/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=April 28, 1987 |page=D1}}</ref>

=== Education === Marton studied at Wells College, Aurora, New York, the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]] and the [[Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris|Institut d'Études Politiques]] in [[Paris]]. Growing up in Hungary, she had a [[French people|French]] [[nanny]], so she was raised speaking both [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] and [[French language|French]], learning [[American English]] when her family moved to the U.S. She has a master's degree in International Relations from [[George Washington University]].

=== Personal life === Marton has been married three times. She was first married to Carroll Wetzel, a retired international [[investment banker]] from Philadelphia, in the early 1970s. Her second husband was [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] [[News presenter|anchor]] [[Peter Jennings]]; Jennings and Marton had two children together, Elizabeth and Christopher, before divorcing in 1993.

Her third husband was diplomat [[Richard Holbrooke]], from 1995 until his death in December 2010. Marton frequently traveled with Holbrooke during his diplomatic missions in the former [[Yugoslavia]], and in the [[Middle East]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Robert D. |last=McFadden |author-link=Robert D. McFadden |date=December 13, 2010 |title=RICHARD C. HOLBROOKE, 1941-2010 : Strong American Voice in Diplomacy and Crisis |work=New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/14/world/14holbrooke.html?pagewanted=all |access-date=2012-08-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nndb.com/people/173/000044041/ | title=Richard C. Holbrooke | publisher=NNDB | access-date=2009-01-22}}</ref> She wrote about their love, and recovering from his death in her 2012 [[memoir]] ''Paris: A Love Story''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Kati Marton, Recalling 'Paris' With Love And Longing |work=NPR Weekend Edition Saturday |date=August 18, 2012 |access-date=2012-08-18 |url=https://www.npr.org/2012/08/18/158996276/kati-marton-recalling-paris-with-love-and-longing}}</ref>

== Awards == Marton has received several honors for her reporting, including the 2001 Rebekah Kohut [[Humanitarian]] Award by the [[National Council of Jewish Women]], the 2002 Matrix Award for Women Who Change the World, the [[George Foster Peabody Award]] (presented to WCAU-TV, Philadelphia, in 1973), and the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the [[Republic of Hungary]]—the country's highest civilian honor. She is also a recipient of The International Center in New York's Award of Excellence. Her book, ''Enemies of the People: My Family's Journey to America'', was an [[autobiography]] finalist for the [[National Book Critics Circle Award]] in 2009.<ref>{{cite web |title=National Book Critics Circle Announces Finalists | publisher=NBCC Board of Directors |url=http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/national_book_critics_circle_announces_finalists_january_23_2010/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125233257/http://bookcritics.org/blog/archive/national_book_critics_circle_announces_finalists_january_23_2010/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 25, 2010 |date=January 23, 2010 |access-date=2011-01-17 }}</ref>

== Selected writing == *{{cite book|last=Marton|first=Kati|title=The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel|date=2021|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=9781501192623|oclc=1236259986}} *{{cite book|last1=Marton|first1=Kati|title=True Believer: Stalin's Last American Spy|date=2017|publisher=Simon & Schuster|location=New York|isbn=9781476763774|oclc=962006152}} *{{cite book |last=Marton |first=Kati |author-link=Kati Marton |title=Paris: A Love Story |location=New York |publisher=[Simon & Schuster] |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4516-9154-2 |oclc=778417065}} *{{cite book |last=Marton |first=Kati |author-link=Kati Marton |trans-title=Enemies of the people |language=hu |title=A nép ellenségei : családom regénye |location=Budapest |publisher=Corvina |year=2010 |isbn=978-963-13-5882-7 |lccn=2011391425}} *{{cite book |last=Marton |first=Kati |author-link=Kati Marton |title=Enemies of the people : My Family's Journey to America |edition=1st Simon & Schuster hardcover |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4165-8612-8 |oclc=759874746 |lccn=2009014480 |url=https://archive.org/details/enemiesofpeoplem00mart }}  *{{cite book |last=Marton |first=Kati |author-link=Kati Marton |title=The great escape : nine Jews who fled Hitler and changed the world |location=New York |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-7432-6115-9 |oclc=70864519 |lccn=2006049162 |url=https://archive.org/details/greatescapeninej00mart }}  *{{cite book|last=Marton|first=Kati|author-link=Kati Marton|trans-title=Great escape|language=hu|title=Kilenc magyar aki világgá ment és megváltoztatta a világot|others=(translator) Bart Dániel|location=Budapest|publisher=Corvina|year=2008|isbn=978-963-13-5681-6|oclc=226076973|lccn=2008418162}} *{{cite book |last=Marton |first=Kati |author-link=Kati Marton |title=Hidden power : presidential marriages that shaped our recent history |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=[[Pantheon Books]] |year=2001 |isbn=0-375-40106-7 |oclc=50625328 |lccn=2001021351 |url=https://archive.org/details/hiddenpowerpresi00mart_0 }}  *{{cite book |last=Marton |first=Kati |author-link=Kati Marton |title=A death in Jerusalem |edition=1st Arcade |location=New York |publisher=[[Arcade Publishing|Arcade]] |year=1996 |isbn=1-55970-352-0 |lccn=95051833}} *{{cite book |last=Marton |first=Kati |author-link=Kati Marton |title=An American woman |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=[[W.W. Norton]] |year=1987 |isbn=0-393-02420-2 |lccn=86016342 |url=https://archive.org/details/americanwoman00mart }} *{{cite book |last=Marton |first=Kati |author-link=Kati Marton |title=Wallenberg : missing hero |edition=1st Arcade |location=New York |publisher= Distributed by [[Little, Brown and Company]] |year=1995 |isbn=1-55970-276-1 |lccn=94079600}} *{{cite book |last=Marton |first=Kati |author-link=Kati Marton |title=The Polk conspiracy : murder and cover-up in the case of CBS News correspondent George Polk |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=[[Farrar, Straus & Giroux]] |year=1990 |isbn=0-374-13553-3 |lccn=89023384 |url=https://archive.org/details/polkconspiracymu00mart }}

== References == {{reflist}}

== External links == {{commonscat|Kati Marton}} *[http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Kati-Marton/22190067 Kati Marton] at [[Simon & Schuster]] *{{C-SPAN|9771}} *{{Charlie Rose view|229}} *{{IMDb name|0617356}} *[http://www.undispatch.com/kati-marton-lessons-i-learned-from-richard-holbrooke Acceptance speech] for the [[Leo Nevas Human Rights Award]], [[United Nations Association of the United States of America]] *[http://video.idahoptv.org/video/2175165358 Kati Marton] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103215439/http://video.idahoptv.org/video/2175165358/ |date=2016-11-03 }} Marcia Franklin talks with author Kati Marton. Produced by [[Idaho Public Television]]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marton, Kati}} [[Category:1949 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:21st-century American Jews]] [[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]] [[Category:21st-century American women journalists]] [[Category:21st-century American journalists]] [[Category:21st-century American women writers]] [[Category:21st-century Hungarian Jews]] [[Category:21st-century Hungarian women writers]] [[Category:American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent]] [[Category:American women non-fiction writers]] [[Category:Bard College faculty]] [[Category:Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School alumni]] [[Category:Commander's Crosses with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (civil)]] [[Category:Elliott School of International Affairs alumni]] [[Category:Hungarian emigrants to the United States]] [[Category:Jewish Hungarian writers]] [[Category:Jewish American activists]] [[Category:Jewish American journalists]] [[Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers]] [[Category:Jewish women writers]] [[Category:Writers from Chevy Chase, Maryland]] [[Category:University of Paris alumni]] [[Category:Wells College alumni]] [[Category:Writers from Budapest]]