Thursday, March 22, 2012
ZSA ZSA'S DAUGHTER FRANCESCA HILTON TAKES THE PRINCE TO COURT
Linking to breaking news in FORBES Magazine, Zsa Zsa Gabor's only daughter (and the only child of ANY Gabor sister) has had enough with her mother's very eccentric husband.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
TULIPS ARE HUNGARY'S NATIONAL FLOWER
Perhaps this is why the tulip motif is one of the most popular in stenciling work, textile design, etc! In 1986 the United States decided the Rose would be its national flower.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
WORLD FEDERATION OF HUNGARIANS LINK
Miklós Patrubány is President of the World Federation of Hungarians:
There is an extensive amount to read at this link. First it appears in Hungarian and then in English. The issue here is how Hungary was divided up, the history of those chances on the map and in some cases the forced chances of national identity on ethnic Hungarians in new parts and the survival of the ethnic Hungarian.
"In total, it can be established that, in the territories of the successor states,
the numbers and ratio of Hungarians have fallen by 50% and their chances of
survival have deteriorated, therefore the re-examination of the Treaty of
Trianon cannot be postponed."
Being a citizen of the United States of America, I feel this issue is not of as much personal concern for me as it would be for someone still living in Europe. Though I Identify as Hungarian-American, like most Americans I'm of mixed ethnicity, and it could be said, generations away from Hungary. Yet I can therefore also ask the questions of "Who is a Hungarian?" and "What makes a person a Hungarian?"
It seems evident that a person who SELF IDENTIFIES as HUNGARIAN is!
There is an extensive amount to read at this link. First it appears in Hungarian and then in English. The issue here is how Hungary was divided up, the history of those chances on the map and in some cases the forced chances of national identity on ethnic Hungarians in new parts and the survival of the ethnic Hungarian.
"In total, it can be established that, in the territories of the successor states,
the numbers and ratio of Hungarians have fallen by 50% and their chances of
survival have deteriorated, therefore the re-examination of the Treaty of
Trianon cannot be postponed."
Being a citizen of the United States of America, I feel this issue is not of as much personal concern for me as it would be for someone still living in Europe. Though I Identify as Hungarian-American, like most Americans I'm of mixed ethnicity, and it could be said, generations away from Hungary. Yet I can therefore also ask the questions of "Who is a Hungarian?" and "What makes a person a Hungarian?"
It seems evident that a person who SELF IDENTIFIES as HUNGARIAN is!
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Saturday, March 17, 2012
MARCH 18 is 1848 HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION DAY
Many Hungarian-American organizations celebrate this day and so do many Hungarians. About the same time there were revolutions, intended to change the social order, in other European countries. I looked at a lot of web sites featuring information on the revolution iin Hungary, but I'm linking to a TIME LINE because I think I'm more impressed with how this progressed and why... First, and this may be something YOU can relate to, was economic recession...
First France,
Then Hungary,
Then the Rhineland,
Then Vienna,
Then Milan,
Then Venice...
(Let's remember that our current notions of a country do not apply to the days when what became countries were independent, shall we say "nation states?"
Saturday, March 10, 2012
WONDERFUL OLD MILITARY MAPS : A Monarchia III. katonai felmérése 3rd Military Mapping Survey of Austria-Hungary
A Monarchia III. katonai felmérése
3rd Military Mapping Survey of Austria-Hungary
http://lazarus.elte.hu/hun/digkonyv/topo/3felmeres.htm
A WONDERFUL site! You click on the area and up comes old maps. One of the things that was once impressed upon me, and I impress upon others, is that settlements tended to be no more than a day's walk and back, meaning about 5 miles, from each other. As a result, until the era of modern transportation by engine, many people lived in the same town and married their neighbors, or someone from that one day's walk and back to the next village, because it was simply too difficult to meet and get to know someone who lived much further. Of course there were information networks and arranged marriages that defy this reasoning but so far in my research I generally find people who married someone from a greater distance, had money and the resources for communication and transportation!
These are very useful when you're researching your family history and the names of some villages and towns are not coming up or when you are trying to locate military records. Give it a try!
UPDATED July 23, 2019 Please let me know if the link is not working. I've moved it from the post title to inside the post.
3rd Military Mapping Survey of Austria-Hungary
http://lazarus.elte.hu/hun/digkonyv/topo/3felmeres.htm
A WONDERFUL site! You click on the area and up comes old maps. One of the things that was once impressed upon me, and I impress upon others, is that settlements tended to be no more than a day's walk and back, meaning about 5 miles, from each other. As a result, until the era of modern transportation by engine, many people lived in the same town and married their neighbors, or someone from that one day's walk and back to the next village, because it was simply too difficult to meet and get to know someone who lived much further. Of course there were information networks and arranged marriages that defy this reasoning but so far in my research I generally find people who married someone from a greater distance, had money and the resources for communication and transportation!
These are very useful when you're researching your family history and the names of some villages and towns are not coming up or when you are trying to locate military records. Give it a try!
UPDATED July 23, 2019 Please let me know if the link is not working. I've moved it from the post title to inside the post.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
BOLSHE VITA : A FILM ABOUT THE RUSSIANS WHO FLOODED BUDAPEST AFTER THE FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL
I watched this Hungarian film, about Russians who fled Russia, trying to get to the West (The United States and Britian are considered the "real" West) after the fall of the Berlin Wall. For a short period of time there was confusion about how to get in and out of Hungary as this film well depicts a group of musicians who can't get out of Hungary and don't want to go back to Russia. Gangsters are taking control of the market places, there is money to be made in questionable goods and theft of the kind that makes a person homeless.
Luckily, there are women, both foreign and domestic, who don't mind taking a stranger with a hard luck story home and into their beds. These bohemian women want love in exchange for all the help they give. Sometimes that works as a means to freedom and the "real" west. Sometimes preferring homeless life leads to death.
The film, which came out in 2005, is written and directed by Ibolya Fekete and includes a cast before the camera and behind the scenes of movie making of Russians and Hungarians. It was fascinating and easy to follow and understand, though I wish I could understand in Hungarian as when I read subtitles I usually don't watch the movie itself that well.
BOLSHE VIA won the SOCHI International Film Festival Grand Prix and the Budapest Film Week Foreign Film Critics Best Feature Film awards.
Luckily, there are women, both foreign and domestic, who don't mind taking a stranger with a hard luck story home and into their beds. These bohemian women want love in exchange for all the help they give. Sometimes that works as a means to freedom and the "real" west. Sometimes preferring homeless life leads to death.
The film, which came out in 2005, is written and directed by Ibolya Fekete and includes a cast before the camera and behind the scenes of movie making of Russians and Hungarians. It was fascinating and easy to follow and understand, though I wish I could understand in Hungarian as when I read subtitles I usually don't watch the movie itself that well.
BOLSHE VIA won the SOCHI International Film Festival Grand Prix and the Budapest Film Week Foreign Film Critics Best Feature Film awards.