Sunday, April 20, 2025
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
APRIL 16TH IS THE DAY THAT HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE TAKES PLACE IN HUNGARY
ABOUT HUNGARY BLOG : ARTICLE ON HUNGARY HOLOCAUST DAY
Excerpt: The day falls of April 16th because on that day in 1944 the Hungarian Holocaust began with the process of sending Hungarian Jews to ghettos. The Day of Remembrance was established in 2001 by the First Orban Government - along with the Hungarian Holocaust Museum - and has been observed every year since.
The 1941 census showed a Hungarian Jewish population of 725,000. Two-thirds of them died as a result of forced labor, deportations, and genocide. The Jewish communities in the countryside were completely destroyed; only about 100,000 of those living in Budapest survived. Historians estimate that between 5,000 and 70,000 Hungarian Roma also lost their lives in concentration camps as victims of the Holocaust.
Saturday, April 12, 2025
SHOES RIVER MOMUMENT : INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY IS JANUARY 27th EACH YEAR BUT HUNGARY HAS IT'S OWN DAY : WONDERFUL PLACES IN HUNGARY #28
YAD VASHEM : SHOES ON THE DANUBE PROMINADE BUDAPEST HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL
Excerpt: If you look more closely, you see that the shoes are rusted, made or iron and set into the concrete of the embankment. They are a memorial and a monument to the Hungarian Jews who, in the winter of 1944-1945, were shot on the banks of the Danube River by members of the Arrow Cross Party. Known as "The Shoes on the Danube Promenade:, the memorial was conceptualized by film director Can Togay, and was created by Today, together with the sculptor Gyula Pauer. It was installed on the Pest bank of the Danube River in Budapest in 2005. At three separate places on the memorial, cast iron signs read in Hungarian, English, and Hebrew: "To the memory of victims shot into the Danube by Arrow Cross militiamen in 1944-1945."
Wednesday, April 9, 2025
Sunday, April 6, 2025
Saturday, March 29, 2025
Thursday, March 27, 2025
HUNGARIAN SOCIETY OF MASSACHUSETTS - BOSTON HUNGARIAN CLUB
The Hungarian Society of Massachusetts, Inc., is a community of individuals of Hungarian descent, and those with an interest in Hungarian culture who, without regard to political or religious affiliation, and in accordance with their talents, opportunities and interests, support the Society and take part in its activities.
Our Mission and Goals
- Foster and impart our Hungarian language, culture, identity and traditions to our descendants and to interested individuals through programs, meetings and gatherings;
- Propagate Hungarian culture in as many American circles as possible, thereby developing and maintaining strong ties between Americans and Hungarians
- Support one another as we build and sustain our lives in America
- Cultivate and nurture ties with Hungary and Hungarian émigrés around the world
- Provide moral, spiritual and occasional financial support for Hungarian causes.
Saturday, March 15, 2025
FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA #6 : LIBRARY COLLECTIONS : GOING FAR BACK INTO THE FOUNDING OF HUNGARY AS A NATION : BIBLE FROM 1533
The collections in the Hungaricana library links are also useful for historical and family history and genealogy research. Remember though that these are mostly BOOKS that have been preserved. Árpádkori okmánytár = Archives of the Árpád period
Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Saturday, March 8, 2025
FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA #5 : DYNAMIC BUDAPEST TIME MACHINE : LAND REGISTRIES, CITY DIRECTORIES, and SO MUCH MORE FOR HISTORY AND FAMILY GENEALOGY RESEARCH!
HUNGARICANA BUDAPEST TIME MACHINE START PAGE
You will have to play a bit with this aspect of the Hungaricana databases. but for the purposes of this blog, we will look at what is available about a particular lot:
HUNGARICANIA : LOT 24008 1056 BUDAPESTHelyrajziSzam/24008/. You see there is information as far back as year 1688 about this property. There is a topography map and a map of present day Budapest, showing the eateries and that this property on Iranyi Street is about a three block walk to the Danube.
Thursday, March 6, 2025
FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA #4 : FOLK MUSIC TO LISTEN TO BY REGION : PECS - TOLNA SAMPLING
Hungarian Genealogy and History Tips in this series can be viewed together by clicking on the tab Pro Tip Hungaricana Fun
Monday, March 3, 2025
FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA #3 : PICTURE and POSTCARD GALLERY - CASTLE FUZER
Using Fuzer up came these images: GALLERY HUNGARICANA HUNGARY : Search word FUZER
Click on the image and you will be taken to more information about it, including where it is located or which person or institution contributed it to Hungaricana.
GALLERY HUNGARICANA GROF KAROLYI LASZLO
Gróf Károlyi László birtokán fekvő fuzeri (Abaúj m.) várromok
TRANSLATION : Füzéri (Abaúj m.) castle ruins on the property of László Count Károlyi
It also says that this was published through a book store in Satorujuhely and was taken by an amateur photographer.
Hungarian Genealogy and History Tips in this series can be viewed together by clicking on the tab Pro Tip Hungaricana Fun
Saturday, March 1, 2025
Friday, February 28, 2025
FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA #2 : URBARIUM : CENSUS/ INVENTORY OF LIKAVA SAINT SOPHIA CASTLE IN LIPTO COUNTY - AN INVENTORY CIRCA 1674
For this example, we will be linking to the following link which is found in the Hungaricana - Archives - Urbarium category:
Archives Hungaricana Urbarium Lipto Search Castle
The year on this archival document is 1674.
IN LATIN and then HUNGARIAN IT SAYS:
InventariumA likavai vár és birtokbeli tartozékai inventariuma, melyet Schultz György, Turanszky Gábor, Haassaeus Fülöp és Rady László kamarai megbízottak vettek fel a fenti napi, rózsahegyi kelettel.(NB! A leltár érdekessége az, hogy – eltérően a kor és a kamara szokásától – először a leltározott tárgyat nevezi meg, s utána sorolja fel, hogy ebből az adott tárgybólhol, mennyi van. Ez tárgyi szempontból áttekinthetővé s lényegesen rövidebbé is teszi az inventariumot.)
Smaller and larger jugs, pewter spitting dish, water barrel with iron tires. (NB! After each group is finished, the doors and windows of the buildings visited are listed one by one, briefly stating whether the door and window structure in question is made of iron, and if it is a door or gate, what kind of lock it has. For these he names the building - e.g. "portae ad Horrea" but sometimes he doesn't...
Excerpt: The Castle was referred to for the first time in 1315. Its construction started with the intention to have a guarding point over the passage across the river Váh and the trade route from the Váh Basin to Orava and further to Poland.
The Castle owners, the noble family of Hunyady, gradually reconstructed and widened the core of the Castle and built the part called the lower Castle in the second half of the 15th century. In the second half of the 17th century, the Thökölys' eventually finished the entire fortification system though it was of no use as it did not prevent the disaster at the beginning of the 18th century when the retreating troops of František Rákoczi completely pulled down the Castle in 1707.
Hungarian Genealogy and History Tips in this series can be viewed together by clicking on the tab Pro Tip Hungaricana Fun
C 2025 Magyar-American BlogSpot All Rights including International Rights and Internet Rights are claimed.
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
FUN LEARNING WITH HUNGARICANA #1 : CHARTERS : A WILL in ABAUJ CIRCA YEAR 1438
What does the term "Charter" mean? Modern definition: A charter is a legal document granted to an individual or corporation. It outlines the purpose and structure for the creation of a colony, city, or organization, as well as the rights each organization will have.
Charters in the National Archives of Hungary, or found through the databases of Hungaricana, are decisions made by the King or other authorities such as Princes, Nobles, land-owners/ Barons (including churches), or local authorities, about property rights, and may include information about grants, repossessions, and who is who. They also document wills, such as the one we will look at here.
Charters may not apply to your family or personal research, but it can be some fun to look into them anyway to see if any of the places your ancestors lived are included in the Hungaricana databases. It can be thrilling to find someone with your surname mentioned in a very old Charter, even if you'll never be able to prove they are related to you. With these Charters you can get a feel for the way of life and mentality of a time and place.
The Charters are from pre-printing press days when a scribe had the specialized skills of writing and reading. Nobles often remained illiterate and allowed the scribe - a servant - to do his work. Religious people - priests, monks, nuns - were more learned than most people, who were unable to read or write. As a note, sometimes just being able to handwrite your name was considered literate. Instead of a handwritten signature, some people, including notaries, used wax seals, often with the family heraldry, to indicate their presence or approval.
Using the Google (or another translator) can be extremely helpful when you don't know the Hungarian language. This is because the old, handwritten Hungarian (which might differ from more current Hungarian) of the Charters can be difficult but HUNGARICANA's modern language abstracts are sometimes close to word for word. You can go to the original document (some of which are in tatters, other pristine) and see if there is more information if intrigued by the abstract.
In the example below, we also encounter Latin of the early Medieval period.
I chose to search for Gonc (In Abauj County) because the now small settlement, which got bypassed when the railroad was built, was once an important "hustle-bustle" administrative center in Hungary and many Charters were entered there.
TITLE and TRANSLATION THAT WILL COME UP IN HUNGARICANA
DIPLOMATIKAI LEVÉLTÁR (Q szekció) • Kincstári levéltárból (E) • MKA, Acta Paulinorum (Q 312) • 13191
TRANSLATION : Milahly is the parish priest from Gonc (which today is named Saint Emerics) and he is a deputy. Gyorgy is a parish priest from Telkibanya (which is a settlement around the mountain from Gonc.) Antal is a parish priest from Deruska. (Goncruska)
végrendelet - this is a will
ABSTRACT TEXT
The parish priests of Mihaly- Gonc, Gyorgy -Telkibanya and Anta -Deruska prove that GYORGY CUPRAR, citizen of Telkibanya, bequeathed his vineyard and mill, which grinds various products and wood, to SZUZ MARIA, monastery in Gonc. (MONESTARY OF THE VIRGIN MARY) Fragment of three green imprinted seals. (These are the official wax seals of the three priests.)
....
ABSTACT TEXT CONTINUES:
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