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!

GOOGLE CELEBRATES THE HUNGARIAN REVOLUTION

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?"

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.

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.

WORKING ON MY GENEALOGY RESEARCH : THE 1940 U.S. CENSUS WILL SOON BE AVAILABLE

My friends, I've been making an effort to work on my personal Hungarian genealogy research over the last few weeks. I've learned so much about Hungarians coming to American over many years time, and I absolutely love to research!

As some of you may know the 1940 US Census will be available to the public early April of this year, but because of the explosion in population (as compared with the 1930) it could be years before there is a searchable index.

That means that researchers are trying to determine an address (supposing they family didn't move since the 1940, using City Directories, or World War II draft or enlistment information, and then find the ED (Enumeration District) for the 1940 to get to the right part of the film as fast as possible. The film will be available from the National Archives digitalized (on the Internet).

I'm putting links about this on the sidebar!

1940 is an interesting time for Hungarian families who came to the United States at the Turn of the Century or during the Great Age of Industrialization. At this point most have married and have had families and some of those children have grown into adulthood. Many of you who are reading this may be the children, grandchildren, or great-grandchildren of those immigrants who helped make America great.

AMERICAN HUNGARIAN MUSEUM PASSAIC

Passaic New Jersey hosts a wonderful display of Hungarian ethnic culture. Did you know there's been a Hungarian school in Passaic for 1 hundred years?

This site was under construction for a while, but it looks active now, and I'm pleased to link to it. There are sections on famous and accomplished Hungarians and more!

Enjoy this!

HUNGARY PASSES A LAW TO MAKE HOMELESS MOVE ON TO WHERE?

Speaking of the Freezing Cold in Europe, in December Hungary passed a law that is hostile to homeless people in that country. Charity workers know where the homeless are... $650 fine for getting caught sleeping rough twice... Go to a shelter? More homeless than beds, a story that is true in the United States and around the world.

VALENTINES DAY : PEACE : UNITY IN EASTERN EUROPE AND BEYOND

ZSA ZSA GABOR CELEBRATES HER 95th BIRTHDAY IN LOS ANGELES : SHE NOW ADMITS HER AGE!

The Gabor sisters were not just known for being beautiful and sexy. They were known for being WITTY!

I've posted on Zsa Zsa a few times because she is probably the most known Hungarian American in show business, and she has outlasted and outlived her sisters. Could it be because she is the only Gabor who has a child, a daughter?

A few days ago she celebrated her 95th birthday and some of the articles I read suggested that she was now telling the truth about her age. As we know the Gabor sisters didn't believe a woman should tell her age or be asked it, but they had jokes to work around such questions too.

Articles I read suggested that for this party, her husband brought the cake into her bedroom to show her, and she enjoyed the vibe that a party was going on outside, but she did not actually make any appearance or attend her party. You know, I love the spirit he had to carry on with a party for her just the same. The couple are both eccentric but no doubt he loves her. And here is where Zsa Zsa has won in the end! A true romance of lasting years!

WILD HUNGARY

EUROPEAN DEEP FREEZE : HUNGARY CLOSES THE DANUBE

"Other countries along the Danube, including Austria, Croatia, Serbia, and Bulgaria, had already suspended river traffic because of the freeze.

The 2,860-kilometre (1,780-mile) river, which flows through 10 countries and is vital for transport, power, irrigation, industry and fishing, was nearly wholly blocked from Austria to its mouth on the Black Sea.

In Hungary, 60 to 70 percent of the river was frozen, with only ice-breakers remaining in action, especially in the south of the country, officials said." The full AP Press article and pictures is linked.


Last year the Deep Freeze covered the United States of America. Estimates are that a couple billion dollars in loss was experienced. This year the weather in New York isn't that much different than the weather in Los Angeles. All around the United States people who were bundled up last year are out playing sports in shorts! (To you Hungarians out there - Really! So you see, there is hope.)


This year it's Europe and other parts of the world experiencing the Deep Freeze. I'm hearing radio news reports that hundreds in Europe have died. Frankly, this does not sound like Global Warming to me. It sounds like a new Ice Age! Earth changes certainly, though I honestly don't know how much is natural cycles or man-made pollution causing the hole in the Ozone layer! I'm concerned but helpless. Like you I might be able to stay out of the sun a bit more, take my walks early in the morning; I don't even think the chemicals in sun screens should be put on the skin!

HISTORY OF THE BUSO FESTIVAL : END OF THE WINTER CARNIVAL

"The Busó festivities at Mohács in southern Hungary are a six-day carnival in late February to mark the end of winter, named for the busós, frightening-looking costumed people (traditionally men) wearing wooden masks and big woolly cloaks. The festival is multifaceted, including a children’s costume contest, a display of the art of mask carvers and other craftspeople, the arrival of more than 500 busós in rowboats on the Danube for a march through the city alongside horse-drawn or motorized fantasy vehicles, the burning of a coffin symbolizing winter on a bonfire in the central square, and feasts and music throughout the city. The tradition originated with the Croatian minority in Mohács, but today the busó is a general emblem of the city and a commemoration of the great events of its history. More than a social event, the carnival is an expression of belonging to a city, a social group and a nation. It plays an important social role by offering a chance for self-expression in a communal setting. The arts underlying the festivities are preserved by self-organized groups of busós of all cultural backgrounds, many of whom pass on the techniques of mask carving and ritual celebration to younger generations."

Quote is from Hungary - A Love For Life site which also has this video"

MOHACS : BUSO FEBRUARY FESTIVAL CARNIVAL END OF WINTER CUSTOM

HUNGARIANS ARE ALL GERMANS : STEREOTYPES OF HUNGARIANS / HUNGARIAN AMERICANS

 

Is anyone a "pure" or "unmixed" Hungarian?

I'm not going to indulge in anything close to Nazism here. I'm not looking to eliminate anyone who identifies as Hungarian as not because over generations their Hungarians have mixed with Germans, Slovaks, Ruthenians, or Jews, or anyone in particular.

When it comes to stereotypes of Hungarians though, it seems that this "truism" is often repeated. Sometimes when I hear it coming out of someone's mouth I get the feeling they are being DISMISSIVE of a unique culture, that they even have forgiveness for Hungarians because "really" they are Germans.

Have you had this experience?


(Run the word "stereotype" through the search feature on this Google Blogger to bring up OTHER STEREOTYPES.)

C 2012 Magyar-American BlogSpot