Bartha Miklós erdélyi magyar, aki Rómában ismerkedett meg a leendő feleségével, aki holland zsidó.

Miután összeveszett a feleségével, teleaggatta a házukat horogkeresztes rajzokkal ellátott irományokkal, hogy bosszantsa a feleségét.

Plaintiff Cordula Bartha, who was born in the Netherlands, emigrated with her family to Italy in 1960. She earned a Ph.D. in German literature from the University of Rome, after which she found employment as an assistant to a publisher. In 1973, she met defendant Nicholas Bartha, a medical student of Romanian and Hungarian heritage. The parties lived together in Rome until defendant graduated from medical school in April 1974, at which time they relocated to the United States and moved in with defendant's parents in a large house owned by defendant and his mother in Rego Park, New York. While defendant studied to pass the examination required of graduates of foreign medical schools, plaintiff worked in the cultural section of the Netherlands Consulate.

In 1976, defendant passed the test that entitled him to practice medicine in the United States, and began an internship at Elmhurst General Hospital in Queens, New York. At about the same time, plaintiff learned that she was pregnant, and the parties married on January 10, 1977. The couple's two children, born, respectively, on August 5, 1977 and December 11, 1978, are now adults.