Past Abstracts
1,037 abstracts found
Rabbi Fulop Fischer’s Sermons: Navigating Ambiguity and Advocacy in Hungarian Jewry
Cultural Studies/ArtsFulop Fischer (1877-1944), an Orthodox rabbi in Sárospatak, eastern Hungary, was a beloved leader. He defended Jewish community interests in public speeches in churches and pamphlets, and translated important works of the era, such as essays by Samson Raphael Hirsch. Fischer's outspoken advocacy for his community led to the publication of many of his sermons from the 1910s until his death, which were distributed even beyond Hungary, and read by Hungarian Jews in Palestine and the US. In 1937, Fischer published a collection of his sermons on Zion and Zionism, titled Ción felé ("Towards Zion"), which offers a fascinating analysis of growing antisemitism in Hungary, the activities of the Zionist movement. Fischer's sermons express his ambiguous stance towards the Zionist movement and its lack of religious commitment, while also revealing his personal belief in Zionism's ultimate victory. Fischer's use of humor and pastoral guidance in dark times makes his sermons easy to read, yet deeply insightful into the spirit of the community. Despite the long and distinct history and culture of the Hungarian Jewish community, it is often overlooked by scholars, even within Jewish studies. This paper focuses on Fulop Fischer as an influential and popular rabbi of his time, and aims to contribute to research on Hungarian Jewry. Analyzing Fischer's work provides valuable insights into the historical context and debates within the Hungarian Jewish community during a time when questions around belonging to Europe and longing for Israel were especially relevant.
Ready to Secede to the Ottoman Empire? Habsburg Hungary after the Vasvár Peace Treaty (1664-1674)
History/Political ScienceThe essay examines Hungarian-Ottoman relations against the backdrop of the brutal Counter-Reformation campaign that started in Royal Hungary in the early 1660s and led to the mass expulsion of Hungarian Protestant clergy in 1674. After the Peace of Vasvár (1664) the Habsburg court became increasingly concerned about the possibility of a Hungarian-Ottoman alliance and the subsequent defection of large areas of Royal Hungary to the Ottoman Empire. By 1670, this fear had become an obsession, if not downright paranoia. To what extent was this fear based on historical reality? I will focus on the revolts that engulfed the strategic province of Upper Hungary (bordering on Transylvania) during the early 1670s. To address this question I will first review the unsuccessful Ferenc I. Rákóczi Revolt (1670), in which rebel leaders actively solicited Ottoman support against Habsburg oppression. I will then analyze in depth the Kuruc Revolt (1672), which started with a military invasion from Ottoman territory organized by fugitive Rákóczi supporters. This invasion unleashed a series of massive popular uprisings that led to the paralysis and temporary collapse of Habsburg administration in September and October 1672. Based on previously unstudied documents (such as official reports, trial records, and court correspondence) found in the Hungarian National Archives (Budapest) and the Austrian State Archives (Vienna), I will explore rebels' hopes for Ottoman intervention. Were these hopes merely the product of rebels' imagination–and Habsburg paranoia? Or did the Ottomans, who pursued an official policy of neutrality in Royal Hungary subsequent to the Vasvár Peace Treaty, actively support and encourage rebels in their struggles?
Reboot your Roots – Scholarship Program for the Hungarian Diaspora
Education/Social SciencesThe Hungarian Diaspora Scholarship (HDS) launched in 2020 supports those who live in Hungarian diaspora communities, wish to reconnect to their Hungarian heritage and are determined to help their diaspora. The number of Hungarian diaspora members worldwide is about 2.5 M, with more than half of the members (around 1.4 M) living in the US and Canada (0.3 M). The number of people living in Hungarian minorities in the neighbouring countries in the Carpathian Basin is also around 2.5 M. For this latter group, the higher education system of Hungary has been already open, and the government has been giving extra support, offering scholarships, places in colleges for advanced studies and talent nurturing programmes, with the aim of helping young Hungarian intellectuals to succeed in their home countries, supporting their own communities. With the HDS, the same support is now also available for diaspora members, the programme providing access to a wide range of higher education study programmes in Hungary. The presentation gives insight into the most important aims of HDS, how its framework was established based on the needs of diaspora communities, and what synergies in the field of interculturalism can be identified with other scholarship programmes for international and Hungarian minority group students. The challenges and possibilities in promoting the programme and the students’ perspectives – how the needs of diaspora community members are reflected in the motivation letters of the first applicants – are also going to be discussed, with emphasis on applicants from the US and Canada.
Recent Hungarian Comic Cinema: Bridges to the World, Bridges to the Self
Cultural Studies/ArtsThe last fifty years of Hungarian cinema have seen serious directors shift preoccuptions. Early post-war films such as Somewhere in Europe (1947) emphasized finding a place for those damaged by war. Cinema of the sixties and seventies criticized and at times poked fun at entrenched bureaucracy and totalitarian regimes (films such as The Witness [1968]). Internationally prominent filmmakers such as Béla Tarr allude to the realities of Communist life in metaphorically dense, bleak portraits of stifling families and damned villages. It seems that in these decades, comedy was relegated to light period pieces on the margins of cinematic excellence.
The new millennium of Hungarian cinema has seen a resurgence of comedies, at times tributary of formulaic Hollywood products, but often still with enough depth to criticize established norms. In films such as Chico (2001), I Love Budapest (2001), Miracle in Kracow (2004), The District (2005), Just Sex and Nothing Else (2006), and Train Keeps a Rollin’ (2007), characters are searching for themselves as they desperately try to cement relationships with others. At times they travel to other, mainly ex- or post-Communist countries, encounter eccentric individuals both foreign and homegrown, and assert their desires for self-fulfillment. In recent comedies, it seems that self-exploration begins with building bridges to the Other.
In this presentation, I will look at some themes in recent comedies to explore this new direction in Hungarian cinema.
The new millennium of Hungarian cinema has seen a resurgence of comedies, at times tributary of formulaic Hollywood products, but often still with enough depth to criticize established norms. In films such as Chico (2001), I Love Budapest (2001), Miracle in Kracow (2004), The District (2005), Just Sex and Nothing Else (2006), and Train Keeps a Rollin’ (2007), characters are searching for themselves as they desperately try to cement relationships with others. At times they travel to other, mainly ex- or post-Communist countries, encounter eccentric individuals both foreign and homegrown, and assert their desires for self-fulfillment. In recent comedies, it seems that self-exploration begins with building bridges to the Other.
In this presentation, I will look at some themes in recent comedies to explore this new direction in Hungarian cinema.
Recent Hungarian History Reflected in Katalin Mezey’s Poetry
Language/LiteraturePoetry is not a whimsical stepchild of the cultural landscape in Hungary; on the contrary, it is regarded as the highest achievement of Hungarian culture. True, Hungary has contributed a lot in the fields of music and the creative arts, and has gained recognition for them, but poetry so far has not proven itself very exportable, at least not to the extent as other aspects of Hungarian culture. It seems to remain a secret treasure of those who speak the language. Unfortunately, the literary arts cannot stand on their own, cannot be exported without being transformed into another tongue. Even prose and theater have fared better in translation (see Ferenc Molnár, Sándor Márai, etc), but poetry somehow resists being dressed up in a foreign tongue. The importance of translating Hungarian poetry lies in the fact that poetry is considered important in Hungary, and its practitioners, the poets, are expected to deliver an important message, acting in the role of spokespeople for the nation.
For demonstration, a few poems are presented from Katalin Mezey’s newly translated selection of poems “Song Offerings”. She has witnessed a large segment of turbulent Hungarian history and very creatively commented on them in her poems. Her creative life was divided into two equal parts by an important historic event, the collapse of communism with the Soviet empire. Her poems will deal with the different problems people had to live with before and after the sudden transformation of the political and economic life of the country.
For demonstration, a few poems are presented from Katalin Mezey’s newly translated selection of poems “Song Offerings”. She has witnessed a large segment of turbulent Hungarian history and very creatively commented on them in her poems. Her creative life was divided into two equal parts by an important historic event, the collapse of communism with the Soviet empire. Her poems will deal with the different problems people had to live with before and after the sudden transformation of the political and economic life of the country.
Recollect, Reconnect, Reunite: The Story of a Hungarian Junior Basketball Team
History/Political ScienceAmidst the COVID-19 pandemic in Hungary, members of a female basketball team from the 1970s had a virtual meeting in April 2020 lieu of their quarterly in-person reunions. The former teammates shared what they were doing during quarantine, lamented over postponed weddings, and announced the birth of their grandchildren. What political and cultural conditions sparked the creation of the community, and what are the experiences that bonded them together in this way? In the first of its kind within the Eastern Bloc context, Emese Ivan and Johanna Mellis are conducting oral histories with Hungarian female athletes who belonged to a single basketball team during their teen years under socialism. Beginning in childhood, the athletes developed a lifelong bond and received plentiful sporting opportunities while playing for a highly successful female coach at the Központi Sportiskola, the Central Sports School in Budapest. As the authors argue, however, female athletes still faced considerable gender discrimination due to the patriarchal character of the Hungarian sport leadership and the connections-based nature of the socialist state more generally. The presentation will also reflect on how the women’s memories and experiences of their time full of dynamic opportunities and a rich community contrast with an outsider’s perspective of a doping-obsessed regional sport system under a broader harsh, unjust socialist Bloc.
Recollections and Photographs of a Journey in the Americas: Travels of Pál Rosti between 1856 and 1859
Language/LiteratureTravelogues written by Hungarian travelers during the nineteenth century represented a major source of information for Hungarians interested in the culture, history or social traditions of countries in both North and South America. Pál Rosti was one of the most significant travelers of his time, who can be considered outstanding not only because of his writings, but also as a result of his achievements regarding the use of the new invention of the era, photography.
In this presentation I am planning to introduce Rosti’s journeys in the United States, Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba through the discussion of his travel book and various articles published in Hungarian newspapers. The presentation, however, will focus on Rosti’s photographs that appeared in a special album after his return to Europe, as well as in his travel book, as the basis of the illustrations. The presentation will try to answer several questions regarding his photographs: What was Rosti’s purpose with using photography during his travels? Did he simply want to provide illustrations for his book? Or did he intend to present a more objective (scientific) view of the countries visited? How were the photos turned into actual illustrations? Did they all belong to Rosti or were some of them taken from other works? While answering these questions we will get a clearer picture of the unique achievements of an outstanding Hungarian and we can also identify the changes in travel writing brought about by the appearance of photography.
In this presentation I am planning to introduce Rosti’s journeys in the United States, Mexico, Venezuela and Cuba through the discussion of his travel book and various articles published in Hungarian newspapers. The presentation, however, will focus on Rosti’s photographs that appeared in a special album after his return to Europe, as well as in his travel book, as the basis of the illustrations. The presentation will try to answer several questions regarding his photographs: What was Rosti’s purpose with using photography during his travels? Did he simply want to provide illustrations for his book? Or did he intend to present a more objective (scientific) view of the countries visited? How were the photos turned into actual illustrations? Did they all belong to Rosti or were some of them taken from other works? While answering these questions we will get a clearer picture of the unique achievements of an outstanding Hungarian and we can also identify the changes in travel writing brought about by the appearance of photography.
Reconfiguring Ethnopolitics: post-territorial nationalism and diaspora
History/Political ScienceIn the last couple of years, Hungarian ethnopolitics has experienced a significant shift, largely due to the nationalist rhetoric of Prime Minister Viktor Orban. We believe this change reflects a turn of Hungarian nationalism into what Ragazzi and Balalovska have called post-territorial nationalism (Ragazzi & Balalovska 2011), where national belonging becomes disconnected from the territory. Post-territorial nationalism thus reconfigures the nation as something global, where it does not matter in which country ‘co-nationals’ live exactly.
The aim of this paper is to examine how the concept of post-territorial nationalism has developed in Hungary and how it is integrated into its ethnopolitics. We seek to answer what is the relation between internal political developments and kin-state practices and how kin-state policy is synchronized with the real demands, needs and challenges of Hungarian communities living abroad. We believe it is because of this new conception of Hungarian nationalism that we witness that Hungarian communities living in other countries are approached by the Hungarian government in new ways, with new policy tools: the offer of extra-territorial citizenship; political campaigns to motivate them to take part in Hungarian domestic politics by voting in legislative elections; or the never before so high state budget allocated to support communities abroad. This paper is based on data from focus group discussions conducted in the Hungarian community of Western-Canada to understand the effects of this new politics on Hungarian-Hungarian relations through a critical case – a most distant and diverse Hungarian community, consisting of immigrants from Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.
The aim of this paper is to examine how the concept of post-territorial nationalism has developed in Hungary and how it is integrated into its ethnopolitics. We seek to answer what is the relation between internal political developments and kin-state practices and how kin-state policy is synchronized with the real demands, needs and challenges of Hungarian communities living abroad. We believe it is because of this new conception of Hungarian nationalism that we witness that Hungarian communities living in other countries are approached by the Hungarian government in new ways, with new policy tools: the offer of extra-territorial citizenship; political campaigns to motivate them to take part in Hungarian domestic politics by voting in legislative elections; or the never before so high state budget allocated to support communities abroad. This paper is based on data from focus group discussions conducted in the Hungarian community of Western-Canada to understand the effects of this new politics on Hungarian-Hungarian relations through a critical case – a most distant and diverse Hungarian community, consisting of immigrants from Ukraine, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.
Reconsidering the Postwar in Hungary: society, money, and the state, 1945–1958
History/Political ScienceThe paper presents the findings of my recently completed doctoral research on the role of money in shaping socio-economic change in postwar Hungary. The paper argues that the Hungarian postwar state was financially more vulnerable in terms of policy implementation than previously assumed in economic histories. Even during the most repressive Stalinist years, citizens counteracted state power and questioned the forint’s value, the course of public policy, and the state’s fiscal authority inflicted upon them often by turning the disorganised planned economy and communist bureaucracy to their advantage. The findings of the study are based on the assessment of five thematic cases related to various economic phenomena and monetary instruments. Namely, these are the hyperinflation of 1945–6; direct taxation of the self-employed (1945–56); state-loans (1949–55); consumer lending and home construction loans (1953–6); and, finally, consumption and the lottery (1953–8). The paper relies on unused primary evidence sourced from multiple Hungarian archives. It builds on party and ministerial reports on policy design and implementation, ‘mood reports’ of workers’ public opinion, personal letters, complaints, petitions, and private ‘proposals’ as well as interviews conducted with Hungarian émigrés during the early Cold War.
Reconstructing a Transatlantic Business Venture: Pataky Aladár’s Manuscript from 1927
Cultural Studies/ArtsThe paper presents a previously unknown manuscript, a handwritten, personal account detailing a journey to the United States and Canada in 1927 with the primary purpose of selling Hungarian wine as part of a more extensive international venture. The presentation introduces the research that lead to the identification of the writer of the manuscript (written on sheets of paper from a Canadian hotel) and reconstructs the background of a fascinating business project, along with the story of the author positioning the text not only as a unique example to be studied with the tools of microhistory but also placing it in the broader, transatlantic historical and political environment of the time.
The text (along with the broader context of the business project and its roots in Hungary) is also studied and presented as a travel account that provides insights into Hungarian perceptions of North America in the 1920s, the images of Canada and the United States, while also telling just as much about the writer and his home country.
The text (along with the broader context of the business project and its roots in Hungary) is also studied and presented as a travel account that provides insights into Hungarian perceptions of North America in the 1920s, the images of Canada and the United States, while also telling just as much about the writer and his home country.
Recording Visual Histories of Hungarian American Immigrants Arriving after WWII and 1956
History/Political ScienceFollowing the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, some 35,000 Hungarians immigrated to the United States. They were often referred to as the “cream of the crop,” passionate members of society in Hungary who were actively involved in 1956 and forced to flee when the Revolution failed. In their new country, many held tight to their strong heritage, went on to establish new cultural and community organizations and are now considered the grand elders of the Hungarian American community.
In 2015, Réka Pigniczky and Andrea Lauer Rice, both daughters of 56ers, launched the Memory Project: Hungarian American Visual History Archive (https://vimeo.com/channels/memoryproject), with the goal of recording personal interviews with 56ers and Displaced Persons (immigrants after WWII). As Phase I of their project, they have completed 35 interviews across the United States and in Hungary.
Modeled on the methodology utilized by the Shoah Foundation, they set about interviewing 56ers with the same set of questions focusing on three themes. They were: life in Hungary before immigration; the personal story of escape or immigration; and the experience of coming to and settling in America. The discussions almost always turned to the issue of cultural identity, particularly interesting since many of the participants have lived more than half their lives in the US.
Our presentation will focus on the overview and scope of this new visual history archive and its preliminary observations based on the first 35 interviews.
In 2015, Réka Pigniczky and Andrea Lauer Rice, both daughters of 56ers, launched the Memory Project: Hungarian American Visual History Archive (https://vimeo.com/channels/memoryproject), with the goal of recording personal interviews with 56ers and Displaced Persons (immigrants after WWII). As Phase I of their project, they have completed 35 interviews across the United States and in Hungary.
Modeled on the methodology utilized by the Shoah Foundation, they set about interviewing 56ers with the same set of questions focusing on three themes. They were: life in Hungary before immigration; the personal story of escape or immigration; and the experience of coming to and settling in America. The discussions almost always turned to the issue of cultural identity, particularly interesting since many of the participants have lived more than half their lives in the US.
Our presentation will focus on the overview and scope of this new visual history archive and its preliminary observations based on the first 35 interviews.
Reflecting on Hungarian Diasporic Identity Through the Music of the Vojvodina-based Sógor Együttes
Cultural Studies/ArtsThe Vojvodina-based band Sógor was active on the musical scene of former Yugoslavia and of Hungary between May 1986 and the end of 1990. They released five albums in total: Sógo Rock (1986, platinum record); Vörös bort ittam az este (1987; gold record); Rólad álmodom ma éjjel (1988, silver record); Az a rendes iparos, aki mindig italos és sohasem részeg (1988); and Ne várj az életedtől száz csodát (1989). Four of these were produced in former Yugoslavia, the first three by the company Jugoton in Zagreb, Croatia and the fourth one by PTP in Belgrade, Serbia. The fifth and last album was produced in Hungary. The musical genre of the band along with similar music that gained huge popularity in the same period has been branded in recent years as “muskátli” (“geranium”) music. We will critically engage with this branding and argue that it only partially relays the unique musical fusion present in the Sógor songs, a fusion that combines Hungarian folk songs, Hungarian popular music (“sláger”) from different periods, original compositions, and even Hungarian rock-versions of Bosnian folk songs.
In this joint presentation, we will further argue that the music represented by the Sógor band, which found its expression in the final years of the multinational and multiethnic state of Yugoslavia in which ethnic minorities, including the large Hungarian minority, enjoyed full cultural rights, is an expression of said minority’s unique and hybrid identity, an identity that soon came under threat with the violent breakup of the Yugoslav state, a political event anticipated with the end of the band’s activity. In this context it is also noteworthy that this music was mainly enjoyed by a mature Vojvodina and Croatian (Baranya) Hungarian audience that had grown up with the Yugoslav idea. We will build our argument on theories of music and national/ethnic identity.
In this joint presentation, we will further argue that the music represented by the Sógor band, which found its expression in the final years of the multinational and multiethnic state of Yugoslavia in which ethnic minorities, including the large Hungarian minority, enjoyed full cultural rights, is an expression of said minority’s unique and hybrid identity, an identity that soon came under threat with the violent breakup of the Yugoslav state, a political event anticipated with the end of the band’s activity. In this context it is also noteworthy that this music was mainly enjoyed by a mature Vojvodina and Croatian (Baranya) Hungarian audience that had grown up with the Yugoslav idea. We will build our argument on theories of music and national/ethnic identity.
Refugee Identity in Zoltán Böszörményi’s Latest Book of Poems: Conscience of Trees.
Language/LiteratureThe identity most in the news lately has been that of the refugee. Hungarian literature has several writers who have cultivated their art while in self-imposed exile, and we can get a varied picture of the refugee identity through their works. The most prominent among them was György Faludy, but now we have a new generation or two of refugee writers as a result political pressure. A unique case among them is Zoltán Böszörményi, from Transylvania who was forced to flee Romania in 1982 because of his association with a circle of young Hungarian poets. As a refugee in Canada he had to put aside his literary pursuits for existential concerns which included learning English, getting a degree in philosophy from York College and working his way up from low-paying janitorial jobs to a position with an advertising agency. In 1990, after the collapse communism, he went back to Romania and, using his business experience, he started a Hungarian publishing firm, complete with a weekly newspaper, a quarterly literary journal and books of prose and poetry. He was also able to restart his writing career, adding prose to his poetry; his adventurous escape and varied experiences in the Western World combined with his knowledge of the contemporary intellectual currents of Central Europe gave him plenty of material and inspiration as well. Thus his poetry, while Hungarian in language and cultural influences, can be best described as globalist in the positive sense of it: being open to the ideas and the intellectual ferment of the world.
Refugee Registration Process: From Cards to Camp Kilmer Refugee Research Database
History/Political Science“We feel a solemn and responsible pride that in your time of need you have come to our shore” – These are some of the words from a letter by President Eisenhower, greeting Hungarian refugees at Camp Kilmer, NJ. The bilingual sign “Isten hozta Amerikában – Welcome to America” at the gate of the Reception Center symbolized the border between their old and new identities for these refugees. Between November 1956 and June 1957, when Camp Kilmer – a former World War II military base - was reactivated as a Reception Center under the name Operation Mercy, 32,000 refugees were processed, interviewed, supported, and resettled by government and other sponsoring agencies, volunteer organizations and individuals in the United States. The whole process resulted in 3 x 5” registration cards, located these days in 37 filing boxes at the Library of the American Hungarian Foundation. A project to catalog and digitize the cards will be presented, describing its advantages and disadvantages, the possibilities and obstacles along the way, options considered and solutions found, both in terms of technical and privacy issues.
The database will eventually include the digitized copies of the cards, connected to a list of the refugees’ information on the cards, with a search capability for all individual data fields. CKRRD – hosted by Rutgers University repository – will complement the digital records of the President’s Committee for Hungarian Relief that are already in RUcore, in addition to be beneficial for genealogists and biographical researchers.
Audio-visual requirements: projector
The database will eventually include the digitized copies of the cards, connected to a list of the refugees’ information on the cards, with a search capability for all individual data fields. CKRRD – hosted by Rutgers University repository – will complement the digital records of the President’s Committee for Hungarian Relief that are already in RUcore, in addition to be beneficial for genealogists and biographical researchers.
Audio-visual requirements: projector
Regional Language Features – Attitudes and Their Effects on Mother Tongue Education in Hungary
Language/LiteratureThe status of Hungarian dialects have changed due to mobilisation – urbanisation and internal migration – and globalisation over the past few decades. Previously conspicuous dialectical features have been forced back, and a new phenomenon: regional standard has been formed and it is forming nowadays, too. But we still should not talk about dying – just changing – dialects.
Since stigmatization of dialects can lead to severe psychological and sociological consequences, the paper discusses the theory and practice of teaching dialectology within the framework of Hungarian Grammar subject in elementary and secondary-grammar school. The paper argues that the common ideas of the Hungarian dialect-speaker (old, illiterate, lives in a village and/or transborder) are still just stereotypes nowadays, and regionalisms also typify younger, educated city-people. The research is based on the answers to questionnaires of teachers (on language attitudes and their practice) and pupils (on dialectal vocabulary) and lots of personal experiences, since the author teaches in a secondary-grammar school, too.
The main goal of the research is to develop the discussion on teaching dialectology – to teach actual, real and useful knowledge about dialects and not to stigmatize it by correcting in youngsters language use (laboring under a delusion).
Since stigmatization of dialects can lead to severe psychological and sociological consequences, the paper discusses the theory and practice of teaching dialectology within the framework of Hungarian Grammar subject in elementary and secondary-grammar school. The paper argues that the common ideas of the Hungarian dialect-speaker (old, illiterate, lives in a village and/or transborder) are still just stereotypes nowadays, and regionalisms also typify younger, educated city-people. The research is based on the answers to questionnaires of teachers (on language attitudes and their practice) and pupils (on dialectal vocabulary) and lots of personal experiences, since the author teaches in a secondary-grammar school, too.
The main goal of the research is to develop the discussion on teaching dialectology – to teach actual, real and useful knowledge about dialects and not to stigmatize it by correcting in youngsters language use (laboring under a delusion).
Reiner, Brahms, and the American Hungarian Studies Foundation’s “Night at the Symphony”
Music/FolkloreIn April 1956, August J. Molnar and the Board of Directors of the American Hungarian Studies Foundation approached the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Music Director Fritz Reiner with a request. The Foundation, in its second year of activity, intended to purchase a significant number of seats for a “Night at the Symphony,” for which they hoped Reiner would program a “concert of music by Hungarian composers” during the orchestra’s 1956-1957 season. Hungarian-American conductor Fritz Reiner had been a student of Béla Bartók’s and was known for his promotion of his former teacher’s works, but his reputation was not built on a particular specialization in conducting all-Hungarian concerts. Regardless, when the request from the Foundation crossed his desk, he agreed. As the concert date in March 1957 approached, however, Reiner seemed to have forgotten this commitment—instead of a program featuring music by multiple Hungarians, not a single Hungarian composer’s work was represented in the repertoire list. When alerted to this error by orchestra manager George Kuyper, Reiner responded immediately with a compromise—he added a few of Brahms’s Hungarian Dances, originally planned for another concert that month, to the program. Based, in part, on examination of Reiner’s correspondence with his orchestra manager, this paper seeks to illuminate one of the early cultural activities of the American Hungarian Studies Foundation before its move from the Chicago suburbs to New Brunswick, New Jersey, while also considering the significance of Reiner’s programming change to satisfy his commitment to the Foundation’s request.
Rekindling the Flame of Scouting in the Carpathian Basin
Education/Social SciencesScouting in Hungary between 1910 and 1948 was the premier youth organization with a goal of increasing the physical, mental, and spiritual capabilities and the moral fiber of its members. Shortly after the Second World War, the communist dominated government outlawed scouting replacing it with its own politically focused youth organization, the Pioneers. Immediately following the reemergence of democracy in Eastern Central Europe, scouting restarted in Hungary and the adjacent countries with significant Hungarian minorities.
This presentation will focus on the efforts of the emigre Hungarian Scout Association in Exteris to actively assist in reestablishing scouting in the Carpathian Basin. Leadership training camps, instructional material and financial assistance led to successful scouting organizations in Hungary and five adjacent countries within five years. Since then these scouting orgaizations have established an effective modus operandi allowing for mutual support, training and development. Today Hungarian Scouting is again the preeminent youth organization in Hungary, the adjacent countries and the Diaspora. With over 20,000 members today, Hungarian Scouting is again facing a bright future.
This presentation will focus on the efforts of the emigre Hungarian Scout Association in Exteris to actively assist in reestablishing scouting in the Carpathian Basin. Leadership training camps, instructional material and financial assistance led to successful scouting organizations in Hungary and five adjacent countries within five years. Since then these scouting orgaizations have established an effective modus operandi allowing for mutual support, training and development. Today Hungarian Scouting is again the preeminent youth organization in Hungary, the adjacent countries and the Diaspora. With over 20,000 members today, Hungarian Scouting is again facing a bright future.
Remagining Borders — Határ: Open frontier or Border Checkpoint?
History/Political ScienceIn the chaotic years of WW II in the Pacific Theatre, the 500,000 years old bones of Peking Man were crated up to be shipped to the United States for safety. The cache of 6 skull caps and other bones collected near Peking (now Beijing), firmly established Homo erectus and fire-making within the chain of human evolution. The shipment never arrived, mysteriously lost in its planned crossing.
An archeological intrigue of a different sort is the discovery of 4000-year-old mummies in the Tarim Basin of Western China, revealing individuals with light hair, fair skin and a textile weave among other markers that muddle facile interpretation. Collation of diverse data-points of the Xinjiang mummies point to multivalent vectors of human movement, contact and exchange.
This paper reviews historic movement, dislocation and displacement, war-torn border-crossings, as well as human mobility in pursuit of commerce, opportunity and adventure. It explores movements of nomadic pastoralists: Scythians, Sarmatians, and confederate Xiongnu across the Asian steppes; South Siberian and Altai transhumance; and the emboldened move of mounted pastoralists from the Urals, up the Danube into the Carpathian Basin.
Broad examination of the cross-currents of human traffic is sharply focused by personal memory of the author here on site 67 years ago navigating the 8-month portal for processing 1956 Hungarian refugees through Camp Kilmer. For better or for worse, emerging concepts of nation-state, defined by borders, quotas and passports in the 20 th century, and smuggling, have subverted the age-old, noble
call of the Határ.
An archeological intrigue of a different sort is the discovery of 4000-year-old mummies in the Tarim Basin of Western China, revealing individuals with light hair, fair skin and a textile weave among other markers that muddle facile interpretation. Collation of diverse data-points of the Xinjiang mummies point to multivalent vectors of human movement, contact and exchange.
This paper reviews historic movement, dislocation and displacement, war-torn border-crossings, as well as human mobility in pursuit of commerce, opportunity and adventure. It explores movements of nomadic pastoralists: Scythians, Sarmatians, and confederate Xiongnu across the Asian steppes; South Siberian and Altai transhumance; and the emboldened move of mounted pastoralists from the Urals, up the Danube into the Carpathian Basin.
Broad examination of the cross-currents of human traffic is sharply focused by personal memory of the author here on site 67 years ago navigating the 8-month portal for processing 1956 Hungarian refugees through Camp Kilmer. For better or for worse, emerging concepts of nation-state, defined by borders, quotas and passports in the 20 th century, and smuggling, have subverted the age-old, noble
call of the Határ.
Remembering 1956 seventy years later: The Maléters – A story of suffering, struggles, survival
History/Political ScienceAfter the arrest in Hungary of her husband, Colonel Pál Maléter on November 3, his ex-wife Mária Maléter (née Pausz) and two of their children, Pál, aged 10 and Mária, 9, fled Hungary on November 21, 1956 and sought refuge in Vienna, Austria. The third child, Judit, aged only 7, joined them a month later because she had the flu at the time of the fleeing. Then the family of four went to Montreal, Canada first, before they were invited by the International Rescue Committee to address the United Nations in New York on behalf of her husband and the other captured Hungarian government officials.
On the double occasion of the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian revolution and freedom fight, and the 250th birthday of the United States commemorated in 2026, my aim is to present the role of the UN, and then Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld in particular, in Prime Minister Imre Nagy’s and Pál Maléter’s case in Hungary on the one hand, and the contribution of the Maléter family in the USA, on the other hand, after they received their green card shortly after Maléter’s execution in 1958. The research is based on the Memory Project interview with Pál Maléter II, who died in 2017, and his recollections published in 56 Stories: Personal Recollections of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. A Hungarian American Perspective. Online databases of newspapers and the digital facsimile of Foreign Relations of the United States documents between 1861-1960 have also been consulted for this presentation.
On the double occasion of the 70th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian revolution and freedom fight, and the 250th birthday of the United States commemorated in 2026, my aim is to present the role of the UN, and then Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld in particular, in Prime Minister Imre Nagy’s and Pál Maléter’s case in Hungary on the one hand, and the contribution of the Maléter family in the USA, on the other hand, after they received their green card shortly after Maléter’s execution in 1958. The research is based on the Memory Project interview with Pál Maléter II, who died in 2017, and his recollections published in 56 Stories: Personal Recollections of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. A Hungarian American Perspective. Online databases of newspapers and the digital facsimile of Foreign Relations of the United States documents between 1861-1960 have also been consulted for this presentation.
Remembering Michael Kováts de Fábriczy: Transatlantic Memory, Heroism, and Hungarian Diasporic Identity
History/Political ScienceThe American and Hungarian Revolutions share enduring ideals of liberty and self-determination. While the American Revolution achieved sovereignty, the Hungarian uprisings of 1848 and 1956, though unsuccessful in securing national independence, continue to symbolize the Hungarian pursuit of freedom. The life and legacy of Michael Kováts de Fábriczy (1724–1779) embody these transatlantic connections. A Hungarian nobleman and cavalry officer who served under George Washington, Kováts introduced Hungarian hussar tactics to the Continental Army and was killed in the Battle of Charleston. Though buried in an unmarked grave and largely absent from mainstream American Revolutionary narratives, Kováts’ story has been preserved and revived through Hungarian-American cultural memory.
This presentation explores how Hungarian diaspora communities, particularly in Cleveland, have contributed to the commemoration of Kováts as both a national and transnational hero. In 1979, a Cleveland delegation participated in the tricentennial commemoration of his death, at The Citadel Military College of South Carolina, where even today cadets continue to honor his memory annually, and where a part of the campus is named in his honor. The presenter will be joined by guests Zsuzsanna Győri and Elizabeth Gulyás-Lewis, who as young girls in 1979 were among the Cleveland Hungarian-American emissaries. By examining these commemorative practices and their narratives of shared ideals, this paper situates Kováts within the broader framework of diasporic identity formation and transnational memory work. It argues that his remembrance bridges two revolutionary traditions and exemplifies how diasporic communities sustain cultural heritage through acts of collective memory.
This presentation explores how Hungarian diaspora communities, particularly in Cleveland, have contributed to the commemoration of Kováts as both a national and transnational hero. In 1979, a Cleveland delegation participated in the tricentennial commemoration of his death, at The Citadel Military College of South Carolina, where even today cadets continue to honor his memory annually, and where a part of the campus is named in his honor. The presenter will be joined by guests Zsuzsanna Győri and Elizabeth Gulyás-Lewis, who as young girls in 1979 were among the Cleveland Hungarian-American emissaries. By examining these commemorative practices and their narratives of shared ideals, this paper situates Kováts within the broader framework of diasporic identity formation and transnational memory work. It argues that his remembrance bridges two revolutionary traditions and exemplifies how diasporic communities sustain cultural heritage through acts of collective memory.
