Dalma Takács

Takács taught in the Cleveland Public Schools as a High School English Teacher and Librarian from 1973 until 1986, when she accepted a position as Associate Professor at Notre Dame College of Ohio. At Notre Dame, she was made full professor in 1997 and also chairperson of the English/Communications Department. In 1993, she was awarded the Distinguished Faculty Award. She retired from Notre Dame College of Ohio as Professor Emeritus in 2012, but continued to tutor students in English Literature until her death at the age of 83.

In Winston Churchill’s six volume book series, The Second World War, he relates his own directions from the telegram he sent concerning Hungary’s offer of surrender in September 1943.

Takács was editor of the memoir, Clear the Line, the historical account of Hungary's struggle to leave the Axis during the Second World War. “In March 1942, Miklós Horthy replaced Prime Minister Lazlo Bardossy, […] with Miklós Kallay, who shared the regent’s goal of regaining the favor of the Western—non-Soviet—Allies. Kallay was able to communicate to the Allies that Hungary was open to switching sides again should they make it to Hungary’s border and offer Hungary protection from German and/or Soviet occupation.”

Dalma Takács (24 March 1933 – 24 June 2016) was a Hungarian-American novelist of fictional and historical works.

Takács researched and wrote the historical, Our Story: Saga of a Hungarian American Family which begins in 1586 and documents the details of the Takács, Horváth and Saxe Coburg families within the context of Hungarian History and later, their lives in the United States. In addition to biographical details about her mother and step-father who play major roles in Clear the Line, other notable members of the family discussed in Our Story are Dukai Takách Judit, Hungary's first woman poet and Pálóczi Horváth Lajos, Takács' father who spoke nine languages and translated books by Thomas Hardy, Thomas Wolf and Juan Valera into Hungarian. Her father also spent time in political prison for anti-communist views and was freed during the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. He tells the story of his life during wartime in the autobiographical, Két világ határán (translation: Between two worlds). Takács' aunt was Sarolta Halász, who became the last Princess of Sachen-Coburg of Gotha, when she married Phillipp August Sachsen-Coburg of Gotha.