Pál Szécsi was born on 19 March 1944 in Budapest. His father Ferenc Szécsi, a professor of linguistics, was shot in the last months of World War II. His mother gave one-year-old Szécsi and his two siblings to foster parents, and during the Revolution of 1956, fled the country for the United States through Austria. She traveled with Szécsi's older sister until the train station of Vienna, but she left her there, eventually leaving Kati and Pál in Hungary. These events later resulted in serious psychological illness and nerve problems for Szécsi as he grew up.