in 1948 bánáthy's fourth son robert was born. bánáthy soon found work as a technical draftsman in the statistical office of a u.s. army warehouse. in 1949, with help from a swiss foundation, bánáthy assisted in establishing and was selected as the president of the collegium hungaricum, a boarding school for refugees, at zell am see near saalfelden, austria. in the same year, the communist government in hungary seized the businesses belonging to the pallendal family. because they were members of the social elite, the communist government considered them to be a political threat.